Silas Marner (Realism and Air of Fairy Tale)

About the Author:

Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian^[1]), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1862–63), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), Middlemarch (1871–72) and Daniel Deronda (1876). Like Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, she emerged from provincial England; most of her works are set there. Her works are known for their realism, psychological insight, sense of place and detailed depiction of the countryside.

Introduction: 

Silas Marner the weaver of Raveloe is the third novel by George Eliot. It was published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, the novel is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialisation to community.

Plot:

Silas Marner covers a long span of time — over thirty years. However, concentration within this span limits the time actually portrayed to three relatively short periods. The first of these, the time on which the book opens, shows Silas living his lonely existence at Raveloe. This period is followed by a flashback to the time fifteen years earlier when he was driven from Lantern Yard. The time then skips quickly back to its original point, settling on a November afternoon. The events between then and New Year's take up the first portion of the book, although the narrator briefly mentions some events that follow as Silas begins to raise Eppie.

Sixteen years are then jumped over, and the results of the early events are seen. The intervening years are filled in mostly by the narrator or by conversations between characters. There are only a few brief dramatic portrayals of events during those years — for example, Godfrey and Nancy's discussion about adopting Eppie. After the past is brought up to date, the time remains at the same Sunday on which this portion of the book opened, until the main plot considerations are disposed of (for example, Dunstan's disappearance, Godfrey's relationship to Eppie, and Eppie's future). Some events occur after that — Silas goes to Lantern Yard a few days later, and still later Eppie is married — but they are treated very briefly.

Important Events:

The three times on which Eliot concentrates contain five main events: the Lantern Yard robbery, the theft of Silas' gold, the death of Molly (or the arrival of Eppie), the return of Silas' gold, and Godfrey's attempt to claim his child.

Consideration of these basic events gives a broad view of the structure of Silas Marner. They are all more or less related, either in the mind of one or more characters, or by cause-and-effect. The last four fall into pairs: the theft of the gold and the coming of Eppie in its place; the return of the gold and Godfrey's claim on Eppie. The first two are not related in fact, as the reader knows, but Silas and the other inhabitants of Raveloe consider them to be a kind of cause-and-effect, which gives rise to a symbolic relationship between them. The latter pair are related strictly through their cause — the discovery of Dunstan's body with the gold leads Godfrey to confess that he is Eppie's father. But the symbolic relationship that has been established carries over from the past. The first event, the robbery at Lantern Yard, is of course the indirect cause of the rest, for it sends Silas to Raveloe, but it also provides the basis for Silas' reactions at the time of the second robbery — it causes his feeling of being tormented by an unseen power. As such, it is responsible for the symbolic values of later events.

Two Plots:

There are two plots in Silas Marner: Silas' rejection of humanity and his redemption, and the plot involving Godfrey and his two wives. The two plots are not unrelated, however. In the beginning, there is little connection between them, but by the end of the tale they are inseparable. A glance at the events outlined above shows how this happens. The structure of the book might be thought of as a funnel, with Godfrey and Silas on opposite sides at first but gradually being carried by events into the same course. There are many parallels between their lives. At first these parallels are distant, but they come closer and closer until at last they join. Note, for example, that Godfrey is betrayed by Dunstan as Silas was betrayed by William Dane. Godfrey has two wives to correspond to Silas' two treasures; in both cases, the first is their ruin, and the second is their salvation. Their first real connection is the gold: Dunstan is trying to extort money from Godfrey, and when he fails at that, he steals it from Silas. Eppie comes to replace the gold, and she is the second and far closer connection between Silas and Godfrey. Godfrey is her real father, but Silas becomes like a father to her. Furthermore, the event that brings Eppie to Silas is looked on as a blessing by both Silas and Godfrey, for it frees Godfrey to marry Nancy.

Techniques:

The meaning of the novel and its symbolic values are completely bound up in the contrasts and comparisons between these two plots. The nature of a "blessing," the meaning of good and bad in relation to social conduct — these and other problems become involved in the working out of events. Nor are Godfrey and Silas the only persons involved. Their lives are connected most of all through the society in which they live. The community of Raveloe is an agent of their acts as well as a spectator and commentator. When Silas discovers the robbery, he reports it to the Rainbow, and Godfrey hears of it from there. A cross-section of the community is present to receive word of Molly's death. Eppie provides a connecting link not only between Godfrey and Silas, but between Silas and the community as well. Communal opinion is never the final authority in the novel; Eliot often treats it ironically; but it is an important factor in the lives of the major characters and in the functioning of the plot.

