/lit/ - Literature

French writes more universal literature. On the other hand, I still cannot “get” the manners, the ideas, the peculiarities of English literature. It is substantially harder for me to understand Dickens than Hugo. Also the number of talents in French literature have outnumbered English.

German

>>13728096
only non fiction because germans are fucking autists

>>13728055
French is such a shit language when spoken, literal nig tier, but the literature is good. English is still king, though.

>>13728090
>Also the number of talents in French literature have outnumbered English.
Yet no one on the level of Shakespeare.

>>13728163
Bouffe mes couilles enfant de putain.

>>13728175
Just because Shakespeare mogs every other English writer doesn't mean he mogs every writer in every other language.

The French
They might be sniffing their own farts, but at lest those farts smell like rosebuds

>>13728248
Okay, name one French writer who's better, then.

French obviously

>>13728055
Spanish

Raymond Roussel and Queneau shit on anglos

English: Canterbury Tales (arguably not but w/e), Paradise Lost, also the KJV, and Shakespeare's plays and Carlyle, and now everything is written in English
French: some commie play and a bunch of other pervert nonsense, and the commie perverts are disappearing as over half of them approve of adultery and over half of the babies are aborted

>>13728557
>and now everything is written in English
You were doing okay but this is delusional.

Straight lit = American, German, Russian
Gay lit = British, French
Incel lit = Japanese

>>13728313
Rabelais obviously

>>13728568
Chad lit = Spanish language lit

>>13728575
>Rabelais obviously
>mr toilet humor better than the GOAT

>>13728096
Faust gets super powers from Satan. He then hooks up with a chick, kills his brother in law, then the chick aborts and dies. Best literature ever.
Russian: a neet murders the pawnbroker, fails to steal anything but gets away with it GTA style (I only read the first half of the book).
Italian: this dude gets led around the Catholic afterlife, by someone else's wife, in a blatant violation of the Commandment not to covet her
Latin: a dude who left Troy when it was sacked builds a new city
Greek: Aristophanes and Homer, also Socrates and Aristotle

>>13728578
> Dulcinella, I will stabb a windmill for youuu

>>13728578
True

>>13728313
Ionesco

>>13728055
This isn't even a fucking question.
The real question is french or german literature, but I guess french wins this too

>>13728055
Irish

>>13728663
>This isn't even a fucking question.
it actually is.
>The real question is french or german literature, but I guess french wins this too
lol delusional frog

shakespeare only wrote plays so there is not one of his work that by itself comes close to monumental works like faust, divine comedy, iliad. don quijote.

>>13728706
Faust is far from monumental the same way the Comedy is.

>>13728313
Racine obviously

>>13728055
midwits will answer French, every time

The French national character is a mixture of German pigheaded militarism, celtic cynicism/melancholy, and Mediterranean sensualism. Literally Europe's shittiest country. At least balkanoids and latinos have the excuse of being half-arabs, the French are nasty of their own free will.

>>13728055
I mean the English only have Shakespeare, so probably the French

France is far and away superior, and from roughly the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century, France was producing the greatest art across the board from music to literature to visual art. That period was probably one of the most fruitful and rich in terms of art any nation had seen in quite some time. And england blows chunks of cummy shit, mainly

>>13728784
>I mean the English only have Shakespeare
And Milton and Donne and the Romantics. The Americans are also English language. Yeats and Joyce also wrote in English. The biggest mistake France did was colonizing useless shitholes in Africa.

>>13728791
>France is far and away superior, and from roughly the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century, France was producing the greatest art across the board from music to literature to visual art.
You mean Anglos and their colonies, right? French music is shit.

Makes no sense to ask such a question. There are great English and French books; there are also bad English and French books. If we decide that French literature is superior do we then conclude that the bad French literature is superior to the good English literature by virtue of being French? If no then your question is meaningless.

*blocks your path*

>>13728734
kek a total meme. he's like dr seuss but in french, all his dialogues rhyme.

