Everybody knows and loves/hates Russian lit. We have to remember that there's a shitload of minor literatures all around it, theoretically stemming from the same root - Slavic.
I'm talking about Ukrainians, Belarussians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenians, Croats, Serbs, Bosnians, Bulgarians and Macedonians.
They surely must've written at least something interesting, haven't they?
Ivo Andrić, Danilo Kiš, Milorad Pavić, Desanka Maksimović, Vladislav Dis, Milan Rakić
Those are the first I could think of.
Poles and Chechz are the most cultured out of the bunch and have the most authors. Best known must be Lem and Hasek.
THE WITCHER
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Gogol
>>6390253
>Gogol
He said not Russian.
>>6390253
He wrote in the Russian language gosh dammit
>>6390258
nabokov then.
Sapkovsky
>>6390254
Was Ukrainian, tard
>>6390281
>Ukrainian
Topniy kek, drug.
Who is Kundera ?
Nigga art thou even trying ?
What about the guy who wrote about turning into a bug or some shit
>>6390410
Kafuka? Kafenka? The fuck if I can remember the name of these guys.
C O N R A D
Bulgarian here. We have pretty good authors I think. It's a small country, we don't get much love.
Under the Yoke is our most famous book. Tutun is good too (means Tobacco). Most famous authors are Ivan Vazov, Hristo Botev, Aleko Konstantinov etc.
This is from my fave http://www.slovo.bg/showwork.php3?AuID=386&WorkID=13571&Level=1
>>6390904
>not slaveykov
Poles are the best
>>6390954
Yes. The Street of Crocodiles is phenomenal.
>>6390211
the guy that wrote, quiet flows the don
>>6390253
>>6390281
>>6390857
>Gogol wasn't Russian DURR
What do you mean, he wasn't Russian? What else is he ought to have been? There was no Ukraine in the 19th century and there was no Ukrainian nationalism; yet you always keep namedropping Gogol. Why? He wasn't even writing in the dialects of which the "Ukrainian language" now claims to be the standard form; it wasn't Shevchenko or Kotlyarevskiy. He had some folksy stories set in what now is the Ukraine. But he also used Saint Petersburg and this place between Moscow and Kazan. If he be Ukrainian then Jules Verne was Chinese. I've never seen them Ukrophiles drop Babel, Sholom Aleykhem, Stanislaw Lem or Bulgakov; they are all about as Ukrainian. They've been born there. And yet you come with Gogol. Why? Because you'd like to think you're Taras Bulba? And Lem reminds you you have genocided all your Poles?
>>6391604
Sholokhov? The Don Cossacks got recognized as a separate ethnicity indeed. It was in 2010 IIRC. I guess Krasnov is spinning in his grave.
![46973-004-70269858[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/0y6s3sy.jpg "46973-004-70269858[1].jpg")
Anachrasis
Tell me about Slavs. Why do they always crouch?
![big_1233793[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/AZ0KPqw.jpg "big_1233793[1].jpg")
>>6391742
Because of boundless slavic soul, large heavy heart and windy head.
Czech here, we do have a bretty gud literary tradition in bohemistan in my opinion, though there's relatively few authors who ever achieved international renown (still, I think it's a big achievement, considering how small our country is). Prague has always been one of the prime european centers of culture, and especially in the 19th and early 20th century, before the communism came and bumfucked almost all culture/phillosophy/spirituality into oblivion.
The probably most well-known 'czech' write is (for some maybe surprise surprise) Kafka. With him it's kind of complicated though, because he was a jew and wrote in german, so it hard to pin him as an authentically czech writer.
Moving on, someone mentioned Hasek, and yeah, this guy is one of the prime candidates of czech literature. The Good Soldier Svejk is a great book, a lot of people hail it as a satire of the WW1 political war machine and the dehumanisation it brought to the people who were conscripted, personally I don't know about that, but then again it might be, Hasek was an anarchist in the early stage of his life.
Other great author of czech literature is Hrabal, and this one is even relatively well-known outside the czech borders. He has a very peculiar writing style in most of his novels, in a way that he uses as little punctuation as humanly possible and also a very subjective tone (often in 1st person), so the novels end up looking like continuous streams of consciousness, not unlike some of the experimental novels of the beat generation (I've read only Kerrouac though, sue me) but a bit less arty and more naturalistic, I'd say.
