Books/literature23 messages

what is the difference between French literature and German literature?

I'm making a wild guess : the language?

Different capital letters in the title ?????

I can read one, but not the other?

indeed, the language, why then include the type of French literature and German literature as a type in books and also have to specify the language?

Can that not just be literature, which I do by the way? not even encountered by sorts, only literary thriller, but literary novels then?

Or am I going on slippery ice once more?

It would indeed be better to have the kind of 'Literature', separate from the language. Then we have to remove Dutch, German and French literature as a type and replace it with Literature. This combination of 'types' date back to the era when it was more difficult to filter on the combination of type and language.

I think it has more to do with the original language. You also have translated English, French, German and Dutch literature. Shakespeare is English literature regardless of the language of the book.

The term "literature" is more problematic.

It is probably why I did not understand the question.
English literature remains English literature, even if it is translated into Dutch, French, German, ...

but what is so special about English literature compared to German literature that it would need that addition. It remains literature, no more no less. So Jan de Hartog writes both American literature and Dutch literature? What is so specifically different about American books than Dutch books?

Literature is all about the content of the book, not a women's romance. And whether that is in Swahili or Dutch, it doesn't matter, does it?

It is probably why I did not understand the question.
English literature remains English literature, even if it is translated into Dutch, French, German, ...

Oh yes, indeed. I had overlooked this for a moment.

and yes Rene, you are right if you put it that way, but to establish that detour as the only truth does not seem right to me. So now you have more options, so it can be restored ...

The term "literature" is more problematic.

And so it is.

dan kom ik weer terug op de vraag: wat is er specifiek anders in de Engelse literatuur dan in de Duitse literatuur? Niets toch? Als je van beide de vertaling hebt en je weet geen schrijver en geen oorspronkelijke titel, kun je dan zeggen dat de een Engels is en de ander Duits?

Wat is er problematisch aan de titel "literatuur??

Lees dit maar eens

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literatuur 

then I come back to the question: what specifically is different in English literature than in German literature? Nothing right? If you have the translation of both and you know neither author nor original title, can you say that one is English and the other German?

What's problematic about the title "literature??

Just read this

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature

Ask an English teacher if they care if their students read Jane Eyre or an English translation of Madame Bovary or Faust .

Jan de Hartog, I don't know, did he also write in English? Someone like Kader Abdolah belongs to Dutch literature, even though he comes from Iran.

Literature is problematic because it provides an intrinsic value judgment. For example, is Agatha Christie literature? And why or not? And is everything Mulisch has written by definition literature?

The entire Species section is an unstructured whole anyway, but I believe that has been discussed before.

Jan de Hartog, ik weet het niet, schreef die ook het Engels

Een aantal boeken van Jan de Hartog zijn wel eerder in het Engels verschenen, maar of het daarom Engelse literatuur is, weet ik niet

oa 1397893 t.o.v. 17031

Jan de Hartog, I don't know, also wrote it in English

A number of Jan de Hartog's books have been published in English before, but I do not know whether they are therefore English literature

eg 1397893 compared to 17031

Jan de Hartog even emigrated to America and then wrote in English.

You will always have the discussion about value judgment whether you call it English literature or literature, there is no difference. And just look at the link I have given ...

And with those teachers it is only about having read a book in that language, nothing more.

I even had to take an oral exam in German with a book list. I got to the examiners and the first thing they asked: can I see your book list. "I don't have that", like all the papers down "so, we'll get that". But the teacher asked, a little anxiously, "haven't you read something in German?" Yes (an Illustrated Classic) "Wilhelm Tell", well then we are going to ask you questions about that ... with flying colors ... not read a letter in German ...

The fact that you bluffed your way through the exam doesn't prove much. Wilhelm Tell is indeed considered part of German literature. If it had been written by a Frenchman you would not have gotten away with it.

The entire Species section is an unstructured whole anyway, but I believe that has been discussed before.

You are right about that. Suggestions for a more balanced list are still welcome.

That's almost as complicated as Genres in music. Terms such as Roman, Poetry and Play are almost mutually exclusive, but Roman and Literature are of very different levels. Play and Theater are terms that seem identical, but are about resp. fiction (the genre Play) and non-fiction (the subject or theme Theater). not to venture for the time being.

@Bookstore

did I say the opposite? That Wilhelm Tell does not belong to German-language literature ????

Moreover, the origin does not play a role, the language area does, where would all those Belgian writers who write in Dutch be? These are considered part of the Dutch literature area.

Maybe I misunderstood you, but I took your anecdote as an example of the preceding sentence:

And those teachers are just about putting a book in that language, nothing more.

This means that it doesn't matter who wrote a book, as long as you read it in a certain language. Then you could also have spoken in German about William Golding's Herr der Fliegen . Or not?

indeed

And although I should have only read something from German writers, every book has a Dutch translation, so you can never check it ...

Bull shit, a good teacher can read through that in no time.

Classical, for example, used to be (before the films) all those students who went wrong because they started talking about Frodo Baggins during their oral English. They also only read the translation and were promptly unsatisfactory. :-)