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How do you define greatness?

As you point out, Russia has the likes of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Chekov.

But France has Voltaire, Rousseau, and Rostand

Germany has Goethe, Schiller, von Wolkenstein, and von Tell.

England/Britain has Chaucer and Shakespeare, but also Marlowe, Bacon, and Donne.

The United States has Thoreau, Emerson, Edwards, Hemingway, London, and L'Amour.

Can we truly say one country's literary tradition is greater than another?

A good story is a good story no matter which country nurtured it into being.

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Everything is subjective, no conclusions could ever be reached, no consensus established -yet, I enjoy the argument!

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It is a good framing for celebrating the wealth of literature countries and cultures have gifted us!

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