If we're evaluating literatures by the number of enduring masterpieces — books which are considered true works of art in their own right — my vote would have to go with England. The people of that island have been producing masterpieces with regularity from Gawain and the Green Knight to the present day. But if our metric is the endurance of ideas, characters, stories, and moods, taken apart from the works in which they are featured, I would say that Greece has to be the winner. I haven't read a single Greek literary work, but I know all the stories and characters simply from cultural osmosis. Actually, if I'm thinking along those lines, the Hebrews with their Bible would have to take the prize.

Curious how cultures with an independent literary tradition, with no ties to the west, would view this question. Would Chinese or Indian readers admit the excellence of Greek and English books?