I will concede Mahfouz is worthy of note, but the others aren't really all that significant. Oh, I'm sure there are good writers in any language, but there aren't a lot of must-reads in those languages.
I'm confident that I could read modern Hebrew with slight assistance from a dictionary, considering that I know Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, and most of the simplifications to modern Hebrew are Aramaicisms. Not that I think I'd be that driven to read anything in modern Hebrew, but I think I could.
I have read books in Chinese before and I have no problem reading them again if something spectacular comes out.
I'm confident that I could read modern Hebrew with slight assistance from a dictionary, considering that I know Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, and most of the simplifications to modern Hebrew are Aramaicisms. Not that I think I'd be that driven to read anything in modern Hebrew, but I think I could.
I have read books in Chinese before and I have no problem reading them again if something spectacular comes out.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
I think I'm through with translations
- 29/12/2010 04:53:47 AM
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Well, you might need it for part of José María Arguedas' Los ríos profundos
- 29/12/2010 05:56:31 AM
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I'm sure they're good writers, but are they GREAT writers?
- 29/12/2010 10:14:11 PM
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Thiong'o is
- 29/12/2010 10:46:00 PM
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Since I can read Spanish the question of who is or isn't great in Spanish is moot.
- 29/12/2010 11:57:18 PM
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I agree on the Spanish
- 30/12/2010 12:47:30 AM
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If the Kalevala were actually historic I might be tempted.
- 30/12/2010 05:27:00 AM
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It's a common 19th century thing, I'll admit
- 30/12/2010 10:49:42 PM
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Sadly, a lot of people STILL think The Da Vinci Code was historically accurate.
- 31/12/2010 12:04:40 AM
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Ha!
- 31/12/2010 03:53:32 AM
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Norwegian? or other Scandinavian languages?
- 29/12/2010 01:44:46 PM
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No, no interest.
- 29/12/2010 10:10:26 PM
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Re: No, no interest.
- 29/12/2010 10:11:45 PM
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I'm basing this on others not being translated or mentioned or discussed. *NM*
- 29/12/2010 10:14:48 PM
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Seriously?
- 29/12/2010 11:24:34 PM
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I'm dismissing authors that don't have general acceptance in the literary canon.
- 30/12/2010 12:01:18 AM
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You are only going to read what people read in college?
- 30/12/2010 12:08:43 AM
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Let me state it otherwise: no one outside Scandinavia reads those people.
- 30/12/2010 05:25:28 AM
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August Strindberg definitely is a big name. And as for Blixen...
- 30/12/2010 07:00:42 PM
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Ew...Out of Africa...I hated that movie.
- 30/12/2010 09:41:35 PM
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See my point? 
- 30/12/2010 10:23:27 PM
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- 30/12/2010 10:23:27 PM
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Oh, and I read and loved Kierkegaard.
- 29/12/2010 10:15:05 PM
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in translation? *NM*
- 29/12/2010 11:58:13 PM
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Yes, in translation. I don't know Danish and am not going to learn. *NM*
- 30/12/2010 12:02:14 AM
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Seems to me like you're just ignoring the books in languages you don't speak, tbh...
- 29/12/2010 09:58:15 PM
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None of those people sound interesting.
- 29/12/2010 10:09:08 PM
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Odd question prompted by this. Has The Lord of the Rings ever been published in Elvish? *NM*
- 01/01/2011 04:21:21 AM
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