Is this the greatest novel ever written?

Is this the greatest novel ever written?

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Petersburg by Andrei Bely.

yes

maybe

It was quite a bit funnier than I'd imagined. Not in the way comedy is usually "funny" grappling irony and contradiction.

Greatest? Nah! That's a title guarded by the gods. Who's to say? And when they do, who wouldn't speak against it?

It has stood the test of time. The Don is up there.. How high? Next to what? Who knows.

Literary studies isn't an exact science you know.

I don’t know, I only read it the first eleven or so chapters before I had to move and leave it behind, but I see the sentiment express often and I am dubious... because I find it dubious that a first and foremost comedic work—so not a more serious work with comedic elements, but a proper fullfledged comedy—could be the “greatest” anything. Is the effect of Don Quixote really as moving or impressive as Anna Karenina, for instance?
It’s been established since the Aristotle that comedy is inferior to tragedy.

My friend! There is nothing that compares to tragicomedy.

>Thinks Quixote is a comedy when its a tragedy

>nuh uh

You haven't even read the book faggot. You're opinion is retarded

That was not me. I am ignoring you because your objectifly wrong.

That's a funny way to spell "Ulysses".
But Quixote is pretty amazing in its own way.
The last few chapters show Quixote becoming a realist and dying extremely bitter.

Shut up retard.

>The last few chapters show Quixote becoming a realist and dying extremely bitter.
Interesting, that could redeem it from being nothing more than frivolous laughfare, but I’ll have to read it to see. I can say at least that the quality of the writing itself was very high, so I look forward to reading it.

Shoo, pestilent little fly, shoo!

>frivolous laughfare
That's probably the most pseud thing I've read

people who take so long to say so little are a scourge upon the earth

Equally so are those that believe the long sigh to be worthy in the first place

That’s my opinion, and Aristotle’s, for the record, of the comedy. You can be disagreement but it not “pseud” by any means.
What is pseud is calling nonpseud things pseud. Because this is tryhard. You are trying too hard to not be pseud. Just relax.

What?

You’re a pseud.

Because I called you a pseud? What a pseud thing to say

Everyone is this thread is both overreacting and underreacting. Put your dicks away gentlemen.

>I find it dubious that a first and foremost comedic work [...] could be the “greatest” anything.

retard

Yes, because it was unwarranted and reflected a desparation to not be a pseud yourself. Like if you called your dog a pseud. You are posturing needlessly.
Thank you for participating. It was brave.

Reddit Reddit Reddit Reddit Reddit Reddit

My dick stays OUT, Faith Popcorn

Pseud

>Edith Grossman
No.

Moby-Dick; or, the Whale

ulysses is just a monumental jackoff session and its sole contribution to literature is being a milestone for academic nobodies to take empty pride in having read all of its worthless modernist viewpoints. don quixote is at once a satire of timeless and universal human nature at its core while also being a celebration of it and is a far stronger story because of this central theme.

her translation is the best yet and actually appreciates the humor of the first book and the melancholy of the second.

also a strong contender. but cervantes knew when to reign it in with the dated chivalric tales, melville didn't know when to shut the fuck up about the technicalities of whaling. regardless it's still an exemplary work of fiction

The whaling chapters always have several meanings which are mostly lost on a first reading. Look at for example the sphynx, the try-works, the carpenter, the spirit spout, the whiteness of the whale, etc. Here's the end of the chapter Brit for example

>Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began.

>Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!

Melville explores the depths not only of man but of the world as well.

>Ulysses
I like asceticism in my literature, Ulysses is just Joyce’s ego in prose form

It’s unironically Finnegans Wake, but Don Quixote comes pretty close

Correct

Why isn't ego a valid source of artistic expression?

>Melville explores the depths not only of man but of the world as well.
There's a way to do that without expounding the history and technicalities of whaling. Its prose is god-tier for sure, but the book is riddled with tedium.

>Finnegans Wake
No, user. Definitely not.

Been meaning to read it, but apparently it's a fantastic read. Even better if you can read it in Spanish.

The 17th century welcomed Don Quijote with laughter, the 18th with a smile, and the 19th with a tear.

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fucking wonderful taste, i never see that mentioned here

It’s mentioned here pretty often, actually.

This. Grossman's version should be titled "Don Quixote for Dummies"

And it shouldn't have Cervantes name in it, tbqh

Anna Karenina

Again, reread those chapters you find tedious and see if there is not actually an important aspect of them you missed.

Let me guess, was it Nabakov that made you read it? It's pretty good but probably not the best ever, read Shakespeare.

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>melville didn't know when to shut the fuck up about the technicalities of whaling

Honestly when does this happen? I'm halfway through the book and there hasn't been that much. I'm starting to feel like it's the catalog of ships exaggeration all over again.

Is Tobias Smollett a good translation?