Has anything good come out of the balkans? I know of Emil Cioran, but nobody else really.
...The Greeks?
is this b8?
>>7631590
Low quality b8, my friend. Badly meme'd.
>>7631606
maybe he shouldn't have posted a picture of the balkans including greece and not adding in any time period then, faggot
also
>4 posts 3 users
OP samefagging detected. embarassing as fuck.
>>7631606
Almost nothing Croatian is translated into English so there is no way that you could find classics of the language, maybe if you are German and only 20th century.
>>7631606
The first thing that comes to my mind is The Dictionary of the Khazars. That book pops up on /lit/ a lot.
If you consider Hungary Balkan then there's a plethora of euphoric lit.
>>7631590
Kadare, the list goes on
Ivana brlić mažuranić is pretty famous
>>7631590
ZIZZZIIIIIZIIZIZIZIZIZIZIZIZIZZIZIZZIZHECK
>>7631679
Is she really?
>>7631590
Orhan Pamuk. Nobel 2006.
>>7631590
There's plenty but it hasnt been translated. You might know about Ivo Andric, a Nobel prize winner for literature.
Death and the dervish comes to mind
Bulgaria and Serbia have some amazing stuff, it is a pity it will never be translated to English. Serbia has really good prose writers and Bulgaria has some of the best poets.
I think Ivo Andric is one of the Serbian authors that has had most of his works translated in English. Milorad Pavic and his amazingly inovative Dictionary of the Khazars. I am fond of Borislav Stankovic. Mesa Selimovic is also great, Death and the Dervish and The Fortress are both beautiful works, although I think he might be Bosnian and not Serbian, not really sure. A personal favourite of mine is Branislav Nusic, his autobiography is a very fun read and one of the funniest books, it is not the best from him, however, I read it in the exact time of my life when I needed something like it.
Bulgarian literature is also fantastic. Botev and Vaptzarov are two poets born ahead of their time and sadly died prematurely, both fighting for the ideas presented in their works. Ivan Vazov has written over 200 poems. His Epic of the Forgotten is one of the most biggest and most epic works created. And by biggest I do not mean by size, what I am talking about is the ideas,symbolism and importance of the work. Geo Milev's September is an epic retelling of one of the most tragic events in recent Bulgarian history. Iovkov is a master of the short story, his war tales are great at one hand, I would say he is similar to Remarque in his ideas, however where he truly shines, together with the other big Bulgarian short story writer - Elin Pelin is in capturing the life of the everyday person in the Bulgarian village. Legends of Stara Planina is one of the best short story collections, easily in my top 10.
There is also Bulgaro/Macedonian writer Dimitar Talev, his tetralogy on the Macedonian resistance during Ottoman rule is one of the most massive works, on par with Quiet Flows the Don.
Romanian is most famous for Cioran and his pessimistic views on life,however, he has been translated in English and is easily accessible.
If you have any questions,feel free to ask, I can expand.
>>7631590
Kafka is alright.
>>7631850
Do I need to understand any of the Balkan history before reading death and the dervish and bridge on the drina?
They seem to revolve around the ottoman occupation
>>7631830
Apart from his most famous novel - The Bridge on the Drina, I would recommend Bosnian Chronicle, which is actually named Travnik Chronicle in Serbian, even the title is wrongly translated so I don't know anything about the contents. It is a great story about Bosnia as seen through the eyes of the Western European, some of the parts are still valid today. Another good work of his is Gospodjica, but I don't think it is translated.
>>7631590
For Slovene you have old guys Prešeren and Cankar. As for the new, you have always actual Alamut (i think i've english epub somewhere if anyone is interested) from Bartol, and Drago Jančar. Fairly big modern author.
We're not really Balkan though.
>>7631861
I don't think so desu.
>>7631861
As long as you have just the most basic knowledge you will be fine. You seem to know about the ottoman occupation so it looks like you have the ground covered.
>>7631870
Thanks for the recommendations. My parents are from the former yugoslavia but my serbo-croatian isn't immaculate. I'll settle for any available translations.
>>7631882
Oh, and Zizek. He is 100% balkan though.
In my previous post forgot to mention one Albanian book which I really like and think everyone should read - The General of the Dead Army by Ismail Kadare. It is Albanian socialistic realism so of course the topic is the resistance against the fascist Italian presence, even though the book is biased in the presentation it is still a worthwhile read.
>>7631910
>book about a bone collector
That sounds amazing. I will check it out
Mircea Eliade
Eugen Ionescu
Gellu Naum
>>7631590
Romania is not part of the Balkans.
But you should read Eliade.
Danilo Kiš
Borislav Pekić
Miroslav Krleža
Miloš Crnjanski
>>7631590
As the other anon said, you should check out Eugen Ionescu. He has some great plays if you like the theatre of the absurd.
>>7631805
>I think Ivo Andric is one of the Serbian authors
>Serbian
Although I usually find most ethnic squabbling bullshit, if he was born Catholic wouldn't that make him a Croat?
>>7632223
You're probably right.
>>7631805
>I think Ivo Andric is one of the Serbian authors that has had most of his works translated in English.
The fuck?
Born in today's Bosnia&Herzegovina.
Wrote mainly about Bosnia.
Croatians claim him as their writer because he first identified as Croatian.
Serbs claim him as their writer because he later identified as Serbian.
How the hell is he a "Serbian author" then??? Typical Balkan...
>>7632223
No.
>>7632223
Not if he was born in Serbia.
>>7632471
He was born in Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
>>7632351
Bosnians are muslim serbs and croatians are catholic serbs to be fair
>>7632184
>Miroslav Krleža
This. There are some fine authors (Kis, Andric), but Krleza is monumental. Dense, sophsticated, extensive, multilayered... and basically untranslatable. Such a shame.
bulgarian is the most poetic language
>>7632351
They're all the same thing.
>>7634087
Maybe slightly below French, but the language is without a doubt top tier for reading poetry.
>>7633893
It's ok my friend
>>7633740
Croats, Serbs who became Muslim and other Turks who came and stayed there*
Also it's Bosniaks and not Bosnians as Bosnians is used for all people from there essentially.
>>7631590
Anyway
Tin Ujević
Antun Gustav Matoš
Miroslav Krleža
Ivan Aralica
Ivana Brlić Mažuranić
Ivan Gundulić
Marko Marulić
I don't think any are translated into English except Brlić Mažuranić which can be found here
http://ia700406.us.archive.org/7/items/croatiantalesofl00brli/croatiantalesofl00brli.pdf
>>7633983
He was Croatian who couldn't break through and hence decided to say he was a Serb. Strangely he gained recognition very fast after that. He later on decided to be a Croat.
>>7631870
I love Bridge on the Drina
>dem feels for Glasicanin over Zorka
>>7634391
He identified himself ethnically as a yugoslav
>>7634424
Yeah after writing for a while and Yugoslav was back then basically Serbian/complient to the regime
