We know but to forget
We live but to die
Life is futile

Nothing is impossible in the world

Nothing is really impossible in the world. It all depends on whether you really want to prove it true. In other words, it depends on whether you have the requisite ‘will power’ to achieve the goal you set for yourself. Once you have strong will power, know that you are on the right track. The will power or strong determination, without fail, urges one to take up the necessary tasks, even if sort of herculean task, to reach the goal.  Amidst hardships and misfortunes, one has to go on. Simply but true, we get whatever we really want. If things seem still impossible even if you try, then the reason may be you really do not want it.

Most often we succumbed to the fear of the fear that this or that ambition is too high for me to accomplish. Such fear, believe it, often than not, take us aback even before we begin to try. It is true till today that cowards die many times before their death. Thinking of the bulky books which are necessary to read while preparing for examinations only leads to priceless discouragement. It is always good to take up and read it rather than think about it and glaring at them. The English poet Ted Hughes has, in comparison, said that animals are quick to pick on their prey while human beings, on the other, lack that ‘kill power’. This is really true. We often complain saying that this or that dream of mine seems impossible. But it is worthwhile to think for a moment that it is our hesitation and slowness to fix on to our target where our complaint really begins.

On the contrary, they are those who muster the courage to overcome the fear of fear itself that always comes out the champion. The core reason for their triumph is often their very courage to attempt. The common replies given by successful persons in different fields, when asked upon, are often marked with their recollections on how they had stick to their target, how they have been consistent in their effort, their hard heartedness that had let them smile upon failures, which were all triggered by their very desire to achieve their dream.

It is true that we pursue what we desire. We find every possible ways to get the particular thing we desire most. We also dare to go on until the thing being pursued is reached or met. You can take an example of a young lover who doesn’t want his or her beloved to be in the lap of others, being crazy for youthful love. Like this, let your target or goal be the thing you desire most, firstly. There is no point in rejecting what you are crazy for. May sounds funny to mention but true that now-a-days even an illiterate quickly learn to handle a mobile phone with latest tech applications in just a few days.  Even one may also bother about how one could procure a smart phone no matter there is a problem for a weekly family ration. The simple answer of all such possibility is ‘desire’.      

In the mean time, money and laziness lets one argue against “nothing is impossible”. There are thousands who tell people that dream or ambition is to be had by all, but its accomplishment is another matter. Such people are often those who have succumbed to their fear of failure and never come out of it and now turned bitter (unknowingly maybe).  

Their simple and tempting suggestion is to grasp every immediate opportunity to get money with which, they think, everything can be bought. Such people are to be avoided because they themselves are the ones who are simply lazy. In other words, they have the courage to reach only halfway.  One should not bother about such lazy quasi-experts while on the way to turning things seeming impossible possible.   

Do not look for shortcuts but look for the right path and go along it. The moment you look for shortcuts, tell yourself that you lose your confidence. Shortcuts are there of course.  But wherever there is shortcut, the destination is also near.  Remember the proverb ‘Rome was not built in a day”. Don’t worry if it takes time- to reach your goal. It will, of course, take time, no escape from it.

Always remember that only one who stick to his goal and never turn back have proven and will continue to prove that nothing is impossible. It is also popular belief that regular physical exercise is good for health. Regularity and that too for a certain period of time, is necessary. Even fastening pieces of leather with an adhesive or glue takes time, isn’t it?

Saying “nothing is impossible” but not working for it will be an absurd idea. The ‘will’ to achieve a goal is always accompanied by hard-work. Consistent effort and regular exercises in relation to the goal is necessary to accomplish a goal. For instance, it is clearly not possible to become a great footballer by only dreaming of the great Argentine footballer Maradona but without coming out of the room. The same is true for other fields of accomplishments too.  It may even be said that the saying “nothing is impossible” is more of a triumphal chant than a prayer before starting a task.  

Bad lucks or misfortunes are inevitable in life and are destined to come along the way of life. Everyone under the sun one day or someday admit that life is not a bed of roses. These misfortunes are which indeed makes things appear impossible on the surface but on overturning they prove that nothing is really impossible.  Most important thing here is again to have the courage to control the misfortune, not the other way round. Smile on to it, not in contempt, but in showing your win over it.

It may be nice to hear others saying with confidence that “nothing is impossible”. But it is sweeter when you come to know that the same is true for you.  Until and unless you have this feeling of victory by yourself it is not really very easy to say “nothing is impossible”.

