I've been reading more books from the French Enlightenment, which is roughly from the 1710s up to the 1790s. It is quite interesting. For me, Britain and the United States have many interesting things in this period, but by far I think that the English Renaissance, the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, have better literature than their descendants.
Firstly, there was better theater, in particular better tragedy. By the time we get to Queen Anne and the subsequent Hanover kings, you do get some great comedies, but not really any good tragedy since that became something more popular with opera.
In France, however, you have Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire, Abbe Prevost, who wrote the most outrageous things. Think of Diderot's Les bijoux indiscrets about a sultan with a magic ring that makes women's vaginas speak. Or perhaps think of Voltaire's wild play, Mahomet, which could hardly be performed today. And, of course, there's the Marquis de Sade.
In other words, I think the French in 1700s were as edgy as the English had been in their renaissance. The time of outrage and growing knowledge, the time of Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Thomas Middleton, John Donne, Francis Bacon, etc... Back in 2005, when the Barbican produced Marlowe's Tamburlaine, they had to abridge some scenes in order to not offend folks.
Which one do you prefer? Do you like French enlightenment literature or the English renaissance?
P.S
I would also add that late-Tsarist Russia also had some great mindblowing literature
Iβve seen several figures that say roughly 600, of 3000, plays from the era survive. And there are a number of titles to lost plays that are known. But I canβt seem to find a good list of the surviving plays anywhere. Most lists contain plays by the big three of the era and a few other prominent playwrights, and thatβs it.
The site is www.condottieridiventura.it . On the right sidebar of the site you will find the analytical index listing few thousands of biographies. The extended bibliography is listed under the Bibliografia tab. Edit: I just added a (facebook page) [https://www.facebook.com/condottieridiventura], just in case someone is interested to keep in touch with us.
I am having trouble finding that could represent the first 5 chapters of Invisible Man. The song has to be in the Harlem Renaissance era. I have to analyze the rhythm (musical), language (lyrics), theme(combination) in order to support why I believe this song represents these chapters. Thank you
I'm reposting this from /r/history, I was invited to repost it here. The site is (condottieri di ventura) [www.condottieridiventura.it] . On the right sidebar of the site you will find the analytical index listing few thousands of biographies. The extended bibliography is listed under the Bibliografia tab. Edit: I just added a (facebook page) [https://www.facebook.com/condottieridiventura], just in case someone is interested to keep in touch with us.