*blocks your path*

>>13728864
No, I mean France. For music there was Debussy, Ravel, Erik Satie, etc. France had major contributions for classical music in the 19th and 20th centuries from romanticism to modernism, impressionism, expressionism and the avant garde, etc.

>>13728930
And then everything went to shit thanks to niggers.

>>13728663
Houellebecq said that the French have always felt inferior to the Germans.

>>13728090

I agree with French Lit being more universal, or at least a large portion of it dealing with existential and themes surrounding the human condition, extremity, etc.

Although I think I’m completely biased because all of the French authors I’ve read have been interesting so far.

I also agree with the English manners stuff. Total snooze fest. It’s no offense to her fans but I’ve always said that Jane Austen was the perfect example of the sort of novels I have zero interest in reading.

>>13728965
>Although I think I’m completely biased because all of the French authors I’ve read have been interesting so far.
Who have you been reading?

>>13728940
Boring take.

>>13728994
Doesn't make it any less true.

>>13729011
It's retarded. The idea that the stagnation of art in France in the 21st century was due to "niggers" is laughable. First of all, niggers aren't stopping anybody from creating art; secondly, traditional art has stagnated everywhere due to the insurgence of film/internet and the dissolution of the aristocratic class. Besides, France is one of few countries to have a decent living novelist.

The British sublime: a common man who doesn't remember his mother and whose father is a drunken sod locked up in the stocks getting pelted with tomatoes leaves town and makes his way for the city; through raw talent, gumption, and the blessing of the Muses hacks his way through an apprenticeship in drama, establishes himself as a well-known playwright, and practices his craft until he's turning out astonishing works of immortal art that strike the soul of kings and peasants alike and are destined to be revered all over the world, in various countries, cultures, and languages for the rest of human history.

The French sublime: an aristocrat lying in bed farting recalling whores he fucked, arguments he won, and the taste his mother's pastries.

>>13729054
>First of all, niggers aren't stopping anybody from creating art
No, but they're incapable to produce good art and France is currently being Niggerized
>secondly, traditional art has stagnated everywhere due to the insurgence of film/internet and the dissolution of the aristocratic class.
Film is dying, too. You're right about the internet, though.
>Besides, France is one of few countries to have a decent living novelist.
Pretty much every Western country has a "decent" living novelist.

>>13729060
frogs irrevocably BTFO

>>13728055
French 19th century realism shits on the English stuff in depth and average quality levels. Only Dickens and best Bronte can even compete. On the poetry front it's pretty level though - and crazy good from both.

Early 20th C is more of a draw. Anglo modernism is strong and there's loads of depth. The best French stuff is still top though.

I feel like since then the trend has continued to show more good/acceptable quality Anglo shit, partly thanks to ex-colonies getting in on the act, but an approximately equal number of top-tier writers on both sides. I will now, for now good reason, namedrop Tournier. Love that motherfucker.

>>13728055
Neither? Russian, Spanish and German literature are far better.

>>13729105
French has no future, though. The Anglos won the cultural war.

>>13729105
>I feel like since then the trend has continued to show more good/acceptable quality Anglo shit, partly thanks to ex-colonies getting in on the act, but an approximately equal number of top-tier writers on both sides
Name 5 TOP tier French writers of the second part of the 20th century

>>13729145
Camus
Tournier
Perec
Modiano
Pagnol

I'm aware I'll catch flak for Camus especially, but I stand by it, considering him as a novelist, not as a philosopher. I'm sure any Anglo top-tier list will draw just as many scornful dismissals as my five.

>>13728106
This. Germans don't have soul.

>>13728557
t. thinks Sartre and Camus are the only French author

>>13729145
Nimier
Rebatet
Aymé
Giono
Montherlant

French literature is superior. Shakespeare was the least English writer, that says a lot about them.

>>13728313
Hugo

>>13728055
French obviously.

