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#world literature
theadagium · 6 months
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As a Thanatos devotee, I normally tend to hate the story of Sisyphus. I however usually see the Greek tales as metaphors for how the Greeks saw elements of the world interact with any other. Finally I decided to put some thought into the tale of Sisyphus, and finally I understood. Sisyphus hid death from the world, and his punishment was the torture of repetition. It’s a metaphor for how valuable death, Thanatos, is for us. Ares freeing Thanatos was a metaphor for how without Death there is no glory or passion in life. Without Death, or change, we are all suffering in stagnant repetition.
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beljar · 1 year
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I feel as if I had been in the world a thousand years, and I trail my life behind me like an endless scarf.
Anton Chekhov, from The Seagull, 1895
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useless-catalanfacts · 11 months
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I’ve been a translator from Catalan for almost fourteen years, and something that never fails to astonish me is the vibrancy of the Catalan literary tradition. Whether a re-discovered classic or a startling young author from the near-constant flurry of innovative writing, there are always new voices to be unearthed, and the time-worn phrase “embarrassment of riches” comes to mind.
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It’s this commitment in Wilder Winds to unflinching honesty and genuine emotion that is shared by the books on this list. Whether it be the realities or war, anarchism or autism, these voices offer the reader an intimate glimpse into other lives that never feel distant from our own. I’ve chosen eight books that demonstrate the richness of Catalan literature over the last century or so, but there are literally dozens more I could have chosen. Think of what follows, then, as less of a reading list and more of an amuse-bouche to whet your reading appetite for Catalan literature in English.
Are you interested in reading Catalan books that have been translated to English? Read this article to find 8 books that the translator Laura McGloughlin recommends (mostly novels, some short story books, and one poetry book).
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bumblebee-cottage · 3 months
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anatomicalmartyr · 2 years
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Scenes from “The Tale of Genji” - beautifully illustrated by Maeda Masao, ca. 1950
(click on image to see the chapters and characters depicted)
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steh-lar-uh-nuhs · 2 months
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I GET TO WRITE A LITERARY ESSAY GUY S GUYS GUYS GUYS I'M SO EXCITEDDDDDDDDDD
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cardassiangoodreads · 10 months
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Tried to include the best-known ones but also, all different authors (so even though we read 3 different Shakespeares I picked one) plus also just including some personal favs that are less-common U.S. HS reading choices. If you've never read anything by Mahfouz or for that matter, Toni Morrison, improve your life by getting on that shit!
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checkoutmybookshelf · 11 months
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English literature is literally what my degree is in, so that's my literary affinity! Where do you fall in national lit affinities?
At some point I've gotta make a version of this that is a little less white, western, and male...Comment if your literary affinity doesn't fall into this very limited meme and tell us your favorite!
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falsekingfrancis · 2 months
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I’m reading the Epic of Gilgamesh for World Lit and there is no straight explanation for any of this
“You will fall in love with him and caress him like a woman”
I’m sorry?????? If anyone looks at me and tries to convince me this is straight I’m going to laugh in their face.
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laikastudies · 1 month
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February 21, 2024 °Wednesday
Salaam, I hope everyone is doing well! Today, I decided to have a mid-week refresh. This semester has proven to be more challenging than last semester, but I am pushing through!
Made my bed (this is a real accomplishment after a two-week streak of not)
Cleaned the shared bathroom
Did my laundry
Studied for 1.5 hours (attended lectures for 3)
Did some psychology homework
Finished Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai for my world literature class
Add me as a friend on Storygraph if you have it! I’d love to see your reads <3
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lesewut · 4 months
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Märchen aus Tausend und Einer Nacht, 1890
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mysteriouspresence · 4 months
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a comparison of themes
a brief comparison of the shared/juxtaposed themes between the works "the stranger" by albert camus, "no longer human" by osamu dazai, and "notes from the underground" by fyodor dostoevsky (will try to keep this spoiler-free as possible!)
opening notes: themes: alienation, apathy and envy, misanthropy and understanding others, pride versus conformity main characters meursault from "the stranger" yozo from "no longer human" underground man from "notes from the underground" premise meursault is a man who lives in french algeria. his initial characterization is established when his mother dies, and he doesn't care much. later on, he happens to commit a crime, and we are shown his detached nature throughout the legal/penal process yozo deems himself "disqualified as a human being" while examining his life; he finds himself unable to understand other people and is frightened by their strange emotions and behaviors while he spirals in and out of addiction and depression the underground man is a spiteful loner who drives away the people around him and favors his own fantasies over his real life; he chooses to indulge in his romanticized, emotionally charged perspective, which in turn causes him more pain
alienation: -- all three main characters are shown to be outcasts, unable to participate "properly" in society. in a narrative sense, all three end up "punished" by society for being different (either literally or as they perceive) -- all three characters try to form romantic relationships, only to be thwarted at some point (note: meursault was arguably most successful). in each case, their prospective partners were interested, only to leave them under circumstances that all arguablely stemmed from the protagonist's actions.
apathy: -- meursault is apathetic towards his uncaring nature in-of-itself. he is not bothered by his apparent loneliness and callousness, nor how other people perceive him. in fact, he barely sees himself as different, unlike our other two protagonists -- meanwhile, the underground man tries hard to appear "cool" and unaffected by what he sees as slights upon his honor, but he ends up raging anyway; he envies the status, wealth, and social connections that other people have and emulates those in his fantasies -- on the other hand, yozo is painfully affected by everything around him and overthinks every action both he and other people make. he determines himself as thoroughly unable to be human
misanthropy and understanding others: -- the underground man and yozo find themselves disturbed and perplexed by other's actions. both distrust others, believing society to be maliciously out to get them. they're ultimately hindered by this self-consciousness. -- yozo tried hard to "fit in" to the expectations around him, only to deviate more as he cracked under pressure -- the underground man tried a few times to be sociable but ultimately gave up and declared himself a member of the "underground", retreating into his own world -- opposing this is meursault, who is seen as the frightening, perplexing being by other people due to his apparent lack of emotion by the end of the book. however, before the climatic incident of the novel, he was seen as an ordinary, albeit bland, man who just goes through his life. he never tried "too hard" to fit in, even though through his narration, we can tell that he was already apathetic, to begin with. the incident merely called everyone's attention to him
pride versus conformity: -- ultimately, all three men chose pride, consciously or not. they refused (or were not able) to become molded to society's standards, and all chose the "wrong" path in the end, even though they tried to live "normally" at some point -- they stayed true to their nature (as outlined above) to the end of their respective novels. each novel resolved with a respective resignation/acceptance of their fates
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beljar · 1 year
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Anything, anything would be better than this agony of mind, this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and caresses one and never hurts quite enough.
Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit, 1944
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The 13th of January is a sad day in Valencian literature. It's the anniversary of the death of two of the greatest modern writers: Isabel-Clara Simó (1943-2020) and Enric Valor (1911-2000).
In this video (posted by À Punt), you can see two fragments of interviews with them, where they talk about the importance of the language in their work. I have added subtitles in English. The transcription is under the cut.
(Note: "Valencian" and "Catalan" are two names for the same language. Both terms are being used interchangeably.)
Enric Valor: to teach for 300 years in another language and to not lose nor alter deeply our language is a real miracle. For this reason, all the European philology is marveled of the Valencian people. Without knowing why, for tradition, for love of your family, to be like your parents, to speak like your parents, all of a person's memories manifested through that language- and we have preserved it in such a rich way that there was no danger of being irreparable.
Isabel-Clara Simó: I have always written, all my life. I used to write only in Spanish because I didn't know that written Valencian existed. Joan Fuster and his group taught me it, in València. And the first time that I tried to write a story -full of spelling mistakes- in Catalan, I started crying. Because it was the first time that I was writing in the language that I think in.
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sound-of-sea · 3 months
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ersh-of-history · 11 months
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