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Old 12-18-2008, 08:36 PM   #51
lilac_jive
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate the great View Post
I don't know that I would include Shakespeare's plays on this list. They are meant to be performed, not read.
I think that is why they aren't in the original book.

On the same note, it's like reading Latin texts in English. Partly because some of the translations are old, so the language is completely different (oh man, translating Petronius' "Cena Trimalchionis" and reading the Victorian translation, ha ha ha, that kind of book was NOT meant to be translated by those stuff Victorians), or just losing the sheer awesomeness of someone's skill in writing (Cicero, for example, is like trying to put Gertrude Stein in another language). I'm sure this goes for other languages (I want to learn Italian just so I can read Dante in the original language, I get the feeling it would be so much better).

Sorry for the derail..
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