Nothing is impossible in this world for a person with sound mind and body. A foolish person will hardly accomplish miraculous feat. If the contrary happens by chance or by choice, he will no longer be called foolish by the time he accomplished such big thing.  It must be known that it is very foolish to have foolish thoughts like I am going to climb up heaven for nothing is impossible. The point is: sound mind and sound body plays an important role for one to achieve success or prove that everything is possible. One should clearly know his or her capability before embarking upon any task where the ‘nothing impossible’ method could be applied.  Only when you have a clear-cut idea of the thing you aspire for, being accompanied by your interest and passion, you will be able to prove that “nothing is impossible”.

One has also to sacrifice or lose something in order to prove that nothing is impossible. To prove that passing IAS examination is possible, one cannot escape buying study materials. Attending coaching institute may be an individual choice. One may even get study kits free of cost from friends, relatives or others. But there is no escape in that one has at least to put effort in collecting the study materials. The well known saying No Pain No Gain is true.

To conclude, what is really important is ‘getting ready’ to say “nothing is impossible”. It may sound absurd, but very true that unless you are ready to set out for a task, to prove nothing is impossible is far away. After readiness, go step by step. Keep waiting while not ceasing to work. Admit all kinds of impediments on the way. Welcome even misfortunes. Renew your courage and confidence even in times when you may think you lack it but still you have it. Do not look back in vain, if not for corrections from past mistakes.  Devote your time and stick to your target. One day or some day, you, you alone, not others for you, will say with confirmation in your heart of hearts that nothing is really impossible, for you have proven it true.  


(This essay of mine has been adjudged the WINNER of the essay writing contest conducted by Competition Success Review for its January 2014 issue). Happy !

  

A HOME WE ARE IN NEED

A HOME WE ARE IN NEED

Sleepless nights after sleepless nights,

I thought over and over again,

But to no conclusion I came,

Where, how and when?

A house we have indeed,

But a Home we are in need!

A house is not a home,

If you don’t belong to it!

It was in 2003* when it all began,

When our home and village,          10

Burnt to ashes like a dream;

No choice left but refuge.

Then, here and there,

A shelter we’re not in want;

But a Home we are much in want!

But not easy to find or never?

They say why don’t you?…

Aren’t you?...or even rebuke;

But never they understand us,

Coz’ we talk and look like them,              20

But not say and see like them.    

And it's harsher with poverty!

To survive but not live; 

Longing for belonging!

Only hoping for the time,

When we shall have Home.

Yet not it comes at once!

Yet not I lose hope either!

To live like this is hell!

Impossible to bear forever!    30

One day or some day,

Far or near unknown,

Our eyes and heart

Will see and sing with joy, this way:

"This is our home, friends,

Come, eat and drink;

Hey Bro, Sis, Mom, Dad,

Take rest; Now we live,

In our sweet HOME”     39

*This refers to the ethnic cleansing campaign of the Dimasas in 2003 when they burnt down many of the Hmar villages, in N.C. Hills, Assam, including ours. Thousands of the Hmars, including us, had to flee our villages and seek refuge in several parts of the country. We, of course, got shelter some way or other, but never regain the past and recover the huge material loss, not to speak of the loss of precious human lives. I think our lot nears the lot of war victims in several parts of the world.

R. L. Muon Inbuon, Kolasib, 6^th Dec 2012


(This poem has been published in the souvenir of HSA Platinum Jubilee. Thanks to the Editorial Board). 

Lung a dam nawh

Chinlai Nunhlui

Chinlai nunhlui liemhnung

Nghilni reng a um thei nawh;

Ngaiin, kokir theichangsien ka nuom

Lungmuongte-a lenglaini kha!

Lungkham hrim nei lo rengin,

Khawdung khawvai hrutin,

Lenruol kimten kan leng ;

Turnipui  senvung le ruopui dovin,

Umni kan kham tudang ngai lovin.

Doralpui, khuolram le lungchimlona,

Harsatna le lungngaina tinreng,

Um theiin kan ring ngai nawh;

Kiltin par ang a vul, lawm a kim,

Nau ang kan innui lungril thlamuongin,

Aw! tienlai maw zuk inchang el ta chuh!

Beiseina khamhrui a sei a,

Pielral ieng nunkhaw nuom hun ngakhla’n,

Chun le zuo lunglawm a kim, innui sieuin,

Thiemna run kan kai malsawmna leh,

Hlawtlingnan  a mi hmuok beiseina thar leh;

Run insang kan kutsuok ngeiah kaiin,

Hringnun tui ang a dam, virthli leng dam hieu leh;

Sawl a dam lungkham nei lo reng chu!

Sienkhawm, Dierkeipa itsikna ral hung hrangin,

A thiem a var hmasa kan hnam a run;

Nunrawngna chelekin Nunau an inrieng, 

Kangmei, hriemhrei a zam Hmar run tinah;

Kan vangkhawzawl riel ang a dei zo tah!

