How do you feel about the four great classics of Chinese literature

Read them in any order you like. Chinese literature gives you every trope in literature crammed into one. Want history, politics, sex, warfare (with actual strategy and tactics no less), religion, and philosophy all into one?

Although I would add it is helpful to read them in chronological order since they will reference each other, for example Outlaws references the Three Kingdoms (as how could it not, these are ubiquitous in the culture), and the Jin Ping Mei itself is an elaboration of a minor interlude from Outlaws which makes it a kind of Medieval Better Call Saul (even though it has its own absurd and unrelated framing story).

>>9595161
I really like Journey to the West. It's crazy. Wukong is crazy, and everyone else is a little bitch tho.

>>9595278
remember when buddha locks him in five pillars after sun wukong tries to jump off of his hand, only to realize he's pissing on buddha's hand like a thousand miles away on the edge of the earth? that shit was awesome.

>>9595278
Same here, the opening chapters are my favorite parts. I've read Three Kingdoms and it's terrific, haven't worked my way through Red Chamber or WM.

>>9595288
My favorite part is he fucking rocks into a party and eats and drinks fucking everything and everyone is just a raunchy asshole about it, and then they want to murder him, but he's just too cool and rocks their asses. "Oh, but how can this be? He's just a stupid monkey!" haha.

>>9595278
>>9595288
fucking reddit cancer

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>>9595450

>>9595263
>>9595296

I've finished Three Kingdoms recently and was amazed by its scope and theme. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed when reading that poem by the end.

>>9595450
welcome to /r/lit/, friend

>>9596965
>I've finished The Lord of the Rings recently and was amazed by its scope and theme. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed when reading that poem by the end.
>I've finished Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell recently and was amazed by its scope and theme. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed when reading that poem by the end.
>again I've finished Finnegans Wake recently and was amazed by its scope and theme. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed when reading that poem by the fin again begin

fuck off you generic reddit cancer

>>9597296
>>9595450

>Wahh stop enjoying things

>>9597343
>t. Waah poster
how many people you gonna piss off today?

Just curious, for the people who read three kingdoms, did you read the abridged version or the full?

>>9597826
i read the full in its original language

kiss me

>>9597826
full/moss roberts

>>9597840
How far is the language from current Mandarin?

>>9595161
>And of the saying that a young person should read Three Kingdoms and not Water Margin, and an old one should read Water Margin and not Three Kingdoms?
The young person won't be old enough to analyze, learn, and implement all the devilish schemes in ROTK, but he will imitate all the rash behavior in Water Margin.

The old person won't be young enough to imitate all the rash behavior in Water Margin, but he will analyze, learn, and implement all the devilish schemes in ROTK.

>>9597826
Full by Moss Roberts

>>9597915
Not that far, honestly. It's a bit like Shakespearean english vs english now

>>9597840
so tell us why the heathen Chinee have only managed to write 4 famous fucking novels in their glorious 4,000 year old culture?

or just 4 (or 5) famous books of philosophy, for that matter too?

>>9598194
if you seriously believe this kys

>>9598194
>so tell us why the heathen Chinee have only managed to write 4 famous fucking novels in their glorious 4,000 year old culture?
untrue. there are lots of great novels, the 4 great novel is just a meme. plus there are great poetry from Tang and Song dynasty
>or just 4 (or 5) famous books of philosophy, for that matter too?
also not true, you're thinking of just the people from the hundred schools of thought. There are zen buddhists and other people like sun tzu

>>9597296
>lotr
>reddit
kys

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>>9598194
>only
That's the problem right there
It should be unnecessary and is just sad, really, to have to state that there are a lot more famous works than just the Great Four; take the Golden Plum Vase or Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio for instance that have quite a reputation in the East Asian countries. I would say accessibility is the biggest factor; Chinese culture is remote to the West even more so than that of the Japanese, and it is much easier to translate Chinese into Japanese or Korean due to their thousand years worth of cultural diffusion than any Indo-European language.
And it doesn't help that there are batshit translators. Evan King changed the ending of the first translation of Rickshaw Boy to a banal happily-ever-after because the original gave him the boo-boos.

>just 4 (or 5) famous books of philosophy
I won't be able to provide much insight into this, sorry (not implying I did in the previous paragraphs anyway)

>>9598245
>>just 4 (or 5) famous books of philosophy
>I won't be able to provide much insight into this, sorry

>四書五經

some anons are lacking in irony it would seem.

what always pisses me off are the butchered translations of 浮生六記 (barring that of Lin Yutang, practically inaccessible outside of China - there's a recent PRC reprint).

Let's not talk about the translations of 金瓶梅, having said that, Minford's 聊齋誌異 includes the saucy bits.

>>9598205
you need to go back to weddit, pleb.

see if you can find a sense of humour when you bend down to tie your shoelaces too.

>>9598348
>lacking in irony
Sorry, I don't quite understand your statement.

That being said, have you read any works by Xu Zhimo or Zhu Ziqing? Pretty underrated imo

>>9598359
I'm not very familiar with modern poetry, but I know who Hsu is, everyone knows who Hsu is, and his ill-fated love triangle.

I personally found the 6 Chapters to be one of those works we backhandedly compliment as a "minor masterpiece". Also some random Ming-Qing travelogue-memoirs, but that's just me.

>>9598351
>I was just pretending to be retarded bro
nice one, >>>/reddit/

>>9598460
brings the gimps like you out of the woodwork.

in any case, one previous poster has kindly pointed that the 4-5 books thing is meme tier lit.

you needn't pretend anything as it happens.

>>9598482
Are you still pretending to be retarded? You can stop now.