>>13728859
>The biggest mistake France did was colonizing useless shitholes in Africa.
Well we have Québec. But they never did anything of worth. I don't understand how.
Their greatest achievement is a disgusting dish with soggy potatoes dripping with oil and cheese and somehow it mogs the rest of north american cuisine so they're proud of it ?

>>13729194
>I'm aware I'll catch flak for Camus especially,
Not really. Even as a guy who doesn't agree with him i will recognize his talent. The real mistake in your list is fucking Pagnol who is a ridiculous folkloric writer that i would never have imagined in a million years that foreigners would know. Do you also know Francis Cabrel ? lmao

>>13728734
This and unironically.
Even Steiner had to come to his sense and admit his superiority.

>>13728864
>French music is shit.
France is a decent contender with Germany for the first place in music. Anglos on the other hand have been sorely disappointing here so this post is delusional. Elgar is the only thing close to an Anglo musical grandmaster.

>>13729365
>>Rebatet
Absolutely based but let's say his heyday came just before the second half of the century.

>>13729114
>Spanish and German literature are far better

>>13728536
based Rousselposter

>>13729694
lmao frog cope

>>13728090
>Also the number of talents in French literature have outnumbered English.
Lolno
Off the top of my head, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Blake, Dickens.
And that's not counting Joyce, Melville, Yeats, and other non English.

>>13728734
fucking kek

>>13728965
that's because she's a woman, not because she's English

>>13728965
>I agree with French Lit being more universal, or at least a large portion of it dealing with existential and themes surrounding the human condition, extremity, etc.
That's exactly why its shit, and why continental literature is shit. There are no big ideas, only tiny europoor brains who mistake their own mental fatigue for actual artistic merit.

The manners in Dickens, Austen, etc are simple and easy to conceive. Only a sloppy reader would struggle with that.

>>13728588
What the fuck is this post

*destroys both*

>>13728588
>Mephistopheles is Satan
My god christcucks are as incorrigible as insufferable.

>>13730660
>as incorrigible as insufferable.
Why do fedoras always write so poorly?

>>13728957
Weeew my friend its the opposite. The germans on the border with the rhine had a lot of contact with the french and they always felt that the german language didnt have the class of the french language. Germans see their language has rude and archaic. Thats why they needed to proclaim their Reich in Versaille.

>>13730753
So both have an inferiority complex? lmao fucking yuros

>>13729676
Petite merde.
We had a Grande Bibliothèque in Montréal with all the books that were written in Nouvelle France.
In 1848 the chief firefighter of montréal set a fire in the parlement after they passed a law to repair the damage an english general did to Canada during his crazy killings. The law was pass to repair the proprety of english citizen and then when they passed the law for the french people it was an outrage. So the chief of montréal firefighter set a fire in the parlement of canada that was in montréal. Then he refused to extinguish the fire and everybody that tried to save something like books were trown back into the fire. What you have there is the murder of the french spirit in north america. Then a french frog can talk shit about his brothers that were taken by the english. Je suis très déçu Pierre. Notre devise est; Je me souviens. On se souvient que vous nous avez abandonné et que vous nous avez craché à la gueule.
C'est pour ça qu'au Québec on est toujours rester froid à votre égard pour la france.

amerilard here. french have better literature and is the reason i'm trying to learn french

>>13730831
The grass is greener on the other side. I also learned French for the memes. Nice poetry. Underwhelming prose. There isn't a god tier prose stylist. Proust and Flaubert are overrated.

>>13730863
For french prose try Beaudelaire Fleur du Mal or Rimbaud

>>13730887
Yeah, I like those, that's why I said the poetry was good.

>>13730891
Rimbaud and Beaudelaire also did prose.
Also look for Gaspard de la Nuit from Aloysius Bertrand. I am havin a french literature class this semester and I completely love it.

>>13730863
I'm also an American who learned French. No, it obviously isn't going to be as good as the French anons say. No Frenchman can be objective about his literature. A lot of the standards are hackwriters, Voltaire, Zola, France, Sartre, Camus even much of Gide is simple minded bullshit.

