Recently, I finished reading 'Siddharta' by Hermann Hesse and I absolutely fell in love with the book. It was so.....refreshing. I can't describe it, but I can recommend it.
Anyways, when I finished reading the book, I looked up Hesse and saw that he was a German writer. Now, that sparked some curiousity.
What other foreign writers have such powerful text? Siddharta has the most wonderful syntax and irony that the book seems much too short. Plus, it was originally written in German, so who knows what wonderful meanings translators might have lost.
One book I've been dying to read is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. This book was originally written in Chinese in the 6th Century! Yet despite being hundreds of years old, it still has much influence over Eastern and Western military thinking. Why is that? Is it because the book is completely devoted to war? Or because the author (Sun Tzu) is some sort of legendary hero?
Or maybe it's simply because the book is Chinese and people always have a fascination of foreign....everything?!
Did you know that Ghandi was a writer? Me either!
But yeah, he had several published works. He usually wrote in Gujarati, though he revised the Hindi and English translations of his books. His writings were actually quite influential because he wrote about things from non-violence to vegetarinism. During the 50's and 60's, the ideas published in Ghandi's works were embraced by Martin Luther King Jr. There's also a Season of Non-Violence that's being celebrated as a way to embrace the non-violence ideas and works of Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi.
So this goes to show you that a little writing goes a long way, despite the language it was originally written in!
Click below to get just a hint of what wonderful foreign literature is out there. (Yes, William Shakespeare is foreign. He's British. He wrote in English that is so old, it can be considered foreign. So let's call him foreign for now. It's up for debate. But the entire list isn't made up of foreign writers anyways.)
Link: http://www.contentwriter.in/articles/others/famous-books-plays.htm
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8 comments:
vanessa,
what is this book about? would you reccomend it to other people? why does the book seem short?
i also did not know that Ghandi was a writer. how did you know that ghandi was a writer?
Dear Vanessa,
After reading your blog and thinking about what you said it is true many of the books written and writers that are out there are foreign. Based on my opinion we sometimes talk about the books that we enjoy and about the persons who wrote them, but we usually never pay attention to where these writers come from.
I think that people who like to read know where some author's are from, but those who don't pay attention to reading as much may say that people who write books are Americans. I don't like to read a lot, but if I find books that I find interesting I would read them. Its nice to know that there are a lot of writers that are from other countries that write really good books what do you think?
Hey Flower,
I commend you for your passion over books, literature and the art that they unfold within them. I think that you are the most passionate reader i have ever met. I actually envy you for that.
I agree with you. When works are translated you start to wonder if that's what they really intended to say or convey. Makes things feel a little "iffy".
I did not know that shakespeare is now foreign! That is so weird.
Anyways, good blog.
byes.
(today was fun)
Hey there,
I just finished reading your blog and i got really interested in that ancient book you mentioned, the art of war something like that. Well I just wanted to say that books and their central messages are always great to the mind and never obscene, well maybe.
Can you tell me where to get that book?
Holla Vanessita,
Well i just finished reading your blog...
Never in my life have i heard about the tittles of the books which you have read or are planning to raed. I admire the way you talk about books and how you feel towards them, you have a special gift that many dont which is to see the real beauty which books hold. I have never been atracted to books i guess its in my genes. I want to try to get more in touch with litirecal side and would like to know if you have any recomendations of a book that would change my views in literature and how i feel towards it .
thank you
i hope you can help
Hey Vanessa,
Hmm who may anonymous be? So I read the comments that the other readers made and it is true. That most of us like books from foreign authors that we may not even know of. But hey thats the wonders of reading right. Wow so you can consider Shakespeare foreign? I've would've never thought of him as foreign. Great Job Nessa
VFM -- Yes, Siddhartha is lovely. If you are feeling the flare for Eastern writers let me recommend a Sufi: Hafiz (The Gift) and Rushdie (Midnight's Children). The first is old, old love poetry between a mystic and his God; the second the is witty, intelligent, postmodern political commentary by a man under fatwa.
to anonymous:
well, you can get Siddharta in the library, but I feel that it's always best to own your own copy of great literature. The book is by Hermann Hesse, so you can google it and maybe get a cheaper copy on amazon.com
Happy late New Year!
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