I came up with this because I learned from Tumblr that there’s apparently more than a hundred fanfics for The Epic of Gilgamesh on Ao3, and I think it’s poetic in a way how we’ve still never really gotten over the first story ever.
My answer would be Le Roman de Silence, from the early 1200s, which is about the adventures Silence, a boy who was born as a girl (that’s the author’s way of describing him)and who eventually becomes a knight. I just stumbled across it randomly but I fell in love with it after reading it the first time, and I think it’s beautiful how something 1000 years old can still be around and not have lost any of it’s capability for arousing our emotions.
You must log in or register to comment.
Gilgamesh
Inferno, I like the Mandelbaum translation
Beowulf, the Book of the City of Ladies and Gentleman he Exile of the Sons of Uisneach.
Canterbury Tales! It’s a freaking middle age slice of life collection and it’s wonderful.
Believe it or not it is the Lord Engels Little House on the prairie series
Njals Saga is probably the oldest story I’ve loved. Nothing is more entertaining than Icelandic farming drama that turns violent real fast
I really enjoyed Evelina by Frances Burney, published in 1778. While not the oldest book by any stretch of the imagination, its still a book that I loved when I read it.
Monkey - Wu Cheng’En without it there would be no Dragonball.
Candide by Voltaire is great too - hilarious satire that challenges the old adage of “everything happens for a reason” i.e God’s plan.
Probably the Edda.
Don Quixote. I didn’t ever think a 500 year old book would make me have to set it down because I was laughing so hard, but there ya go.
Came here looking for this book.
I mean there’s a lot of old literature I appreciate. In that I admire the work, and I believe the author was a genius in their time, and I’m fascinated by the historical and artistic importance of the work. But if we’re talking literature that I unambiguously enjoy reading, not because I’m learning something or appreciating something but because the artistry just gets me and I enjoy myself, I would say the oldest is The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller, published 1781.
Fahrenheit 451
Tristan and Iseult
Plato’s Republic
Nobody has mentioned the Odyssey. I don’t know about loving it but it’s a great and timeless story.