Zaleng lungphang khuoi ang an zam dar!

Hrietlo ram muoltin tlangtin sukin,

Riekmaw ieng invaiin  kir an mawi nawh;

Khuol ang chamin, bul tan tha in, ngai aw lo rengin,

Lung a dam mawl nawh, lung a sa dawn chang ni hin.

Dated Kolasib 26^th September 2013.

My views on the plight of the Hmars in Mizoram

The Hmars are one of the tribal groups in North East India having their own language and distinct culture. They traced back their historic home to be somewhere in China, whence they moved southwards to their present day settlements in different states of India.

The Hmars constitute the majority of the population of Mizoram. Yet they are alienated and treated as minority. Why?

The basic reason for this according to me is because they are not free to use their mother tongue, keeping aside all the other superficial reasons as often cited by the Duhlian-dialect speaking people. Here one must know that Duhlian dialect is cleverly made synonymous with Mizo, which is an inclusive term covering entire Chin-Kuki-Lushai tribal population.

How can one be free when they are looked down upon by their fellow human beings as and when they express themselves in their own language even within their family circle? Is not this discrimination of utmost inhumane kind, not to speak of Constitutional provision and the likes?

Among other things, what one can be confident with even after being stripped off all his/her possessions, is his/her mother tongue which he or she is born with. In fact and indeed, it is our mother tongue through which we best express our feelings.

One can be multilingual speaker and anyone who has this ability is of course idealistic so far as linguistic communication is concerned. But then, the world is not a one culture space, and people in the world don’t speak one language. Rather, as well known, different cultures and thousands of languages exist in the world, and most importantly, people in the world are divided into groups and the division more on linguistic than political base.  

The point is that the Hmars have their own language and culture, and this entails that they have their own literature, music, art, and distinct cultural values. Moreover, the Hmars are possessive and obsessive in their own culture and may even be regarded as the one who most hate cultural assimilation. To say shortly and simply, the Hmars are proud of their language and culture. Truly they love to develop their own language and culture, as others in the world do. After all, who in the world want to serve others forever? On the contrary, even slaves got their turn to rule.

The demand for separate administration by the Hmars in Mizoram is thus more intended to promote the Hmar language and culture than to get monetary benefit. 

Like others, the Hmars also love to freely speak their language. Not that they hate to speak language of others. Of course, they know the very common fact that people in this world learn others’ language in order to communicate with others for different purposes and they have done the same and will go on.

My conclusion is that whether the Hmars have a separate administrative unit or not (in Mizoram), they would forever fight to attain freedom to use their language without any suppression of any kind.  The Hmars really hate to be looked down upon just like the Blacks hated discrimination from the Whites. As and when the Hmars get freedom to use their own language and thereby promote their own culture and literature, only then the Hmars will live in peace.  In other words, as long as the Duhlian speaking people, who take the inclusive term Mizo in the narrowest sense, discriminate and laugh at the Hmars (and other etchnic tribes) comprising many poor families, yet human beings, they will go on struggling for their cause.

Kolasib, 20^th September 2013

Believe in God and live a peaceful life

It is always good to believe in God. It is useless to deny the presence of God everywhere. It is good to simply believe that he created the universe and the earth. Scientific findings may be there as long as human life exists, but just to prove the magnificence of God.

One day or some day there is time to every person when he or she feels there is something beyond human understanding and capacity. That very critical moment proves the very existence of unseen controller who is none other than God, the Almighty.

Jesus said to one of his disciples Thomas, after his resurrection, that whoever believes him even without seeing is privileged. This is true because whether you see or not, Jesus died and rises from death for your salvation and sanctification. Whether you believe it or not, God reigns over the world. So, the sooner you come to him, the better it is for you, and you will be peaceful in life.

Kolasib

21^st September 2013

My simple definition of Literature

Literature is the expression of life through oral and written language. Literature is the record of life with all of its activities. Literature refers to the sayings and writings about life and everything under the sun.

Literature includes both the oral and written expressions about life. However, there can be a question like whether everything said and written can be regarded as literature? The answer is NO. Why? Because, are we to regard someone saying “I go the market” or “Give me this fruit” as a piece of literature? NO. So, every conversation cannot be admitted into the realm of literature.

What then is the measuring tool or criterion by which we shall regard sayings or writings as literature or worth literature? Words or word which comes out from the ‘heart’, not simply out of the mind or mouth, constitute the essence of literature.

Let me elaborate my point. When someone expresses about his or her happiness or grief or the likes whatever he or she may encounter or comes across in the journey of life till death and the same that are also felt by his or her fellow human beings under the universe irrespective of skin colours, dwelling place, physique and other variances as many as possible, then, he or she automatically would use such words that would have the power to touch the heart of fellow human beings; such words that springs up from the heart, besides connecting to others’ heart naturally, would be lasting and also have universal value which time cannot kill. Such expressions from the heart to the heart we would call literature or having the quality of literature. 