Personally, my favourite figure of czech literature is Konstantin Biebl. He was a poet and I doubt that you can find his works translated somewhere in english, but his work somehow manages to be very sublime and at the same time extremely intimate, like only a few other poets worldwide that I've read (I'm not really keen on poetry usually, but I like me some Blake).
If someone's interested, I can post more interesting czech authors, I just have a hard time coming up with them off the top of my head.
>>6391742
No chairs and dirty floors
>>6391742
That's really an eastern slav thing. Dunno why it occurs though.
One thing that really amazed me was, though, when I was on holiday in Russia. Before then, I always thought that the russian wearing tracksuit is a just a silly stereotype. That was before I arrived to Novosibirsk airport. I mean, literally every fourth person had an adidas tracksuit on, and that's counting the uniformed airport workers. Literally. It was paired either with white-ish sport sneakers or black leather shoes. I still shiver when I think about it.
Seriously Russia, what's up with you and track suits?
![sitting_02[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/pN5ojgy.jpg "sitting_02[1].jpg")
>>6391814
You know nothing, Jon Snow.
Why are western Slavs so civilized compared to their eastern and southern brethren?
>>6391742
Or perhaps they wonder why someone would sit get dirt on their ass before finding a chair.
![sitting_09[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/BJuWkMx.jpg "sitting_09[1].jpg")
>>6391854
Why not?
>>6391807
Local kurwas read Viewegh. If I got it correct he writes novels for people depicted in the Eastern European Lady School flick. Kudos for blaming the communists that you aren't Luxemburg but ex-Czechoslovakia. I'll send you the butthurt-belt membership card.
>>6391869
According to science it's because we, the Lusatians, the Obodrites and the Sorbs, are Aryan (dolichocephalic). Those to the West from Germany are the blockheaded descendants of our slaves.
Of course there's also the critical theory which states that science isn't everything.
>>6391895
Eh, I read one book by Viewegh, I dunno I wouldn't say he's that bad, the reason why he gets so much shit is probably that he doesn't cater to the pseudo-intellectual hipstershits who run czech literary criticism scene.
Never said that we'd be Luxemburg, if it weren't for the reds, far from it. But I think the moral decay that the period of communism caused is still having its effect on our society. I'm probably not in the right position to discuss htis, since I was born after the velvet revolution, but I've talked to my relatives a lot about the communist estabilishment, and most people agree that it was pretty shit. I mean, there used to be a quite popular colloquial saying: "Who doesn't steal, steals from family" during that time, for god's sakes. People used to cheat, nick and use connections in the communist party to get just about anything, from quality meat which was otherwise unobtainable, to tertiary education for their children.
If you look at the state of czech politics nowadays, I think it's clear that some of that spirit is still very present in people. I mean, it's a fucking cesspool. You can say that it's just as bad everywhere, but I've lived overseas for quite a long time, and...it just doesn't compare.
>>6391967
Moral decay implies there was something that decayed. When does it set in in your book? After Karel III? After Heydrich got shot? When the Russians came in? Or was it Dubcek? So: If not for Dubcek we'd get none of your delicious porn? I think that most of the renowned Czech authors wouldn't disagree that moral decay is a good thing and not a bad thing. That is what got them banished and canned.
>>6391854
The comfiest thing on earth. Even more so than terrycloth robes.
>>6392044
You do raise a valid point, as yeah, a lot of authors were persecuted and repressed in the name of moral decency, be it prior to the communist revolution or during the communist estabilishment. But I think there's still a big difference between someone who goes against the system and is therefore a disident, and someone who abuses the system for his own selfish utilitarian agenda.
When you look back in history, in literature you find people referring to each other as brothers just because they are both czechs, and I think that's a completely alien thing to a contemporary czech. I mean, I don't consider myself a nationalist, but it bothers me that czechs are one of the most anti-patriotic people there are. I mean, with most people, it's almost as if they were just waiting to pack up their bags and go live elsewhere. Which is a funny paradox, because czechs are also extremely xenofobic.
I feel as if people have little common ground in between each other in czech republic nowadays. Everyone's just looking out for himself, and few people are ever really proud of their heritage, I mean you get the vibe from a lot of people that they would much rather be french, or german, or basically of any other descent. So no wonder that noone really cares that the country is going down the shitter, politically, or has cared for the last 20 years. Though right now, it seems to be getting a bit better, because people are becoming more involved in politics and voice their disagreement with what's happening more, but at the same time, it's giving rise to some dangerous populist figures in the political scene.