But Proust and Flaubert are excellent writers. Anyone who can't feel the movement of their prose must be anaesthetic to good writing.

Of the french writers I've read, I've enjoyed:
>la Rochefoucauld
>Flaubert
>Proust
>Fontenelle
>Hugo (poetry only)
>Rimbaud
>Verlaine
>Valery
>Robbe-Grillet
>Montaigne (some of the time)
>Queneau
>Genet
>Baudelaire (parts of his poetry, his prose is awful)
>Maupassant (minor writer but entertaining)
>Chateaubriand
>de la Bruyere

Racine, Corneille, and Moliere haven't aged as Shakespeare, Milton, and others have. Their writing is dated and their sentiments must always feel stiff and narrow to a wide reader. de la Fontaine is okay I guess.

It's worth learning French if you these writers interest you.

>>13731218
also Rabelais and Franz Hellens

>>13728578
Basado y gongorapastillado.

>>13728791
>France was producing the greatest art across the board from music to literature to visual art
He says while Krauts were producing guys like Nietzsche, Wagner, and Richard Strauss

>>13729702
>France is a decent contender with Germany for the first place in music
Absolutely fucking not

>>13731510
>Nietzsche
Lol

>>13731655
>French "philosophy"
LMAO cute

>>13728055
Español

>>13730814
triggeré

>>13731218
You forgot about Balzac.

>>13731943
Trash

>>13732207
t. retard

>>13728175
>>13728175
>dude the word COUNTRY has the word CUNT in it lmao
Real great writer you have their

>>13728175
>>13728175
>dude the word COUNTRY has the word CUNT in it lmao
Real great writer you have there

>>13732229
>>13732234
*they're

>>13728588
Every great novel simplified sounds retarded.

You have proven nothing except that you shouldnt be in /lit/

>>13732225
projecting cliche monger detected

>>13731534
And who would be?
Austria? Strong, but not in volume, which is fair for a smaller country.
I hope you're not a delusional Russian on the subject of music.

holy trinity is english french and german
way better than crap like japanese literature for example

>>13730814
Le québec c'est basé en vrai. Quand est-ce que vous vous laissez pousser des couilles et vous prenez votre indépendance?

>>13729269
Have you read Goethe? Germans have too MUCH soul (which is gay shit) if anything.

Tough question. Anglos never had anything as good as French decadents but also anything as bad as French existentialists.

>>13732430
>and german
fuck no. why would you ever put anyone from germany over tolstoy, pushkin, melville, dante, etc

>>13728175
Shakespeare isn't even the best English writer

>>13728198
Basé anon

>>13728891
One of the dumbest posts I've ever read

>>13731218
>voltaire is a hack
Based
>zola is a hack
Cringe

>>13728588
Leave

>>13730814
Based Québec.
Et merci pour les bibliothèques en ligne sans copyright.

>>13728163
Nique ta grand-mère, enculé de tes morts

>>13728163
Je vois que la perfide albion pointe le bout de son nez crochu, veilliez à ne pas être pris pour une poignée de porte.

What we've learned is never let your language be taught in Africa

>>13730814
Vive le Québec libre mon tarbernacle, comme on dit dans votre parler local.

>>13732381
Austria and Germany are part of the same tradition. Austrian music would be considered a subset of German.

But yes, the answer to your question would be either Russian or Italian.

>>13732932
This. Frogs BTFO

>>13732932
half of Africa speaks English...

>>13732292
* a dude goes home to his wife after winning a war
* a dude picked up some litter once, but it's hazmat, so his nephew has to walk across a continent to recycle it

>>13733540
Russia
>tchaikovsky - not my favorite but a major figure
>shostakovich
>skriabin - absolutely based
>stravinsky
>rachmaninoff
>schnittke

Italy
>corelli
>montverdi
>vivaldi
>rossini
>scarlatti
>verdi
>palestrina

>>13728588
Yeah, I'm thinking this is based.