I was sorry to hear about the recent passing of James Kessler. There aren't many philologists left who are unafraid to tell the untarnished, politically incorrect truth.
"Very little of value has been written in Spanish"???
This is outrageous ignorance.
Ask Descartes or Leibniz about Francisco Suárez. Ask Grotius or Pufendorf about Francisco de Vitoria. Ask Goethe or Dostoevsky about Lope de Vega. Ask. Molière, Mozart, Pushkin or Camus about Tirso de Molina. Ask Shelley, Shelling or Kierkegaard about Calderón de la Barca. Ask Tolstoy or T.S. Eliot about John of the Cross. Ask Foucault, Umberto Eco or David Foster Wallace about Jorge Luis Borges. Ask just about any contemporary poet about Pablo Neruda.
Goethe wrote in German; Descartes in Latin and French; Leibniz in Latin; Moliere in French; Camus in French; Eliiot in English, etc.
I took Spanish for 8 years and we never once read any serious high-brow literature. Mostly we just imitated low IQ mestizos. I feel complete cheated. I'm trying my hardest to forget all the Spanish I learned and am now learning German.
I know that Goethe, Camus, Descartes, etc. wrote in other languages. That, of course, has nothing to do with the validity of my point. My point is that the absurd claim that "very little of value has been written in Spanish" is disproved by the authority of some of those great minds of Western civilization you claim to venerate, who obviously considered the writings of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Suárez, Vitoria, Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, St. John of the Cross, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, etc. to be of the highest value.
In fact, if you want to be more up-to-date, I would try to ask the Swedish Academy about Mario Vargas Llosa, a Spanish-writing Peruvian author to whom they seem to have stumbled into giving the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, as they seem to have stumbled when they gave it to José Echegaray, Jacinto Benavente, Gabriela Mistral, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Pablo Neruda, Vicente Aleixandre, Gabriel García Márquez, Camilo José Cela, and Octavio Paz.
"Unless one wants to pursue a career in landscaping or move to Mexico, there is very little practical advantage to learning Spanish and multiple intellectual advantages to studying other languages. Most Spanish speakers around the world are uneducated"
For such an "educated person", you sure sound quite racist and prejudiced.
Probably you don't have the patience or capability to understand it.
Considering there are around 46.7 MILLION people in Spain, I would love to learn Spanish. What I don't love is ignorant people who spread their racist, ill informed venom around. Shame on you.
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I was sorry to hear about the recent passing of James Kessler. There aren't many philologists left who are unafraid to tell the untarnished, politically incorrect truth.
ReplyDelete"Very little of value has been written in Spanish"???
ReplyDeleteThis is outrageous ignorance.
Ask Descartes or Leibniz about Francisco Suárez. Ask Grotius or Pufendorf about Francisco de Vitoria. Ask Goethe or Dostoevsky about Lope de Vega. Ask. Molière, Mozart, Pushkin or Camus about Tirso de Molina. Ask Shelley, Shelling or Kierkegaard about Calderón de la Barca. Ask Tolstoy or T.S. Eliot about John of the Cross. Ask Foucault, Umberto Eco or David Foster Wallace about Jorge Luis Borges. Ask just about any contemporary poet about Pablo Neruda.
AMEN!
DeletePJ,
ReplyDeleteGoethe wrote in German; Descartes in Latin and French; Leibniz in Latin; Moliere in French; Camus in French; Eliiot in English, etc.
I took Spanish for 8 years and we never once read any serious high-brow literature. Mostly we just imitated low IQ mestizos. I feel complete cheated. I'm trying my hardest to forget all the Spanish I learned and am now learning German.
Spanish is for idiots.
ReplyDeleteIf you have an IQ above 90, there is absolutely no reason you should be studying Spanish.
Tom,
ReplyDeleteIt's sad your classes were so limited.
I know that Goethe, Camus, Descartes, etc. wrote in other languages. That, of course, has nothing to do with the validity of my point. My point is that the absurd claim that "very little of value has been written in Spanish" is disproved by the authority of some of those great minds of Western civilization you claim to venerate, who obviously considered the writings of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Suárez, Vitoria, Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, St. John of the Cross, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, etc. to be of the highest value.
In fact, if you want to be more up-to-date, I would try to ask the Swedish Academy about Mario Vargas Llosa, a Spanish-writing Peruvian author to whom they seem to have stumbled into giving the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, as they seem to have stumbled when they gave it to José Echegaray, Jacinto Benavente, Gabriela Mistral, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Pablo Neruda, Vicente Aleixandre, Gabriel García Márquez, Camilo José Cela, and Octavio Paz.
This claim is too outrageous to entertain.
"Unless one wants to pursue a career in landscaping or move to Mexico, there is very little practical advantage to learning Spanish and multiple intellectual advantages to studying other languages. Most Spanish speakers around the world are uneducated"
ReplyDeleteFor such an "educated person", you sure sound quite racist and prejudiced.
Probably you don't have the patience or capability to understand it.
Can't handle the truth...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteConsidering there are around 46.7 MILLION people in Spain, I would love to learn Spanish. What I don't love is ignorant people who spread their racist, ill informed venom around. Shame on you.
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