My country has never produced any literary works of significance. How can I cope with this fact?
Our most acclaimed author copied her most popular work from an American writter. This is a woman that appears on our banknotes and whom we are made to read in school.
Besides, she's only known locally (as the rest of the authors from my country).
The fact she is held as the epitome of our literature is disappointing to say the least, but again there's not many options to choose from. Should I just not care at all about it?
It's ok if your country is a former colony and the language you use everyday does not correspond to your ethnicity. You never had the chance.
Yes, both of those apply to me
if that b***h got famous off copying, you should follow suit
What is it like being Canadian, OP?
Not Canada. Costa Rica actually, and the author's name is Carmen Lyra
>beautiful nature, sunshine, mamacitas, cheap rum, cigars and cocaine + a profoundly prosocial culture
There's the reason anon. Writing is almost always a neurotic and passive activity undertaken by anemic nerds who lack the vitality or opportunity to live a vita activa. Marcel Proust, languidly dreaming his life away in a daze is the paradigm - the rare exception to this paradigm would be a writer like Hunter S. Thompson railing five fingers of speed and a heroic dose of acid because he wants to live and feel with greater intensity, or Hemingway - both of whom moved to a climate similar to yours.
Now, how to cope: either enjoy the blessings bestowed upon you by being born where you were, or move far enough north that the sun doesn't rise for 3-4 months in the winter, and then do nothing but read Kierkegaard. You'll turn sufficiently neurotic soon enough. Whether that will produce any worthwhile literature, or just more frogposting is an open question - unfortunately for us, the odds are greatly in favor of frogposting.
This
was a reply to your post. However, thank you for reminding me of enjoying life and sunshine. I shall.
Do you have good folklore in Costa Rica?
Yes some stories are interesting. My favourites are the horror tales passed through generations and typically told to children. The problem is that many of these are not just Costa Rican, but are also present in Mexico and the rest of Central America. El Cadejos, La Tulevieja, La Mona and La Llorona are some examples. Aside from that, indigenous populations likely have kino folklore but I'm far from knowledgeable in it.
Aren't La Tulivieja y la Llorona essentially the same? I've never seen the difference between either. Except for the HUGE FUCCCEN TIDDIES la Tulivieja has
La Llorona was a mother who killed her children. La Tulivieja spreads milk through her ghost breasts or something. Not him btw
Ehem. You seriously don’t know this kino? The Most Violent Paradise?
https://theuntranslated.wordpress.com/2021/01/15/the-most-violent-paradise-el-mas-violento-paraiso-by-alexander-obando/
>~~*the untranslated*~~
He’s a homosexual but sometimes he posts cool books.
Costa Rica is a part of Latin America. Most people treat it all together as part of the same tradition. YOu can also take pride in works written in other countries, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and so on.
Latin America has some pretty good writers from what I've heard.
mediocre at best, but it's better than what the US offers lol
Oof, controversial statement. Prepare for personal attacks.
I mean America used to be like that and when we did get iconic “American authors” in the 1800s most of them were born in Britain not the USA. Our litterateur really took off around the 20th century. Sometimes it takes a few hundred years.
Also you have the chance to support or help create a well known author from your country.
I will concede that proactivity can be elusive during hot, humid days. However, the same case can be said for Colombia and we're all familiar with the magnificent works of García Márquez. Similarly, Guatemala -another Central American nation - has a Nobel Prize in Literature (Míguel Ángel Asturias). Costa Rica and its citizens have had a relatively peaceful and stable existence when compared to other Latin American countries, yet these conditions, which seem at first glance favorable, haven't been helpful in producing an internationally renown author or work. Perhaps it's chaos and demise what initially triggers good literature to appear. Many such cases of that exist.
Hey vecino, What do you think of Juan David Morgan? I believe he is the only Panamanian writer well known beyond here. I find him not bad.
Also, why do you guys can't spell the hard "R" correctly like Americans?
I hadn't heard of him, but that speaks more about my ignorace rather than his trajectory. About our 'Rs', our pronunciation is closer to how an English-speaking American would pronounce them. Albeit it does sound silly in Spanish. I have to make a conscious effort if I want to properly roll my Rs
Yeah, it's quite funny seeing how close we are yet how different our accents are.
Does this though about your local literature inspire you or demoralize you from attempting to write though?
I've seriously considered writing a novel twice, only to realize I dont know what I would like to write about and my prose is better in english than in spanish
What truly demoralizes me is how little people read over here. I've considered writing about the history of my town. As far as I know, nothing has ever been written about it. Surprising since it isn't a remote place and has been around for decades.
look at it as a chance to be the first
Literature is a cope for people who are too weak to live well in real life.
Do you know of any mongolian literature? No. Why? Because they are all gigachads IRL constantly riding horses, wrestling and fricking so they don't need to waste time on inventing fantasies to entertain themselves.
A certain degree of unhappiness and spare time is needed for writing and reading.
The Mongols were perhaps not from present day Mongolia.
>The Mongols were perhaps not from present day Mongolia.
where were they from
China or Estonia
All this cope
Have you guys ever been to costa rica
they are basically human sloths with moderately increased IQ
Any fellow Australians ITT?
Bulgaria has done nothing of more global note till basically this year with Time Shelter translation. Our lit cannon is mostly poetry that is ofc mostly for national consumption and some novels about the Balkan dillemma.
You could be Hungary. You could be a country that hasn't produced anything of real worth in a century and a half.
No literature at all is infinitely better than incessantly shitting out garbage, like cancer cells festering into a tumor.