So, one may express his or her ‘"universal’ feelings", if I am right to say so,(the word ‘universal’' is significant here) through different mediums like poem, drama, essay or novel etc. at his own purpose or as fit his stylistic ability, all comes under the umbrella term literature.

Kolasib, the 23^rd September 2013. 

Adieu 2012 !!!

Year of accomplishments and achievements

All days with beloved, near and dear ones; 

Wish I could hold on and don't let it go; But no,

By leaving, it ensure a new step needful, So

Why don't I say Thank You while I bid adieu !

Success has its own turn

I don't say that this is true. But you can prove it whether it is true or not true at all. You might have heard of many people telling of their success stories; there you must have marked that success of theirs did not come at just one or two go. Rather their way of success has its many twists and turns, and even sometimes success comes only after all hope seems to wane.

Well, think about yourself. There are many tasks ahead. You also have set a goal or some goals to achieve. There will also comes a time when you think that you work enough and you deserve success. Sometimes you may be disappointed too, even to the extent that you will think your goal might be something unattainable.

But, but, but, my friend, be not disappointed even when it seems that all hopes are gone. Keep on working and waiting, for SUCCESS has its own turn for you, just like for others. You cannot advanced or delayed the turn of success. Co-incidence or what can we say, at the right time and at the right turn, your's and the turn of success will meet at the same point. This is what we call ACHIEVING SUCCESS.

Nothing Special but boring
This is also one way of life
What can I say

A Happy New Year!

A new day is here.

We hope to be fine

Till the sun will shine.

With thee God Almighty,

Our deed will be mighty.

October Night

        October Night

‘Tis a moonlit night

The moon is just high above my head

I’m on the rooftop of my rented house

The wind from all sides blowing gently

So cool and mild the weather is !

This is October

Month of winter-begin in India

Night comes colder every night

How fresh my mind and thoughts

After taking bath I come up here.

Putting my fan on in my room

But I prefer to be here on the rooftop

Coz the gently wind that breeze

With the moon above is calm and rapture.

Nature contrast to man-made

Wordsworth or whoever may say

Now I say and feel: nature, natural

Perfect is all that He made.

-R.L.Muon Inbuon

12^th October 2011 11: 10 – 11: 40 pm, Silchar, Assam, India.

Lalpa, nang um naw la chu aw !

Oct.2011

Ka nulien a naunu'n hunlo taka a thi san a nauhai (a upa tak khawm kum 15 cho) ka enin, ka lunginsiet thei em em a; anina taka chu, an nu, ka U’n thina muol a hang liem el hi ka tuor thiem thei hlawl naw ani deu tak. Zanah zal puma ka hang ngaituo chang lem hin chu hrietnaw kar ka lo tap der el ta hlak a; Hi ahnuoia hla hi, chuong ka beidawng ka tap laia Pathien kuoma ka tawngtaina hla -thlamuongna le thangpuina hni a - kan zawt rawp hlak anih:

Lalpa, nang um naw la chu aw !

Mihriem ngaituona ringawt hin chu kan hrietthiem thei lul nawh;

Kan ngai kan lungdit ha’n zamuolpui an liem a,

Hraichawi ha’n chunnu ngaia hringnun an hmang el ding chuh !!!

Lalpa, hnemtu nang hung la,

Kumkhuo in kan kuoma um zing rawh.

I thang naw chun thla kan invai,

Nang kan kuoma um zing rawh.

Nang I um chun Lalpa,

Lusun beidawngna hai khawm,

Tuor a nem hlak;

Nang kan kuoma I um chun.

Hraichawihai ta dingin Lalpa,

Chunnu hnemthiem hung inchang la;

I malsawmna’n vur la,

I chawilai nauhai in ni tir rawh.

Nang I um chun, Lalpa

Buoina sum zing an kieng hlak;

Nang ngei I um chun,

Ieng dang ngai naw ni hai.

I malsawmna I thlamuongna’n,

Hrailenghai hung vur la;

Hnuoi rinum ram khawm ni sien,

Hlimtakin in leng tir rawh Lalpa.

I nina ngei inhriettir la:

Nang ngei an hriet che a,

Nang an kuoma I um bawk chun,

Muongte’n leng ngei an tih.

                                                                   R.L.Muon Inbuon.

