Which book do you consider the most impressive achievement?

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I've only read Inferno so my vote counts less, but I think Shakespeare takes the crown. I recently read Titus Andronicus and it was amazing.

Most of the latin is actually translated in the original, or at least paraphrased.

Damascius Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles

Finnegans Wake

what's your reasoning for this

Los Sorias

heh I know this book

Impressive wordsmithing, magnificent architecture, neverending mystery. Literature peaked with this book.

A bookshop near me has that edition of the decline and fall of the roman empire. I haven't checked the price, but knowing the place it is sure to be ghastly.

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>le obscure references man

The Conspiracy Against the Human Race.

Is the English translation by a jew? Her name is
Sara Ahbel-Rappe. Sounds jewy

Definitely not Gibbon

Calvino's masterpiece is If on a winter's night a traveler.

Dante's Divine Comedy is what I would consider to be an achievement. For the time it was written it's mindblowing.

don't get memed into reading this book. it isn't going to cure you.

Real Ultimate Power

my nigga

Heart of Darkness, only because I greatly admire Conrad's mastery of English prose when English was his third or fourth language.

The Sound and the Fury, because the profundity, writing, and apparently universal applicability to nearly every facet of life is almost biblical. How often I have deep conversations with the people that I have deep conversations with and something is said that brings me back to a passage or motif in that novel. On top of that, it was written by a drunk redneck.

The writing style far too often overshadows the thematic analysis of the novel when it is studied. If more people read and sincerely understood this novel people wouldn't be so ugly to each other.

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It's obviously Newton's principia or Darwin's on the origin of species.

you know i never read The sound and the fury but have been keen on it for a while, anything you would recommend before just picking it up and reading it?

Unfortunately it depends; Faulkner's style, especially in TSATF, is extremely hard to parse until you get into his rhythm. I had three or four false starts before I ever got past the first section. Most people say start with As I Lay Dying, and it WILL get you acquainted with some of Faulkner's techniques, but I myself don't see a ton of overlap in technique between the two novels where it's important. Give it a try if you want; it's a good novel in its own right. But if it doesn't keep you I'd say just bite the bullet and dive on into TSATF. Go slow, take notes, write down thoughts, and keep an eye out for shifts in time.

The Sound and the Fury is my favourite novel and the first Faulkner I read. I'd say just go for it. I read it in about a week and didn't take any notes or anything like that, but if it makes you more comfortable I'd do that. Once you get through Benjy's section at the start it becomes more palatable, although people often say Quentin's section is just as (if not more) difficult. Ultimately though the writing style serves the content and it's the themes which stick with you. An unforgettable read and one which I return to every so often and just simply read a few pages to admire the beauty. Faulkner's style is difficult but often the focus is on cadence. If you're struggling try reading it out loud, I find that helps and helps get into Faulkner's rhythm. Good luck. Faulkner is truly the goat.

Does it mean I'm retarded if I found Benjy's section to be the most enjoyable and easiest to read.

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how is it mindblowing for the time? havent read it yet

Gulag archipelago - even if you think its mostly made up the trouble he went through to write it and have it published is rather impressive in addition to it being a monumental work in size.

I think it matters. Impressive in what way?
Are we talking about the amount of effort in actually making the book, or is this another thread about what do we think is the best book period, because I think those are 2 different things.

And if we are talking about the creation process, should we take into account other factors than just the pure wordsmithing. For example decorations ie. illuminated manuscripts, time/place period, would it be hard for the author to get information, or materials, or the work itself is plan impressive for the time? Another might be translated pieces. there are some remarkably well (and poorly) translated pieces from some time periods.

>Muslims own your country now
>your language, identity, and history is being forgotten
>devote your life to travelling around gathering as many stories and pieces of language as you can
>compose the history into an elder god tier epic poem using as much of your language as possible instead of writing in Arabic
>become a foundational cornerstone of your people's language on a level far greater than even Shakespeare
In terms of achievement you can't be Ferdowsi, he poured his whole soul into preserving language and history and largely succeeded, the fact that it is also a literary masterpiece and not just a boring collection of prose is just the cherry on top.

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I've thought this too.

>"Villain, I have done thy mother"
shakespeare was a pimp

Well since I’m an Anglo I’ll say Hamlet. But if you allow translations it’s rhe Symposium. Western Civilization in a book.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

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Unironically Finnegans Wake

Brothers Karamazov

>if you allow translations it’s rhe Symposium. Western Civilization in a book.
it's literally about pederasty

James Burnhams, 'the Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom'. I haven't seen any other book so perfectly put forward the groundwork for understanding politics.

t. Picasso