100 Stories That Shaped the World

Started by red solo cup, May 26, 2018, 04:34:18 AM

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red solo cup

May 26, 2018, 04:34:18 AM
I'm curious what people think of this list. What would you add? What would you remove? For myself I thought Howl or anything by Ginsberg belongs in the trash.
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180521-the-100-stories-that-shaped-the-world
non impediti ratione cogitationis

Lynne

#1
May 26, 2018, 04:46:14 AM
Pretty stupid list. Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood... :vomit:
In conclusion, I can leave you with no better advice than that given after every sermon by Msgr Vincent Giammarino, who was pastor of St Michael's Church in Atlantic City in the 1950s:

    "My dear good people: Do what you have to do, When you're supposed to do it, The best way you can do it,   For the Love of God. Amen"

Mono no aware

#2
May 26, 2018, 07:10:57 AM Last Edit: May 26, 2018, 07:23:28 AM by Pon de Replay
The stated criteria is "shaping mindsets or influencing history"—"stories that endure and continue to resonate centuries and millennia after they were created."  Yet most of these are less than a century old.  Somehow Wide Sargasso Sea is number twenty-eight, and an Australian Aboriginal story cycle is eighty-four, but all four gospels and all the Old Testament tales are absent.  I would have to assume an ignorance of history here, or maybe the respondents just read it as "what are your favorite novels, folk tales, dramas, and epic poems?"  That said, Heart of Darkness is probably Joseph Conrad's most enduring work, so on that point they're right, but I think Lord Jim is his best.  No Faulkner, no Nabokov.  In a way, that is heartening.  To be excluded from an "at pains to be multiculti" list compiled by a group of current "authors, academics, journalists, and critics" is a testament to their greatness.

Matto

#3
May 26, 2018, 07:34:24 AM Last Edit: May 26, 2018, 07:36:06 AM by Matto
Just wanted to say that Uncle Tom's Cabin at number two. TWO? Made me laugh. That was the worst pick on any serious best of anything list that I have ever seen. After that I could not take the list seriously, except to look at where they put To Kill a Mockingbird. Number 27. It makes me have more respect for the Sight and Sound film directors' poll in 2012 that chose Tokyo Story as the best film of all time. That is my favorite pick on any list.
I Love Watching Butterflies . . ..

Jacob

#4
May 26, 2018, 08:35:04 AM
Maybe NT is not included because it is actual history?  At least it shouldn't be for that reason.  Probably not what BBC and its contributors are thinking.

Any list that includes Harry Potter but not Lord of the Rings is a stupid list.

Where are the Matters of France and Britain?  No Arthur or Roland?
"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
--Neal Stephenson

Mono no aware

#5
May 26, 2018, 08:56:20 AM
Quote from: Jacob on May 26, 2018, 08:35:04 AMMaybe NT is not included because it is actual history?

Maybe, but like you I would be surprised if the BBC and the people it polled considered it history.  I despise Harry Potter, but there can be no question of its influence on the Millennial generation.

Lydia Purpuraria

#6
May 28, 2018, 11:38:36 AM
What about Orwell's 1984 making it on "the list" over Huxley's Brave New World? 

It's been quite a while since I've read either book, but even so, I'd make a trade of the latter over the former, myself.
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