DÛTHUSÂM
-Rolungmuon Inbuon
Mihriemin khawmuol ei hung hriet thei chin anthawkin duthusam ei hung nei seng a. Naupangin, “ka nu le pa’n thuomhnaw thar min chaw pek an ta, ka ruolhai nei ang ang nei ve ka tih” ti damin duthu an sam a. Chuong ang bawkin nu le pa hai khawmin, “ ka nauhai inchukna tha ah inchuktir ka ta, hlawtlingna chang an ta, hlimna dam, hausakna dam min tlun an tih” tiin duthu an sam ve hlak bawk a. Choung ang peiin mimal tinin duthusam chi hran hran ei nei seng hlak anih.
Fak le dawn,sum le pai, thuomhnaw, hmu thei thil tienga duthusam chu hril lo a hmâng nisien la.Hienghai ti lova khawm hin hieng hmingthatna, inzâkaina, inremna, thuhnuoirawlna, tlawmna nun- hai hi mitinin mani hringnun a ding, mani sungkuo a ding, mani kohrana dinga duthusam ei nei hlak hai chu an nih. Ei hringnun hmang mek lai le ei hun lo liem tahai dam ei ngaituo kira hma tieng ei hang thlirin , “tuta inthawk chu thang lang ka ta, mi ta dinga malsawmna ni a, buoina siemtu ni lova inremna siemtu ni lem dingin; mi va dem neka mi chawimawitu ni lem dingin; mi’n ka kuoma ngaidam an inhni nghak lova, mihai ngaidamtu ni lem dingin, ti damin duthu ei sam hlaka.
Sungkuo-ah hang thlir nawk inla, “ kan insung hi lawmna le hlimna umna hmun, zaidawtaka indawntuona hmun, inpawtaka lungril inhrilpawna hmun ni sien; nu le pa khawmin, nauhai Pathien thu leh thataka zirtira enkawlin; chuong ang bawkin nauhai khawmin naupang laia inthawka upat hnung chen khawma nu le pa inzataka enin, hnuoia ei pathien an nih ti iengtiklai khawma theinghil lova; chuongchun, inremna le inthuruolna hmun, Pathien thlarauin a i umpui suongkuo, hlimna le thlamuongna umna sungkuo- ni thei sien ti chu ei duthusam ani hlak.
A hmangaina leia Ama ringtuhai kuoma hrietna inthûkbîk mi petu, lawmna thurûk mi petu, thlamuongna mi petu ei Pathien biekna kohran rama khawm hin, “ a huntawk ie!, lawm a um ie!, ei inlungruol takzet!, duthusam dang ei nei ta nawh” ti thei chu ei la ni der naw ni in an lang. Chu nek hmanin, “Pathien rama bek hin chu tiin- mitin inremtaka umin, thil dang dang ngaituoa buoi rak rak nekin, a rawng ei i bawl tak Pathien kuoma tawngtaia, kohran mipui tuelkhawm Pathien thlarau thienghlim pawlna thar ei dawng seng theina dingin tiin hma hang la seng in la; A hnung ei i zui Krista- inremna siemtu, mitin ta dinga damna petu, mi thil suksuolhai ngaidamtu, tlawmna nun neitu- ani angin, eini khawm chuong ang bawka inremna siemtu, ngaidamtu, tlawmna nun neitu- ni seng inla” ti khawm hi, mi pangai ei ni phawt chun, ei duthusam ni ve ngei a tih.
Amiruokchu, hieng DUTHUSAM-hai hin tak inchang zai an rel thei der da’l hi ieng lei am ni’ng a tih aw! Saphaiin ‘duthusam’ hi (building of) “castle in the air” [boruoka in bawl (thil thei lova ngai)] an ti ang el a, duthusam hin kim ni reng reng neilo ding hrim am anih? “Duthusam hi tak inchang lo ding ei hriet zing puma sâm kuol vel mei mei ei nih” ti inla hlak chu ni chie si naw nih a. Lungriltaka invawia, tumna tak tak neia duthu ei sam hai chu Pathien khawmin a min hlawtling tir hlak si a. Chuleiin, mani hringnun ah, sungkuo ah, le kohranah tlung sien la nuom um em em duthusam-ei hang thlur bik deu hai khi- ieng leia tak inchang thei lo am ning ata? Tumna tak tak, invawina tak tak ei nei naw leia tak inchang thei lo am ani??? annawleh iengtiklai khawma puitling ngailo ding reng renga ruot, damsunga DUTHUSAM ringawta thamral ding hrim hrima ruot anni leia tak inchang lo??? ti hi ngaituo um tak anih...!