Eh, I ended up just producing an empty rant. But I don't really know how to express what I feel. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe, it's really always been that way in Czech rep. But I dunno...I like my country - not to some great extent, but I still feel a sort of attachement to it, even though I travelled quite a lot, and I love Prague (I think few other cities can compare to Prague - it's got this genius loci which is just sublime). And it makes me feel sad, that a lot of people from my country just seem..."uprooted", when it comes to question of their heritage, and that this produces this kind of blind frustration, that manifests itself in the society.
Russian lit > cezh / yugoglav > the rest
I'm currently reading Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzejewski (or something), it's alright.
goat philosopher coming through
>>6391473
Schulz was ashkenazi and his best work was the sanatorium
>>6390443
Nah, he probably meant Toastoyevsky.
>>6390211
Ivo Andrić, Marko Marulić, Antun Gustav Matoš, Ivan Gundulić, Marin Držić, Miroslav Krleža, Tin Ujević, Ivan Goran Kovačić are some of the more famous Croatian authors, and Croatia has a very interesting literature considering the historical state it has been in.
>>6392384
Yugoslav literature isn't one literature. It's like equating english and australian lit, but only worse.
![220px-Aksakov_by_Repin[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Hu5xLmc.jpg "220px-Aksakov_by_Repin[1].jpg")
All the slavs are Russians in denial.
>>6393091
t.Ratislav Mehmetovic, the superior nobleman of pure Ottoman bloods
>>6391742
Russians you mean
And because east euros have naturally beefier legs, it's easier for them to do.
>>6393087
>Ivo Andrić
>croatian
Oh boy here we fucking go
>>6394388
why? is he a Tesla-tier source of shitstorm?
>>6394400
Yeah, something like that.
He was born in Bosnia, which was then under Austro-Hungarian role, but his parents considered themselves Croatian.
He's Croatian, you'd say. But wait! He called himself Serbian!
Top kek, that region is meme tier.
>Slavs
>>6394657
Well if he claimed himself to be Serbian, then he was Serbian. It's true that he was brn in Bosnia, and his parents considered themselves Croatian, but his own stance is more important.
>>6394388
He was born a Croatian, lived in the Croatian area of Bosnia, but became dissappointed with Croats later on with his life and said he was Serbian.
>>6394991
>but became dissappointed with Croats later on with his life
[citation needed]
ota pavel
>>6394991
Are Slavs the only people who don't identify with where they're born in?
>>6395130
well, they invented communism after all
>>6395130
You do know all those countries speak one language but are rent into three faiths, thus rendered into three worlds at odds? South Slavs are a unity ethnolinguistically. It wasn't uncommon for Poles during the Partitions to 'become' Belarussian, Ukrainian, hell even Hungarian to spite one imperialistic chuj or another.
>Are Slavs the only people who don't identify with where they're born in? >No, there's another group: [die Juden]
Not sure if it's available in English, but Dragutin Ilić's "Posle milijon godina" (After a million years) is amazing. It's also credited as the first sci-fi drama in the world.
>>6395139
>tfw you can't even tell if this is a joke.
>>6395203
>Czesław Miłosz
Confirmed for good taste.
>>6395218
>South Slavs are a unity ethnolinguistically
Go be retarded somewhere else
Milan Kundera,he is from Czech Republic.
I would suggest to start from "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" and after go for |"The Unbearable Lightness of Being"
>>6397096
Well Serbs, Croats, Bosnian and Montenegrins sure speak Same language
>>6397371
Same as Danish, Norwegians and Sweeds. Oh wait, they don't.
Croatians, bosniaks, serbs and montenegrins speak the same language, different dialects.
Slovenes, macedonians and bulgarians speak separare south slavic languages.
Ivo andric was bosnian croatian, all his books and short stories take place in bosnia mostly. He later declared himself a serb, probably to avoid trouble and be closer to the belgrade literary scene and what not.
Kosovo is serbian btw.
>>6390211
Death and the Dervish by Meša Selimović, best novel from former Yugoslavia
>>6397437
Good, but Travnik / Bosnian Chronicle is the best.
>>6397462
you've got to be joking
>>6397371
While, yes, that is mostly true, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Montenegrins are not all of the south slavs.
