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| Greer's Proust polemic a waste of time | Agnès Poirier Proust is too long, too expensive and impossible to read in the bath, says Germaine Greer. Has she had a bang on the head?La Greer – or Professor Greer as her assistant once corrected me after I addressed her as, simply, Madame Greer – is all upset. I don't know what happened last weekend but le professeur must have being knocked out by Proust's entire A la Recherche du Temps Perdu while dusting the upper bookshelves in her study, for she declared today that Proust was wasted time, or temps perdu. We love the play on words, don't we? And to deride it further, le professeur refers to La Recherche as ALRDTP. Too much wit can kill, surely.What exactly is the problem with Proust according to Greer? It's too long, apparently, therefore too expensive to acquire, and impossible to read in the bath. Here is literary criticism of the highest nature. Also, the last volume, left only in typescript by the dying Proust, must have driven his editor to despair. Le professeur judges a book on the work conditions of its editor and proof-reader? This is indeed a revolutionary approach to criticism. Wait, let's be fair, there's more. Proust doesn't know about full stops and relies too heavily on commas and semi-colons which are anyway in the wrong place. Does le professeur know that punctuation varies according to the language (punctuation in French and English obey different rules), and that varying its use in literature is called artistic licence? What to say about EE Cummings then; shall we damn his oeuvre on the account of his unusual grammar, syntax and punctuation?Then come the damning considerations about the English translation – hardly Proust's fault, is it, if La Recherche challenges the art of translation. But why should translation be a problem for le professeur, she seems indeed perfectly able to read Proust in French and quotes a whole paragraph in the original version. Alors, Germaine, dites nous, quel est le problème?I won't start defending Proust and praise his prose. You only need to read him to know that it won't be wasted time. It could even change your life. Perhaps somebody should tell la Greer that at the end of La Recherche, Proust and his readers have regained Time. Time Regained, or Le Temps RetrouvĂ©, is the last volume's title. It is also the title of Raoul Ruiz's beautiful cinematic adaptation.Germaine GreerAgnès Poirierguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
From Footnote to Fame in Civil Rights History Claudette Colvin, who resisted unfair treatment on a Montgomery, Ala., bus nine months before Rosa Parks, lived an unheralded life until a recent book highlighted her story. feeds.nytimes.com |
TBR: Inside the List “The Lego Book,” new at No. 10 on the hardcover how-to and advice list, traces the great moments in Lego history. feeds.nytimes.com |
Hardcover Fiction Top 5 at a Glance1. THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown2. I, ALEX CROSS, by James Patterson3. UNDER THE DOME, by Stephen King4. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett5. PIRATE LATITUDES, by Michael Crichton feeds.nytimes.com |
Rumi's Masnavi, part 8: Echoes of celestial music | Franklin Lewis Rumi's teaching transcends the petty human squabbles that keep us divided. His words are a path to the divineMoment to moment, new in formthat ravishing idol appearssteals the heart and disappears…He spent a term on earth, came downas Jesus from the sky, spread joyreturned again, reciting gloryOnce he came as Noah, drownedthe world in prayer, embarked the ArkOnce he came as Abraham, the Friendemerging from the heart of fireturning all the flames to flowersOnce as Joseph, lumen of the world,sent his coat from Egypt, giving sightas light coursed through the eyes of JacobHe came to shepherd, with white hand,made his staff slough off wooden skin,assume snakeform; held back foam waves…It was him, I swear to God,who came and went from age to age –the final time in Arab form,came in possession of the earthHe it was, in truth, who saidIn a voice from God: "I am the Truth"From the gallows hung not Hallaj– as you wrongly thought – but himThis moment he is hid, seek himif you can see with inner eyeThat's how all these words came to be –….He was Tabriz, also the sunof meaning, in gardens of lightIn mystery's ferment he appearedand became manifest in loveThis poem was composed by a disciple of Rumi, attempting to speak in his voice; until about 40 years ago, it was thought to be by Rumi himself, and was frequently included in his collection of lyrical poems, the Divan of Shams. It was even sung by the popular Persian singer, Giti, in the 1970s (as Bot-e ayyar). Though the words do not come from Rumi himself, the impression it gives of his prophetology is not far off, and it nicely represents the mystical transformation that Shams of Tabriz helped him to achieve, following in the tradition of the Sufis.Rumi did not come to mysticism primarily through visionary experiences. He relates a prescient dream he had in one ghazal and tells a symbolic visionary encounter experienced by a certain Daquqi (who is otherwise unknown to history and may well be a foil for Rumi himself), who sees an apparition of seven candles which then merge and metamorphose into men and trees, and converse, though others cannot see them (Masnavi 3: 1924ff). Many of Rumi's lyrical ghazals express an almost psychedelic perceptivity that makes his imagery so distinctive and attractive ("Light would soak the world entire / as once it did on Sinai's Mount / if I reveal the ecstasy / of my heart's fabliaux ... from ghazal 2789). But Rumi's mysticism was informed by the Qur'an and praxis in the Sufi tradition, as well as a penetrating vision into the pre-prismatic realm. He quotes from the Qur'an or alludes to its verses thousands of times, for which reason the Masnavi came to be known as the Qur'an in Persian tongue.Rumi has an avuncular homiletic way of teaching without preaching overmuch, and a penchant for expressing things in a most pleasing manner with metaphor and allegory and humour, all in an engaging verse. He does not necessarily tie things up nicely (the Masnavi itself is clearly unfinished, trailing off at the end of Book Six with its final story still incomplete). He explains theology (questions like free well and predestination, for example) and ethics, and mystical truths in a way informed by his erudition, yet that was palatable and easy enough for the uninitiated to understand. He teaches us a mode of insight: Tend within to opening of your heart / or stand accuse: "Do you not see?"We began this series wondering whether Rumi's surging fame in the west, based on English versions of his poems made popular by people who do not read them in the original, represents something spiritually original and authentic. Does Rumi have anything profound to say to us in the modern world about spirituality, the mystical path, the ecumenical nature of truth? That is for each reader to judge, in the encounter with the text. He has won the admiration of Hegel, Martin Buber, Gurdjieff, Dag Hammarskjold, Erich Fromm, among others. Some have called him the world's greatest representative of mysticism and mystical poetry. And he certainly had something to say about looking beyond the linguistic, national and religious borders that divide us to the mystical realm in which separateness and distinction melt away.A man gave four companions one dirhamThe first said "I will get angur with it."The second, who was Arab, answered "No!I want 'inab, and not angur, you rogue!"The third, a Turk, in Turkish chimed: "It's mine!I do not want your 'inab, but ĂĽzĂĽm."A Greek, the fourth, called out: "To all of thisnonsense put a stop! It's estâfil we want!"Ignorant of the secret of these namesthey all fell from discord into wranglingLong on ignorance, of understanding shorn,each punched in knuckleheadedness, the othersIf a precious polyglot were present,a master of mysteries, he'd bring them peaceThen he would have said: "I can fulfillall four of your desires with one dirhamIf you entrust me wholly with your heartsyour one dirham will work for all of youFour foes, united, can become as oneThe words of each of you bring trouble, strifeMy words will bring the four of you accordSo you be quiet, then: "Hold ye your tongues"Let me become your tongue in conversation.Masnavi 2: 3681-82The Masnavi opens with the famous lament of the reed flute, cut from its source in the reed bed. It seems fitting to close this series on Rumi's work, then, with this thought:We all were parts of Adam at one timeIn paradise we all have heard these tunesThough clay and water fill us up with doubtsWe still remember something of those songsMasnavi 736-7ReligionPhilosophyIslamPoetryFranklin Lewisguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |