top ten nations

[sandbagtheatreco]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 1:03pm

With 1 being the best and 10 being last, what are the top ten nations for sources of great literature?

[Ruffian]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 1:07pm

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

1) England.....Shakespeare.....Dickens.....endless list

2) Russia....LOVE the Classics

3) Ireland......great great Irish Writers

Will have to think harder on the rest of the list, those are my Top Three Choices

[orion59]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 1:20pm

I would agree with that list of three and add Greece...the myths, Homer, the Greek tragedies.

[Ruffian]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 1:23pm

Orion, thats an excellent choice...I got a bunch of Greek Stories on my shelves

[orion59]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 1:26pm

Also, the US has made quite a contribution to literature. Maybe not so much in recent years but we can claim Capote, Hemingway, Welty, Emerson, Hawthorne, Ellison...etc, etc

[Ruffian]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 1:29pm

Yes, thats very true

We got our Top Five

[sandbagtheatreco]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 3:31pm

How about top 5 contemporary literature greats?

[Ruffian]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 3:35pm

I cannot think of current Lit Giants. Maybe I am stuck in the Classics Department.....but that CAN be a good thing

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 5:35pm

Well, thank you Orion, you beat me up to it ! :) Of course I am a little biased :) Though i don't like much my country's modern mentality, I have to say that our past has an enormous lot to be really proud about in most fields!
Also, I have to add to Homer and the Tragics, that all Philosophy is based on Ancient Greeks like Plato, Aristotle etc. Great Historians like Herodotus, Modern poets like Seferis and Elytis who have both won the Nobel prize and also the great writer Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba, The Last Temptaion of Christ). Enough of bragging ! I do agree with England and Russia. I don't know about Ireland. How about France and Italy ?

Take care

[Ruffian]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 5:43pm

Sure Ireland has amazing Writers....Shaw, Beckett, Burke, Behan, Wilde, Yeats, Joyce to name a few

The Greeks have given us SOOOOOOO much...from Drama to the Olympics, Democracy, Art .... CHEERS FOR THE GREEKS

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 5:47pm

I always thought the French prided themselves on their artwork, and weren't nearly as advanced in their literature, and the English were very good at literature and not quite so good with painting. I could be wrong though.

[Ruffian]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 5:50pm

Oh Gawd.....yes....HUGO alone will place the French on the List

Posted: 4/12/04 at 6:07pm

French writers.... Hugo, Proust, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Zola, Flaubert, Dumas, Saint-Exupery, Balzac, Camus, de Sade, Voltaire

English painters.... Frederic Lord Leighton, John William Waterhouse, John Collier, William Blake

[orion59]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 6:21pm

All very true but, one usually thinks in terms of art, fashion and cusine when it comes to France and art, architecture and science for Italy. I guess every nation has it's share of great writers but some seem to have produced more and have made more a place for themselves in the history of classic literature.

As far as contmporary greats...how comtemporary? Although we have many graet writers around now I can't think of any I would consider great. at least not yet. Maybe later when their entire body of work has been finished. I honestly think the last great writer of contemporary times was Truman Capote.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 4/12/04 at 7:01pm

Maybe I should have said "better known for" instead of "more advanced"

[sandbagtheatreco]

Posted: 4/13/04 at 5:31pm

Surely Arthur Miller will go down in the contemporary greats?!