The Reading Room

7:32 AM

@b_jonas Sure. I wasn't saying it was asked on the wrong site, just noticed since it's shortly after this question was migrated here from English SE.

Librarian

8:22 AM

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Q: OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2020 TOPIC CHALLENGE- BIBHUTIBHUSHAN BANDOPADHAYA

The name of Bibhutibhusan bandopadhaya is a very well known name in Bengali literature. His famous novels are "pather Panchali", "Aparajit" "Apur Sansar".these three novels were awarded many prizes." pather Panchali" and "Ashani shanket" won prizes in international film festivals. these films wer...

b_jonas

@Randal'Thor you're maintaining the question text in literature.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1238/139 right? It should link to literature.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1445/139

Rand al'Thor

9:27 AM

@b_jonas It will ... in November, when that topic challenge starts.

Tsundoku

The "Literary Theory" suggestion is at 5 upvotes again (+7 -2), putting it ahead of the next "contender" by one vote. Interesting voting pattern.

b_jonas

10:07 AM

@Randal'Thor Ok, though I think it should link to future topic challenges.

Tsundoku

@b_jonas I have added the heading "Upcoming Topic Challenge" to that meta page.

Rand al'Thor

10:23 AM

@Tsundoku Wasn't it at 5 for a while now?

IIRC both that and Ko Un were at 6 before someone (cough, me) broke the tie by downvoting it.

Tsundoku

10:35 AM

@Randal'Thor They were both at 6 until Brahadeesh deleted his account. Than both went back to five. So the "again" in my previous message appears to be mistaken.

Several other suggestions lost an upvote when Brahadeesh's account was deleted, including Thomas Middleton.

Rand al'Thor

Oh, then you're right: both went 6 -> 5, then Literary Theory went 5 -> 4 to break the tie, now back to 5.

Also it looks like early next year we'll finally be able to expand the portuguese-literature tag with Os Lusiadas.

Tsundoku

Yes, very likely. And we'll see how the Jorge Amado suggestions goes.

By the way, I asked in a comment why the Romeo & Juliet suggestion is so unpopular. Is it because because the idea of reading works inspired by another literary work is not appealing or because the list of works inspired by Romeo and Juliet is not appealing?

I'm curious, because this is not the only example of this type of suggestion that I have considered posting.

If the suggestion was downvoted because the type of suggestion is not appealing, I don't need to propose anything like it again. If it is just that specific list of works, something else like it might work better.

Rand al'Thor

@Tsundoku For me, a bit of both. It has the same problem as the Holocaust literature suggestion in that the boundaries aren't very clearly defined - how loosely can something be connected to / inspired by R&J and still count for the topic challenge? Also, although the derivative works themselves may be plenty diverse, the inspiration point of Romeo & Juliet itself is hardly outside of our site's normal range of topics.

Tsundoku

(In fact, the "works inspired by The Stranger" challenge was something similar, but ended up generating questions mostly about Camus's novel instead of Daoud's novel.)

Rand al'Thor

Those two considerations together were enough for me to downvote. If it was, say, "works inspired by Os Lusiadas" instead, I might've been ambivalent and not voted on it, maybe even upvoted.

Mithical

10:48 AM

@Tsundoku Or because R&J is a quintessential example of what the site naturally tends to focus on (in regards to culture and language) and so doesn't match with the goals of the topic challenges

Tsundoku

OK, I didn't expect the boundaries to be an issue, since it is different from the wider theme of lovers who need to overcome resistance from their own families (e.g. Pyramys and Thisbe).

In that case, I won't post a similar suggestion for works inspired by The Tempest, even though that play inspired greater works that Romeo & Juliet.

It seems that something like works inspired by The Song of Roland would work somewhat better. (The downside to that idea is that I think Orlando Furioso deserves its own topic challenge.)

Bookworm

1:20 PM

1

Q: What does "raised waves in my mind" mean in Tagore's "At the End of the Day"?

In Rabindranath Tagore's "At the End of the Day", there's one stanza that goes like this: To you I only pray – Before I go let me know Looking at the sky Why mother earth so green Gave me a call Why the silence of the night Told me the stories of the stars Why the lights of the day Raised waves ...

meaning poetry bengali-literature rabindranath-tagore

Bookworm

2:36 PM

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Q: What are "rubber notations" in "The Just Men of Cordova"?

In chapter 2 of The Just Men of Cordova by Edgar Wallace, the author was describing a business man in London: His was a name to conjure with in certain circles. In others it was never mentioned. The financial lords of the City—the Farings, the Wertheiners, the Scott-Teasons—had no official knowl...

meaning edgar-wallace the-just-men-of-cordova

New Topic Challenge Suggestion

3:56 PM

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A: New Literature SE Topic Challenge Suggestions Thread

I request complete works of William Shakespeare as a TOPIC CHALLENGE for future consideration. I have already put works of Rabindra Nath Tagore on for consideration as OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2020 TOPIC CHALLENGE.

Bookworm

4:44 PM

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Q: How do great authors write novels or differ from normal novels

Although I have read only few English novels. But I recently heard about fyodors - brothers karamazov That it's a good read and lights people life... Then I read the following review on goodreads - That was interesting the way this guy has written that the author builds up three characters and t...

mystery-novels writing-process

Bookworm

5:35 PM

0

Q: What is the effect of the paradox Orwell creates in Animal Farm?

As a narrator, Orwell continues to reassure the reader that the animals believe that their lives are better under Napoleon. Yet, as readers, we are continually exposed to situations that suggest things are worse. Why do you think Orwell creates this contradiction for the reader? What is the effec...

george-orwell animal-farm

Eddie Kal

b_jonas

6:24 PM

@Tsundoku Ok. The headers are a bit distracting, I think it might be better as one sorted list, the future one labelled as "(future)", the ongoing ones labelled as "(ongoing)", and the rest unlabelled (because there's no point to discourage people from past topic challenges).

@Randal'Thor Oh good. That's one that I'm interested about. I'll have to get a copy from the libraries.

Bookworm

6:52 PM

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Q: What is the meaning and significance of "urubutinga" in Mário de Andrade's "O lundu do escritor difícil"

The title is suggestive enough to elicit an understanding that Andrade probably purposefully made this poem difficult to read to people who are not familiar with Tupi culture. A conscious effort of Mário de Andrade to rebuke the Eurocentric mindset is evidenced by the abundant symbolic imagery.1 ...

meaning poetry portuguese-literature mario-de-andrade lusophone-literature

Rand al'Thor

7:17 PM

@Bookworm @EddieKal So now we have a lusophone-literature tag and a portuguese-literature tag, which presumably will have to be synonymised, one way or the other depending on the outcome of that meta discussion.

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