Do not bother yourself with foreign-language literature until you are thoroughly well-versed in the works of William Shakespeare.
>>23317400As a non-english anon I agree. Shakespeare is the goat
>>23317400I think there's definitely exceptions to be made for the Classics and Dante if you wanted to go for the chronological route through the canon, but this idea, which I partially agree with, at least makes me feel better about studying English literature at uni first and studying Classics afterwards which I'm going to do next year. I think there's value in fostering a love of literature and the literary tradition before going back to the very beginning of the tradition -- and Shakespeare's a great way to create a love of literature. The problem with a lot of 18th century and Victorian schooling is that they forced Latin and Greek down children's throats without giving them the proper context for why they should be learning it, so they (often) ended up hating it. Although now we have a problem where the Classics seem inaccessible and fewer people are studying them because they just weren't exposed to them. There are downsides to both approaches but I'm not displeased with the route I've taken even if it feels like I'm playing catch-up now.
>>23317400But almost half of his history plays are written in untranslated french.
>>23318059There's a very small amount of French in some scenes with the French, particularly in Henry V.
>>23318204That's the half that I'm speakign of. Well. Did you learn french to read it in Shakespeare's original, or how did you handle it?
>>23318284That's not 'half of his history plays'. But you can mostly keep track of what they're saying in French if you follow the repetition of the words and phrases. Shakespeare does his best to make it easy for English speakers.
