Why are white people so bad at writing? I may open any Asian classic of note to immediately discover the most prodigious skill in the manipulation of language – poems written only with one consonant, stanzas whose letters arranged into geometrical patterns generate new messages, entire novels telling two narratives simultaneously, and so on – but nothing similar is to be found in European books. I have heard of a French novel that refrains from using the letter E throughout its length – a trifle compared to our oriental authors.
You will urge that there is more to literature than mere manipulation of sound. Very well, there is wit, image, invention: and here, too, the westerners come up short. I have read the author called Shakespeare, who is considered an original author by the Europeans, but even his inventions are comparatively simple. He will, for instance, compare the SUN to a PERSON CLOTHED IN A RED GARMENT, he will liken TIME to a SHADOW, or a HANDSOME YOUTH to a DAY IN SUMMER. But this is nothing. One needs only think of those similes of Magha, which will compare a WATERFALL to a SUICIDE, a WARRIOR SEARCHING FOR HIS WOUNDED COMRADES to a GRAMMARIAN LOOKING FOR IRREGULAR VERBS, or a BOW DISCHARGING AN ARROW to a HARLOT THROWING OUT HER PATRON. I could relate any number of further examples, but they would be superfluous.
Those who recommend to me the study of European letters often praise their books for their authenticity, social realism, and originality: but these seem to me but vague terms of approbation, applicable even to the works of primitive and brutish nations. Surely the folktales of Hottentots and Calmycks will be authentic and give a just portrait of their manners, and will be original, or novel, to the student of literature previously unacquainted with them. To elevate these trivial merits to literary accomplishment is nothing but to degrade the art of writing further.
What do you think, IQfy? Are European languages simply unsuited to literature? Or is there something in the European mind that holds them from literary accomplishment?
> I may open any Asian classic of note to immediately discover the most prodigious skill in the manipulation of language – poems written only with one consonant, stanzas whose letters arranged into geometrical patterns generate new messages, entire novels telling two narratives simultaneously, and so on – but nothing similar is to be found in European books
Unironically have a nice day posthaste, OP
Why? Am I wrong? If there are European equivalents, feel free to point them out
Not a pasta
>this racebait shit is pretty boring tbqhwyf
I just think it's interesting to compare the literature of different civilizations
>I just think it's interesting to compare the literature of different civilizations
Nothing you’re saying is interesting, nor are you comparing civilizations, you’re just shitting on white people because I guess you got triggered when this board told you anime sucks. Frick off back to IQfy
>entire novels telling two narratives simultaneously, and so on
It could be a translation issue, but seeing this done in the major Chinese classics just left me pretty unimpressed with all of them, even if they were pretty good stories.
Weeaboos need to die
And yet neither you nor anyone else can name an Asian writer that would actually hold a candle to any of the authors in your picture if demystified of the foreign oriental fetishist aura and laid bare.
Very strange of you to say since I just compared an European and an Asian author, was I too mysterious in that?
is this pasta? this racebait shit is pretty boring tbqhwyf
Better narrative structure, generally, plus a much longer literary history.
Western works rarely have multiple narratives, stories within stories, multiple plot arcs, etc. that is found in Eastern storytelling. Perhaps it's an effect of Christianity's linear view of history, perhaps it's simply the absence of thousands of years of civilization, I don't know. Generally aristocrats in western societies were not well educated, and the belle epoque, which saw a flourishing of creativity, was immediately followed by the capitalist deluge which reduced all literature to the level of chatter shopkeepers and their gossiping wives.
We had a chance, at the very start, to create good art. We could have followed the lighthearted, comidic, tragic, searching, wonderful stylings of Herodotus. But instead we chose to disparage him for the dry, punctual, matter of factness of Thucydides. Sometimes a Shakespeare, a Pound, a Borges will emerge and show us what we're missing, but generally it's a sea of trash that has to be waded through for a rare gem.
I'm not sure I agree with you on better narrative structure, certainly the oriental books at occasion have very complex and intricate plots (in my opinion a mark of skill) but quite simple ones as well, I'm not sure what way the comparison would turn
A longer literary history I definitely disagree with, the Europeans generally date their histories from Homer, giving their literature a duration of 2700 or so - but in China, the Odes continued to be influential until the destruction of the empire, and modern Sanskrit poets continue to take their episodes from Valmiki. The differences are not that big.
What Chinese works did you read? I might have phrased that better, but when I say "telling two narratives simultaneously" I mean that any given sentence in the book may be read in two ways, each of them being part of their own narrative
The problem I have with that version of literary history is that the works of the Greeks were not introduced into Western Europe untill the fall of Constantinople, where they were mostly translated from Arabic.
There could be a convincing case of Western Literary history starting with the Greeks, followed by the Romans, a thousand years of Arabic conquest, and finally the torch being passed to Western Europe. But unfortunately for various political reasons Westerners don't like to consider the millennium of Islamic conquest as a valid part of their literary history (which lays the ground for Dante, Protestantism, and the Western tendancy towards world historical narratives), so there is a thousand year gap in the history of Western thought.
>overdoing it with flowery comparisons
>using exaggeration and hyperbole to the extent of ridiculousness
>prefering gimmicks over substance
this sums up a lot of Asian literature (Hindu myths, Arabian poetry, Chinese legends...). it's inspiring at first, later it feels stale.
Nah, he has a point, the how should be as (if not more) important as the what. Good works of literature can't be "spoiled".
>prefering gimmicks over substance
What is "substance" to you?
>alliteration
Alliteration is the device used to produce the end result I mentioned
>concrete poetry
not the same, what I mean is pic related
>KEKW I'm not going to mention anything on this, but this is way too common specially with pop books.
I don't mean a novel that has two plots, I mean that every single sentence can be understood has two different meanings which are part of two different narratives
Yes, but there are still things like that. I can remember one shitting on "coca cola". I can't think of anything similar to that circle thing, is there a youtube video or something with someone reciting all readings of it? I'm kinda curious now.
I can remember of some songs that could be understood as different narratives, but I don't think I know any books like that.
>is there a youtube video or something with someone reciting all readings of it
>I can remember of some songs that could be understood as different narratives
Can you post them
oh meant to say i know no video of it
It is in Portuguese, but I'm sure there are other ones.
This one if you are curious about it, but again, it is in Portuguese. It is basically a "bunch of people" talking random things.
Not exactly random, they do form their own narratives, but they seem random when you don't look carefuly at them.
What are you even talking about? All those things have names.
>poems written only with one consonant,
alliteration
>stanzas whose letters arranged into geometrical patterns generate new messages,
concrete poetry
>entire novels telling two narratives simultaneously, and so on
KEKW I'm not going to mention anything on this, but this is way too common specially with pop books.
captcha ASTR0