Conclusion:

George Eliot’s Silas Marner brilliantly combines the  apparently conflicting aspects such as realism and the air of a fairy tale. Silas Marner is a tale of love and overcoming setbacks. In the beginning of the novel, the protagonist, Silas, loses his friends, his faith, and his fiancé when he is framed for theft. Exiled, he moves from Lantern Yard to the idyllic English country side of Raveloe, a farming community.

 

Shakespearean Tragedy

 What Is a Tragedy?:

The word tragedy was derived from the Greek word tragoidia, which means ‘the song of the goat.’ It is called "the song of the goat" because in ancient Greece the theatre performers used to wear goatskin costumes to represent satyrs. Today in theatre and literature a tragedy is a work that has an unhappy ending. The ending must include the main character's downfall.

The dramatic form of classical tragedy derives from the tragic plays of ancient Athens, which depicted the downfall of a hero or famous character of Greek legend. The hero would struggle against overwhelming fate, and his defeat would be so noble that he wins the moral victory over the forces that destroy him. A tragedy evoked pity and terror in the audience; it was a catharsis, or washing clean of the soul, which left the spectator trembling but purified.

Aristotle proposed the tragic unities of Place, Time, and Action, that is, the whole tragedy would take place in a single location, for example a house or a city square (this included messengers who came in from elsewhere), it would happen during the course of one day (including speeches about events which had happened in the past), and it would be a single story, without sub- plots. Compared with these strict rules, Shakespeare's tragedy is a more relaxed genre

Shakespearean Tragedy:

Shakespearean tragedy has got its own specific features, which distinguish it from other kinds of tragedies. It must be kept in mind that Shakespeare is mostly indebted to Aristotle’s theory of tragedy in his works. Shakespeare’s tragedies: Titus Andronicus (1594) Romeo and Juliet (1596) Julius Caesar (1599) Hamlet ( 1600) Othello (1604) Timon of Athens (1607) King Lear (1606) Macbeth ( 1606) Antony and Cleopatra (1607).  

The Elements in Shakespearean Tragedy:

1. The Tragic Hero: A tragic hero is one of the most significant elements of a Shakespearean tragedy. This type of tragedy is essentially a one-man show. It is a story about one, or sometimes two, characters. The hero may be either male or female and he or she must suffer because of some flaw of character, because of inevitable fate, or both. The hero must be the most tragic personality in the play. According to Andrew Cecil Bradley, a noted 20th century Shakespeare scholar, a Shakespearean tragedy “is essentially a tale of suffering and calamity conducting to death.” An important feature of the tragic hero is that he or she is a towering personality in his/her state/kingdom/country. This person hails from the elite stratum of society and holds a high position, often one of royalty. Take Hamlet, prince of Denmark; he is intellectual, highly educated, sociable, charming, and of a philosophic bent. The hero is such an important person that his/her death gives rise to full-scale turmoil, disturbance, and chaos throughout the land.

2. Good vs. Evil: Shakespearean tragedies play out the struggle between good and evil. Most of them deal with the supremacy of evil and suppression of good. Evil is presented in Shakespearean tragedies in a way that suggests its existence is an indispensable and ever-enduring thing. For example, in Hamlet, the reader is given the impression that something rotten will definitely happen to Denmark (foreshadowing). Though the reader gets an inkling, typically the common people of the play are unaware of the impending evil. In Julius Caesar, the mob is unaware of the struggle between good and evil within King Caesar. They are also ignorant of the furtive and sneaky motives of Cassius. Goodness never beats evil in the tragedies of Shakespeare. Evil conquers goodness. The reason for this is that the evil element is always disguised, while goodness is open and freely visible to all. The main character  is assigned the task of defeating the supreme evil because of his goodness. As a result, he suffers terribly and ultimately fails due to his fatal flaw.

3. Hamartia: Hamartia is the Greek word for “sin” or “error”. In other words, hamartia refers to the hero's tragic flaw. It is another absolutely critical element of a Shakespearean tragedy. Every hero falls due to some flaw in his or her character. As a result of the fatal flaw, the hero falls from a high position, which usually leads to his/her unavoidable death. A good example of hamartia can be seen in Hamlet when Hamlet's faltering judgment and failure to act lead him to his untimely death. He suffers from procrastination. It is this failure to act, and uncertainty about the correct path that ultimately result in Hamlet's death and lead Denmark into chaos.