PRIMARY TASK OF THE TRANSLATOR WITH REFERENCE TO WALTER BENJAMIN

The task of the translator in a general sense is nothing more than to render a source language (SL) text into target language (TL) text. However, for Benjamin the task of the translator is not simply so. But it’s more than that. There are several tasks which the translator should accomplish and, also, there are several grounds which the translator should consider in translation. Such propositions are given by Walter Benjamin in his seminal text “The Task of the Translator” (1923). Anyway, before coming to the main topic, it is good to know at the outset that Walter Benjamin is a philosopher- a mystic kind of philosopher. Therefore, his concept of translation as well as his idea regarding the task of the translator is philosophical.
Benjamin’s main idea regarding translation and the task of the translator centred round his concept of ‘pure language’. To Benjamin, therefore, the task of the translator is to move towards ‘pure language.’ Or, in other words, it is the task of the translator to release ‘pure language’ out of the original and the translation. Benjamin probably mean by ‘pure language’: that both the original and the translated languages are incomplete in themselves; however, translation helps bringing out the complete meaning which is hidden in the original. This means that the original becomes a concrete signifier only through its translation. The original is only the concept, the rule that specifies how language is to be used. The translation is thus not a derivative of the original, and certainly not a copy of the original in another medium, language, or terminology; rather it is its realization.
As a result, the task of the translator ‘consists in finding that intended effect [intention] upon the language into which he is translating which produces in it the echo of the original.’ That intended effect is the production of ‘pure language’. More specifically, ‘instead of resembling the meaning of the original, the translator must lovingly and in detail incorporate the original’s mode of signification, thus making both the original and the translation recognizable as fragments of a greater language’. In this way the task of the translator is unique and powerful because until the translator has released this greater language in his translation, ‘it remains hidden in the languages’
Thus Benjamin differentiates the translator’s task from that of the poet. While the intention of the poet is spontaneous, primary, concrete, whereas the intention of the translator is derivative, final and ideal. The translator’s intention is ideal in the sense that his aim is to integrate the plurality of languages into a single ‘true language.’ By ‘true language’ Benjamin probably means the language in which the biblical Adam and Eve conversed with God-since that language was no more or no longer in use; and with the tower of Babel multiple languages came into existence. So, Benjamin probably means that language ‘pure language’ which existed before the tower of Babel; and the task of the translator is to create a language so as to bring out that ‘pure language’.
Therefore, the task of the translator, according to Benjamin, is not only translation of a text but trans-creation of a text. The task of the translator is to recreate the original in all its greatness- because languages do not share the same linguistic codes and modes of intention. For Benjamin, translation does not seem to be about losing something. Instead, translation appears as a way of gaining something through the creation of a text. That created text will not be a pale copy of the original but will have the potential to harmonizes the originally conflicting intentions by transforming the translating language in order to release a ‘pure language’.
In order to produce ‘pure language’ the translator has to transform and adapt the target language (TL) to match the original. To clarify his point Benjamin quotes Rudolph Pannwitz: “Our translations, even the best ones, proceed from a wrong premise. They want to turn Hindi, Greek, English into German instead of turning German into Hindi, Greek, English.” Herein comes the concept of ‘fidelity’ and ‘freedom’ in translation. Benjamin says, “These are the old, traditional concepts in every discussion of translation. They no longer seem useful for a theory that seeks in translation something other than the reproduction of meaning.”
According to Benjamin, the translator must be faithful to the original in so far as the meaning of the original is concern. However, this doesn’t simply mean a literal translation. For, whoever goes only for literal translation, according to Benjamin, is a bad translator. On the contrary, the translator must take freedom so as to allow his language (TL) to adapt with the original language. He must expand and deepen his language by the foreign tongue. The African writer Chinua Achebe’s rendering of the word ‘chi’ of Igbo language in English as ‘chi’ itself is a very good example. In Benjamin’s own words, “to set free in his own language the pure language spellbound in the foreign language, to liberate the language imprisoned in the work by rewriting it, is the translator’s task.”
Benjamin claims that languages are not strangers to one another, but are interrelated in what they want to express. Thus to demonstrate this kinship of languages in a translation, the translator has to convey the meaning of the original as accurately as possible. However this does not mean a perfect copy of the original. Benjamin explains, “Fragments of a vessel which are to be glued together must match one another in the smallest details, although they need not be like one another. In the same way a translation, instead of resembling the meaning of the original, must lovingly and in detail incorporate the original’s mode of signification, thus making both the original and the translation recognizable as fragments of a greater language, just as fragments are part of a vessel.”
To sum up, the task of the translator is not only to transmit messages or information from source language (SL) to target language (TL); but to recreate the original in all its greatness. It is the task of the translator to move the original towards higher language or ‘pure language’ in translation. In this sense the task of the translator is something unique and powerful for Benjamin as it is the translator who uncovers the greater language that is hidden in the original language, and thereby creating ‘pure language’.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY


1. Benjamin Walter, “The Task of the Translator” [1923], Trans. Harry John, Illuminations, Ed. Arendt Hannah, Fontana Press, London, 1992, 1973.

