Warning, rant ahead

One thing that bothers me about so many of the critics of Esperanto is that they don’t actually know Esperanto.

Like how some critics claim that Esperanto isn’t a legit language because it doesn’t have any literature of its own. How can you claim to be a real language if you don’t have any world-famous writers? Where is Esperanto’s Shakespeare?

“Where is Esperanto’s literature?” Man asks while standing in an Esperanto bookstore in São Paulo, Brazil

Well, given that English had been spoken for centuries before Shakespeare came along, maybe he hasn’t been born yet?

Or maybe, given that there were millions of English speakers in Shakespeare’s time and hundreds of millions today that can read his work versus maybe a million Esperanto speakers, it’s not really a fair comparison.

Or maybe Esperanto’s Shakespeare is Shakespeare. I mean, there are translations. Shakespeare hasn’t just been adapted in writing, it’s been performed in Esperanto.

Or maybe we don’t need a Shakespeare.

The fact that so many critics gravitate to Shakespeare as their example of great literature makes me suspicious. Is Shakespeare really that important, or is that just the only literary name you can think of? He’s also one of the few literary greats that are well known outside of literate circles. His name is so well known that others are compared to him. (So and so) is the Shakespeare of (blank.)

So, Mr. Critic, who is the Shakespeare of modern Tamil? Slovakian? Thai? If you can’t name any great Slovakian writers, does that mean it’s not a language? Is Thai a lesser language but you don’t know who is writing in that language? Maybe your inability to name writers, playwrights, poets, etc in a given language isn’t the best measure of whether it’s a legitimate language or not. Maybe there are other measures of how important or worthy a language is.

But here is the most frustrating part of this criticism.

There is Esperanto Literature!

“Is 495 original novels really a lot?” This critic wonders.

If the critics knew any Esperanto at all, they would already know this. Esperanto has a rich literature. It’s one of the great reasons to learn “la bona lingvo” even if you can’t find anyone to speak it with.

The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

The Good

Even a quick review of the web comes up with a large amount of Esperanto literature. The Universal Esperanto Association has thousands of books in its catalog. Hundreds of them are original works in Esperanto, the rest are translations but even many of the translations are unique, folk tales or stories that have been rarely translated out of their original language.

Many more texts are available online on sites ranging from the Guttenberg Project to various blogs and learning sites. Some are short stories aimed at learners, others are longer, full-length novels.

The Bad

In the interest of fairness there are two problems with Esperanto literature.

Thousands of books sounds like a lot to nonreaders. Readers might have a different reaction. For starters, it pales to the millions of titles available in English or any other major language.

And you have to take interest into account. Not every reader wants to read every book. We all have different tastes in genre and style. Thousands of titles look like a lot, but when you start drilling down to “cozy mysteries in Esperanto” your pickings might be slim. The short version, we need more Esperanto literature.

The good news is that new literature is being written in Esperanto. So maybe in time, this will not be a problem.

The other problem with Esperanto literature is that its quality varies greatly. The quality of writing can be varied, as with any body of literature. Where Esperanto struggles the most though, is physical quality.

Much of the original literature stems from the first golden age of Esperanto, in the early part of the twentieth century. Many of those books are old or out of print now. Most Esperanto publishers are small presses and their offerings can vary greatly. I’ve gotten Esperanto novels with good professional binding and some that are little more than a bunch of pages stapled together.

Books in my Esperanto library varies from quality paperbacks to a few pieces of paper stapled together.

Online, the quality issue remains a factor. Many older books have been rescued from obscurity by loyal fans, who pass around PDFs or poorly formatted epubs. Good quality ebooks would be a huge improvement for the Esperanto community.

The Beautiful

Those disclaimers aside, Esperanto has some incredible original works, works that are worth learning the language for. Here is just a small sample:

Gerda Malaperis

Hand drawn cover for Gerda Malaperis

One of the first original novels that many readers will be introduced to is Claudie Piron’s mystery novel, Gerda Malaperis. Written for the intermediate learner, the writing is simple in the first few chapters and grows increasingly complex. (There are study guides in some editions.)

The writing is light-hearted and at times repetitious. (It’s for learners after all.) That can be endearing or annoying depending on your personal preference.

The book can be found in print and online. It has even been adapted as a movie.

La Verda Koro

“The Green Heart” by Julia Baghy is one of my favorite novels in any language. Set in Eastern Russia in the later days of World War I, the novel typifies the golden age of Esperanto. The story centers around an unlikely group of Esperanto students. The village has a POW camp next to it and the cast is an unlikely blend of Europeans, Russians, Siberian locals and Chinese traders from south of the border. One of the POW’s speaks Esperanto and gets permission to create a small study group.

It’s available in print or read a free PDF here.

La Ŝtona Urbo

Anna Lowenstein is an Esperanto author that is alive and writing today. Her first novel, “The Stone City” is historical fiction set in ancient times. It tells the story of a Celtic girl taken as a slave to the Roman Empire. Buy it here.

I could go on, believe me. But for now, that is enough to prove my point. There is such a thing as Esperanto literature. And it’s worth checking out.

Stay tuned for similar rants like:

Man who can’t speak Esperanto insists no one speaks Esperanto.

Man who isn’t a linguist insists “linguists say Esperanto isn’t a real language.”

“There’s no Esperanto Literature,” Says Man who can’t Read Esperanto