4. Tragic Waste: In Shakespearean tragedies, the hero usually dies along with his opponent. The death of a hero is not an ordinary death; it encompasses the loss of an exceptionally intellectual, honest, intelligent, noble, and virtuous person. In a tragedy, when good is destroyed along with evil, the loss is known as a "tragic waste." Shakespearean tragedy always includes a tragic waste of goodness. Hamlet is a perfect example of tragic waste. Even though Hamlet succeeds in uprooting the evil from Denmark, he does so at the cost of his death.

5. Conflict: Conflict is another imperative element of a Shakespearean tragedy. There are two types of conflicts: External Conflict - External conflict plays a vital role in the tragedies of Shakespeare. External conflict causes internal conflict in the mind of the tragic hero. Every tragic hero in a Shakespearean play is confronted with external conflicts that must be addressed. Hamlet, for example, is confronted with external conflict in the shape of his uncle, Claudius. He has to take revenge, but as a result of his uncle's craftiness and effective security, Hamlet isn’t able to translate his ideas into action. This external conflict gives rise to internal conflict, which hinders Hamlet from taking any action. Internal Conflict Internal - conflict is one of the most essential elements in a Shakespearean tragedy. It refers to the confusion in the mind of the hero. Internal conflict is responsible for the hero's fall, along with fate or destiny. Internal conflict is what causes Hamlet to spare the life of Claudius while he is praying.

6. Catharsis: Catharsis is a remarkable feature of a Shakespearean tragedy. It refers to the cleansing of the audience's pent-up emotions. In other words, Shakespearean tragedies help the audience to feel and release emotions through the aid of tragedy. When we watch a tragedy, we identify with the characters and take their losses personally. A Shakespearean tragedy gives us an opportunity to feel pity for a certain character and fear for another, almost as if we are playing the roles ourselves. The hero's hardships compel us to empathize with him. The villain's cruel deeds cause us to feel wrath toward him. Tears flow freely when a hero like Hamlet dies. 7. Supernatural Elements: Supernatural elements are another key aspect of a Shakespearean tragedy. They play an import role in creating an atmosphere of awe, wonder, and sometimes fear. Supernatural elements are typically used to advance the story and drive the plot. The ghost in Hamlet plays an important role in stirring up Hamlet’s internal conflict. It is the ghost who tells Hamlet his father was killed by his uncle Claudius and assigns him the duty of taking revenge. Similarly, the witches in Macbeth play a significant role in the plot. These witches are responsible for motivating Macbeth to resort to murder in order to ascend the throne of Scotland.

8. Absence of Poetic Justice: Poetic Justice means good is rewarded and evil is punished; it refers to a situation in which everything comes to a fitting and just end. There is no poetic justice in the tragedies of Shakespeare, rather, these plays contain only partial justice. Shakespeare understood that poetic justice rarely occurs outside of fiction. Good deeds often go without reward and immoral people are often free to enjoy life to its fullest. Good is crushed along with evil. Hamlet dies along with Claudius.

9. Comic Relief: Comic relief is our final key element. Shakespeare didn’t follow in the footsteps of his classical predecessors when writing tragedies. Greek and Roman writers didn’t use comic relief. But Shakespeare wanted to relieve the tension for the reader and lighten up the mood here and there. A few examples of comic relief scenes include the grave digger scene in Hamlet, the drunken gate-keeper scene in Macbeth, the fool in King Lear etc.

Conclusion: It can be viewed that Shakespeare followed some of Aristotelian views on tragedy yet he had his own innovation in these plays. There are some ‘missing elements’ or some other ‘innovative elements’ in Shakespeare’s tragedies. Hence, he can be considered a genius, writing the realistic tragedies, though deviating from Aristotle’s views on tragedy.

Upagupta (Rabindranath Tagore)

 About the Author:

Rabindranath Tagore, (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali He wrote  literature both in Bengali and English languages. Author of “Gitanjali” and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West. He is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of the modern Indian subcontinent, being highly commemorated in India and Bangladesh, as well as in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.

Introduction:

The Poem “Upagupta” establishes the impermanence of sensual pleasures, the root cause of sorrow being attachment to material pleasures etc. and many such philosophical and spiritual truths. Tagore achieves this through the incidents in the life of a dancing girl and her meeting with an ascetic called Upagupta.

Upagupta and the Dancing Girl:

Upagupta is a disciple of Buddha, and goes from one place to another. He is sleeping in a small town when a dancing girl wakes him up and requests him to sleep at her home. Upagupta refuses, and tells her “I will visit you when the time is ripe.” A year later, and again on travel to the same place, Upagupta finds the dancing girl lying on the ground outside the town, having sores all over the body and shunned by the townsfolk. He applies sandal-balm on her body and when asked who he was, he replies “The time has come to visit you and I am here.”

