A bit late!

[GOLLUM]

Yes, I agree with you in general regarding translations into other languages. However, there are still some very fine translators who do manage to capture the spirit, indeed the essence of an author's work. The problem is, they don't grow on trees or else expect higher rates, so one can quite often end up with less than satisfactory results. German is my second language, so I know what you are talking about.

I meant to mention Giuseppe di Lampedusa's The Leopard in that list as well...

I own a copy of Dante's Divine Comedy or "Commedia" in addition to a Dante reader (various extracts, musings etc. ) and his other work "La Vita Nuova" or The New Life.

Outside of Dante, my 3 favourite Italian authors are Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino and Tommaso Landolfi, who you would know Calvino respected greatly. I'm more recently on a discovery tour with Svevo and Buzzati, thanks to some recent translations.

On the Asian front, I have got some of the Confucian texts and probably the best regarded translation of Genji by Royall Tyler. I'm not as great a poetry fan, as I tend to focus more on the novels.

Murakami I have everything of his translated into English, he's probably my favourite contemporary Japanese author! Soseki I have a couple of novels including I Am A Cat. Other favs include Kobe Abe, Enchi Fumiko, Edogawa Rampo (father of Japanese crime fiction and horror author), Yukinari Kawabata, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Yukio Mushima, Kazuo Ishiguro etc.

Ueda Akinari is the only one of your list I don't have yet but I'm getting an Anthology of World Literature this year that shall rectify that misdemeanour.

Chinese authors include Lu Xun, Gao Xinjian, Pu Songling and others whose names currently escape me. It's very late here in Australia....

Cheers....

[poisonoustea]

Ueda Akinari is the only one of your list I don't have yet but I'm getting an Anthology of World Literature this year that shall rectify that misdemeanour.

One of my exams included Tales of Moonlight and Rain, and Tales of Spring Rain. They are both lovely collections. Japanese myths and fairy-tales are simply beautiful.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by poisonoustea

One of my exams included Tales of Moonlight and Rain, and Tales of Spring Rain. They are both lovely collections. Japanese myths and fairy-tales are simply beautiful.

Indeed....they're his most famous works in fact.

Thanks for sharing your insights into World Literature.

See you round.

Night now.....

EDIT: Please do not forget to wander over to the General Book Discussion forum either. It's where I spend most of my time... In fact, this thread that was started recently may be of particular interest to you, albeit it focuses more on Fantasy but I and others will no doubt be posting on SF, Horror and General Literature here as well.

Fantasy outside of the genre