2. Rendall Steven, “The Translator’s Task Walter Benjamin (Translation)”- www.erudit.org

3. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/uoh/Doc?id=10100314&ppg=27

4. http://germanquarterly.aatg.org/forum/TranslationForum.php



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FORMALIST APPROACH TO LITERATURE

THE FORMALIST APPROACH TO LITERATURE

Formalistic Approach, in a sense, is an approach to literature which focuses on the formal features of literature. However, taken in the literal sense too much could be an oversimplification and accordingly one would miss out the main ideas behind ‘Formalism’ as a theoretical approach to literature. Moreover, to use the term ‘Formalism’ alone is quite unsafe because of its wide-encompassing connotation, which means, the term could be used in various fields of study. Therefore, it is safer to call it Russian Formalism which developed in the 1920s in Russia, and from which ‘Formalism’ as a literary theory evolved. So, without simply regarding Formalism as an Approach that studies the formal features of literature, it is preferable to call it as an approach to literature following the ideas and principles of the Russian Formalists.

          The Russian Formalists originally includes two groups of scholars and students – the Moscow Linguistic Circle (1915), and the Petersburg OPOJAZ group (the Society for the Study of Poetic Language)[1916]. The Moscow Linguistic Circle includes Roman Jakobson, Peter Bogatyrev, and Grigory Vinokor besides others; and the Peterburg OPOJAZ group includes Boris Eichenbaum, Victor Shklovsky and Yuri Tynyanov, among others. In the 1930s the Soviets suppressed the movement, because of which the centre moved to Czechoslovakia. There it was continued by members of the Prague Linguistic Circle which included, among others, Roman Jakobson, Jan Mukarovsky, and Rene Wellek. Moreover, beginning in the 1940s both Jakobson and Rene Wellek continued the movement as professors at American universities. In this way , the Russian Formalism, since its inception, have varied practitioners and went on taking different shapes, and developing different models. Even it came to be transformed into New Formalism recently.

         

          However, despite of its varied practitioners and models, the Russian Formalism retains certain principles which make it quite fit to be a critical theory and an Approach to literature, so to say. The main principle of the Russian Formalists is to study literature for its own sake, i.e. to the exclusion of its subject matter and social values. The Formalists sought to place the study of literature on a scientific basis; and their investigation concentrated on the functional role of the language and the technical devices of literary works. Their main endeavour consisted in defining a set of properties specific to poetic language, be it poetry or prose, recognisable by their “artfulness” and consequently analysing them as such.

          Accordingly, the concepts of ‘literariness’, ‘foregrounding’, ‘defamiliarisation’ and fabula and sjuzhet are central to Formalistic Approach. Roman Jakobson in 1921 wrote: “The object of study in literary science is not literature but literariness,’ that is, what makes a given work a literary work.” This implies that the Formalists are interested in the study of the distinctive features of literature, which further implies that the linguistics of literature differs from the linguistics of practical discourse. As such, the Formalism views literature as a specialized use of language, and differentiates between the literary or poetical use of language and the ordinary or practical use of language. It proposes that the central function of practical language is to communicate or transmit a message or information to the auditors, by extrinsic references. On the contrary, Formalism conceives literary language to be self-focused, in that its function is not to convey message by extrinsic references, but to offer a special mode of experience to the readers, by drawing attention to its own ‘formal’ features- that is to the qualities and internal relations of the linguistic signs themselves.

          According to Jan Mukarovsky, the literariness of a work consists “in the maximum of foregrounding of the utterance”, that is, the foregrounding of “the act of expression, the act of speech itself.” By ‘foregrounding’ is meant to give prominence to some features of a work. The idea behind this concept is that the linguistic medium of literary works is cover up by some formal features or literary devices which the reader will uncover so as to get fresh sensation. The ‘foregrounded properties’ or ‘artistic devices’, which are often described as ‘deviations’ from ordinary language primarily consists in setting up, and afterward violating, patterns in the sound and syntax of poetic language- including patterns in speech sounds, grammatical constructions, rhythm, rhyme, and stanza forms- and also in setting up prominence recurrences of keywords or images, metre, and alliteration. These formal features are not regarded as supplementary adornments of the meaning of a work, but as effecting the reorganisation of language on the semantic as well as the phonic and syntactic levels.

          The foregrounding of the utterance is achieved by the defamiliarizing ability of the poetic language. Victor Shklovsky developed the concept of defamiliarization in his famous essay ‘Art as Technique’(1917). He wrote:

           “And art exists that one may recover the sensation of life: it exists to make one feel things, to make the stone stony. The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The technique of art is to make objects ‘unfamiliar’, to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and the length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of an object; the object is not important.”