>what are Bulgarians
>what are Slovenians
>what are Macedonians
>south "slavs"
tip top kurwa
>>6397462
My nigga spotted
I really want to learn serbo-croatian, yeah yeah i know thats not a language, in other words, i want to learn the serbian dialect of the language. It just sounds great to me, i have some bosnians and serbs, i like the region and i know how to pronounce it, its,quite easy if you know spanish,.
>>6397486
Friends*
>>6397486
>I really want to learn serbo-croatian, yeah yeah i know thats not a language, in other words, i want to learn the serbian dialect of the language.
Both Croatian an Serbian standard languages are based on the same dialect, and Serbo-Croatian is still considered a language by most linguists, it's just the balkan butthurt that contradicts this
>>6397498
Serbian is based on Croatian*
>>6397500
>
This is the butthurt I'm talking about right here.
>>6397502
Serbian grammar by Vuk was based on Croatian grammar of Gaj. It's a simple fact. Unless you are butthurt about it.
I just read "I served the King Of England" which was very good. Authors names escapes me at the moment, but he was czech. The Good Soldier Svejk is also good and czech.
Currently reading mendelssohn is on the roof by Jiri Weil, so far so good but only 3 chapters in.
I'm on the lookout for some Hungarian literature. Any recommendations?
>>6397508
>description = language
top kek
Also since it's the same language it's kinda obvious he copy-pasted.
>>6397515
Up untill that point it wasn't the same language, it still isn't.
>>6397508
>grammar is language
Top tip kek
And the Croatian is based on eastern sthokavian, which is a Serbian dialect...according to your logic Croatian is actually Serbian.
>>6397523
Neither Vuk nor Gaj decides what language is. Their descriptions doesn't define language, people who speak it define it, and both serbians and croatians speak exactly the same language.
>>6390857
>Vazov?
He couldn't write poems for shit. No wonder the modernists bullied him so much.
I don't think I know a single Bulgarian author. Anyone?
>>6397528
>their grammars have shaped both languages into something very similar
>Croatian of 18th century was basically 4 dialects which today often cannot be understood
>they don't decide what a language is
>>6397514
Melancholy of Resistance
>>6397534
>>6390904
>Tutun is good too (means Tobacco)
Probably one of the best Bulgarian novels in my opinion. I've read Dimov's other two novels - Lieutenant Benz and Doomed Souls. The character study is as amazing as in his last novel but the pacing is faster, because the author was not forced to add a secondary plot, involving the life of the communist during the 'fascist' rule. I great recommend them.
Anton Donchev and his beautiful Time of Parting. The novel is far better than the film adaptation.
Dimitar Talev and his tetralogy about the Ilinden uprising. I've read only the first two and they are well written; the author easily captivates your attention. I doubt they'll be that interesting to a foreigner, though, as they describe the everyday life of a family in 19-early 20th century Macedonia (inb4 macedonism).
Short stories - Elin Pelin, Yordan Yovkov, Svetoslav Minkov, etc.
Poetry - Petko and Pencho Slaveykov, Botev, Vazov(skip him), Debelyanov, Peyo Yavorov, Smirnenski, Nikola Vaptsarov are the essential writers.
>>6397566
>I great
greatly*
Also, I haven't checked how many of the mentioned works are translated.
slavic literature suffers from muh gommunism disorder
every major piece of writing is either pro-communist or anti-communist, like you niggers hadn't any literary tradition before that
>>6397797
>every major piece of writing is either pro-communist or anti-communist
Are you a monolingual anglophone?
>>6397385
>Kosovo is serbian btw.
Serb go away please.
>>6397797
wrong, please go away.
>>6397876
Not serbian, just an americunt who knows history. Giving away kosovo would be like having new england, the center, the heart of the US, given away to some new people just because they heavily populate it now. Its serbian heartland, it was and it is serbian land. And serbs did some disgusting shit during the 90s (so did croats), but its still serbian land.
>>6397909
Yea, clearly not a serb
>>6397955
How many slav 20th century books have you read?
>>6393087
>Marulić
>Gundulić
Oh shit nigga what are you doing? Those are garbage propaganda wankery. Držić and Hektorović are 200 times better.
>>6398736
Držić is GOAT, but I haven't read Hektorović. But Marulić and Gundulić are amazing, Gundulić is probably out greatest writer.
>>6398752
Hektorović is literally the comfiest writer ever.
Also, disregard my criticism of Gundulić and Marulić, I've only read Dubravka, my comment was based upon the impression I got in school while we were talking about them. Actually, I should read Osman, it seemed to be really good
