01-18-2010, 05:09 PM | #256 |
tragic
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Pre 20th Century literature was mostly just the popular lit of the period .Some is damned hard to read if not impossible.But at leastat their is a ripping yarn (war vampires monsters mystery and murder). Us phillistines love a ripping yarn , but modern literature is plane boring navel gazing dross.
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01-18-2010, 05:35 PM | #257 | ||
Wizard
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I have a (supposedly) good modern translation of the Iliad - and you made me want to read it. I'm very much in favour of translations that can convey language in a contemporary way when we deal with ancient works. Often we read 100+ year old translations and they sound - rightly - oldfashioned. But for 1000 year old (or older) texts, I think it's better to look for a translation that work well in the current language. |
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01-18-2010, 05:35 PM | #258 |
Guru
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Most people don't have the means to hire a private tutor to learn Latin and Ancient Greek. I envy those who had the opportunity to learn these languages in school. My school system barely taught English.
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01-18-2010, 05:41 PM | #259 | |
Wizard
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Seriously, I would have loved an introduction to latin and classical greek. As it is, I've had to do it myself |
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01-18-2010, 07:27 PM | #260 | |
Warrior Princess
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I have got my hands on Byatt's "The Children's Book", and will begin reading it shortly. It may have been that I didn't enjoy Possession as much as I should have because it is a romance novel, I do read romance novels from time to time but it is not my favourite genre by any stretch of the imagination. Also, I came into reading the book with high expectations for it, so maybe I was setting myself up to be overly critical. There were many elements of the book that I enjoyed, however, so I will be glad to try another novel by A.S. Byatt. |
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01-18-2010, 07:59 PM | #261 |
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(1) I have neglected this string for a while. I came back and found that a Homer war has broken out. (Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition.) I'm in favor of Homer.
(2) Rereading has been mentioned in several posts. We're presumably talking about real literature here, not transient trash. Any literary work that is worth reading, is worth rereading. I find it especially valuable to reread immediately, or almost immediately, after a first reading. The first time I am concerned with the basic story. The second time, I pick up details and subtleties I missed the first time through. (3) The original post referred to works published before 1960. If I may take the liberty of stretching that by two years, my own nominee is To Kill A Mockingbird, a book ostensibly about race, but really about class. The black characters are not real people, but strips of litmus paper whose only function is to tell the good white people from the bad white people. The good white people are, for the most part, the respectable sort. People like Harper Lee, in other words. The bad white people are the rednecks. |
01-18-2010, 10:59 PM | #262 |
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01-19-2010, 02:57 AM | #263 |
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You don't need a tutor - lots of excellent "self-study" courses around. I certainly wasn't taught either in school; I learned them independently as an adult. Let me know if you want recommendations.
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01-19-2010, 04:01 AM | #264 | |
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01-19-2010, 05:09 AM | #265 | |
The Introvert
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1. You must have a huge vocabulary, if you want to read a book and enjoy the content instead of breaking up concentration and looking every other word in a dictionary. 2. You must know its grammar well enough to understand subtleties and different shades of the language, thus different situations. In order to master even one foreign language to this level you must invest an incedible amount of time, even if you are talented you still need the vocabulary. Studying a new language to a level required to enjoy a book and understand it better than if you read a professional translation (really understand all the emotions, not just getting the gist), will require as much time as changing your career, or more.... |
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01-19-2010, 05:22 AM | #266 | |
Wizard
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01-19-2010, 05:31 AM | #267 | |
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I didn't learn Greek or Latin in school either, and I don't even think either of them are offered in many high schools. In Croatia many high schoolers learn pretty basic latin, and while Greek is offered in some schools those are few and far between. My first Latin textbook was the famous "Wheelock's Latin Course", which is a great introduction, IMO. For Greek, I think the Athenaze courses don't look too bad. (In my Greek course we didn't use a textbook, we used a reference grammar and an excercise book). Also, there are some great editions of Greek and Latin texts that have extensive vocabulary notes coupled with a few lines of text per page, so that you learn vocabulary by actually reading original text. A great example of this is Pharr's edition of Virgil's "Aeneid". Also, there are free programs and sites such as "Perseus Project" and "Diogenes" which allow you to read original Greek and Latin text, but when you click on a word you don't know the dictionary entry for it pops up. A great tool for people who want to read text but don't want to keep running to their dictionary every 2 seconds. Happy reading! |
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01-19-2010, 05:46 AM | #268 | |
The Introvert
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For example, for people from Western Europe it is easier to learn English, German, Spanish, Italian, French then for other people. I know for sure that for Swedish people it is a lot easier to learn English than for Bulgarians. They also start to learn the language at earlier age. What I said applies to adults and languages that are not similar to our mother tongue. |
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01-19-2010, 05:48 AM | #269 | |
The Introvert
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We will see how many years it will take and how many years/hours of boring memorising of words to build up your vocabulary. Just passive vocabulary, I am not talking about active, you don't need it for reading books. |
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