          His main idea is that in most activities perception becomes a habitual, automatic process where we are often unaware of, or take for granted our view of things and the relations between them. Poetic or literary language could disturb this habitualization and make us see things differently and anew. Shklovsky’s theory is helpful in understanding experimental writing, like the modernist writing in that ‘modernism’ emphasize form rather than content. The poetry of Ezra Pound or T.S. Eliot can certainly be said to have the defamiliarizing effect. So is the prose fiction of James Joyce’s Ullysses(1922) or Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis(1916). Shklovsky, however, acknowledges that defamiliarization effects will change over time so that one generation’s defamiliarization will became the next generation’s habituation or norm.

          Thus the Formalist Approach mainly is that literature ‘makes strange’ the world of everyday perception and renews the reader’s lost capacity for fresh sensation by way of foregrounding its linguistic medium so as to disrupt the modes of everyday or ordinary linguistic discourse. Significantly, Formalists have also made influential contribution to the theory of prose fiction. Their thesis lies in the distinction between the story and the plot by employing the terms- fabula and sjuzhet respectively. Fabula refers to the simple enumeration of a chronological sequence of events, whereas sjuzhet is the informing principle that gives shape to the incidents and the story proper; it is the artistically ordered narrative structure. In other words, if fabula strings together incidents, sjuzhet organises the narrative and gives it shape. An author is said to transform the raw material of a story into a literary plot by the use of a variety of devices that violate sequence and that deform and defamiliarize the story elements. The result or effect is to foreground the narrative medium and devices themselves, and in this way to disrupt and refresh and renew the sensation that remain unnoticed on the part of the reader because of habitualization.

          Although Russian Formalism is often likened to the American New Criticism of the 1950s because of a similar emphasis on close critical attention to the text, the Russian Formalists were, however, more interested in method and a scientific approach. Russian Formalism emphasised a differential definition of literature, as opposed to the New Criticism’s isolation and objectification of the single text. They also rejected the mimetic or expressive function of literature more strongly. The New Criticism, while challenging some of the views of the traditional orthodoxy, remained within the humanist problematic. Russian Formalism moves away from the view of the text as reflecting an essential unity which is ultimately one of the moral or humanistic significance. The central focus of the Russian Formalists is not literature per se, but literariness, that which makes a given work a literary work. Thus the Formalists sought to uncover the system of the literary discourse, the system that made literature possible. Their interests in texts centred on the functioning of literary devices rather than on content.

          Although there are strong opposition to Formalism, in both European and American varieties- by some Marxist critics who view it as the product of a reactionary ideology; and by proponents of Reader-Response criticism, Speech-Act theory, and New Historicism which reject the view that there is a sharp division between literary language and ordinary language- however in the 1990s a number of critics call for a return to the formalist mode of treating a literary work primarily as an aesthetic entity instead of referring to the political, racial, or sexual issues. Here, mention may be made of Frank Lentricchia’s “Last Will and Testament of an Ex-literary critic” (Lingua Franca, Sept./Oct.1996) who renounce his earlier writings and teachings “about literature as a political instrument,” in favour of the view “that literature is pleasurable and important, as literature, and not as an illustration of something else.”; and also Harold Bloom’s advocacy of reading literature not to apply or confirm a political or social theory but for the love of literature in The Western Canon(1994).

          This return to Formalism was at first primarily proposed as a reaction against the New Historicism; but within a few years, what became to be known as the New Formalism proposed a positive program, undertaking to connect the formal aspects of literature to the historical, political, and worldly concerns, in opposition to which the Formalist movement had earlier defined itself. Some of the New Formalists argue that the formal integrity of a work of art is what protects it against ‘ideology’, idealization and the routinizing effects of everyday experience; while others emphasize that the perception of aesthetic or literary form is a necessary condition of critical thought. Thus, whether the earlier one or the new one, the Formalists’ concern is towards the ‘foregrounded properties’ (formal features) of literature; in the ‘make strange’ or ‘defamiliarize’ function of literary language; in the literariness of literature or in what makes literature a literature.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.      Rice Philip & Waugh Patricia ed., Modern Literary Theory: A Reader,            New York, Edward Arnold, 1992.

2.     Webster Roger, Studying Literary Theory- An Introduction, London, Arnold, 1990.

3.     Lodge David ed., Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader, London, Longman, 1988.

4.    Nagarajan M.S., English Literary Criticism and Theory: An Introductory History, Hyderabad, Orient Blackswan, 2008, Reprint 2010.

5.     Abrams M.H & Harpham Galt Geoffrey, A Handbook of Literary Terms, India edition, New Delhi, Cengage Learning, 2009.