Two Different Scenes:

Two different scenes which were separated in time are described in the Lines 1-12 are in the first scene. It is in the rainy season. Lines 13-22 are in the second scene. It is in the spring season and the branches of the trees were full of flowers.

First Scene:

Upagupta was asleep in the dust by the city wall of Mathura. He slept in the dust because he was a saint and he hated comfort, luxury and wealth. The night was described as murky because it was dark and unpleasant everywhere. It was the rainy season. So, people stayed indoors and they closed the doors and put out all lights. At that time of the night the dancing girl was returning home from the royal court. As it was dark at that time, she approached the city wall and couldn't see the path clearly. She touched Upagupta with her feet. He didn't mind her feet touching him since it wasn't deliberate attempt.

The dancer was attracted by Upagupta's austerely face. She thought that the dusty earth wasn't the proper place for the ascetic to sleep on. So, she requested Upagutpa to come to her house. But he was a saint. He hated comfort, wealth and worldly pleasure. So, he declined the dancer's invitation. He promised her that he would visit her house at an appropriate time.

Second Scene:

It was the spring season. The branches of the trees were full of flowers. The air was warm and the breeze made musical sounds. The town was silent and there was none because most of the citizens left for the woods to attend the festival of flowers. The dancing girl was suffering from a deadly disease called small-pox and she was driven away from the town. She had severe sores on her body. They were very painful and the disease was contagious. She lied in the shadow of the city wall, suffering. She should be looked after by someone. The time for the ascetic, Upagupta, had come to serve her. He sat by the side of the suffering woman. He took her head on his knees, watered her lips, applied some sandal-balm to her sores and showed great care towards her. The dancing girl asked who the merciful one was. He was Upagupta. He said that it was the right time for him to visit her because the duty of an ascetic was to render service to humanity.

Conclusion:

The two moments shown in the life of the girl are the two cardinal moments in her life. The poem explains the inner and outer life of a dancing girl. In the beginning she prefers worldly pleasure. Transformation occurs in the life of her when she receives kind treatment in the hands of the ascetic.  

Refugee Mother and Child (Chinua Achebe)

 About the Author:

Chinua Achebe (16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist. Poet and critic. He is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. His first novel, as well as magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958) occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated and read African novel. Along with Things Fall Apart, his No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964) complete the ‘African trilogy.’ His other novels are A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). He is often referred to as the “father of African literature.” Generally, he is not considered for his poetry. Yet poems such as “Refugee Mother and Child” prove that the incredible talent Achebe possessed with the written world which did not end with novels alone.

Critical Appreciation of “Refugee Mother and Child” –

Introduction:

In the poem "Refugee Mother and Child", Chinua Achebe deals with the sadness of death. The author conveys this theme by creating a tragic atmosphere through the introduction of shocking images and strong words. The poem can be allegorically read at two levels: one is that the child is probably Jesus Christ and the mother is Mother Mary as the very first word of the poem, “Madonna” indicates; and another is that people, especially women and children who are stranded in refugee camps during turbulent times. The poem is poignant due to its artful usage of imagery and simple language.

Analysis:

Using the imagery such as “Madonna and Child”, “a ghost smile”, “rust-coloured hair left on his skull” and “tiny grave” and phrases and words like "unwashed", "washed out ribs", "dried up bottoms", "laboured steps" "blown empty bellies", Chinua Achebe sets the tone of the poem and at the same time, evokes pity in the readers’ mind.

 The poem opens with the image of Madonna with the Holy Child.  The poet says that mother's tender love and care towards her child which is obviously dying through the imagery Madonna and the child.  She would soon have to forget about the child and move on with her life, but she still cares for the child with tenderness.

Then comes the heart-wrenching description of the refugee camp and its inhabitants. The air in the place is described as being "heavy". It is pungent with the odour of unwashed children affected with diarrhea. It shows that the children are ill with diarrhea, but they are not taken care of or even be given a bath in the refugee camp. The children are so malnourished that their ribs are "washed out", their bottoms are "dried up", their bellies are "blown empty" and struggle in "laboured steps". In this condition even walking is a struggle or hard work for them.
The mothers of these children have stopped caring of the kids a long time ago. Disease, suffering, death - all these have become a matter of normal everyday life in the camp. The living conditions are so horrific that it has forced even mothers to harden their hearts towards their own children.

But, one woman is different from the other mothers. She has not hardened her heart towards her dying son. She still loves and cares for him. She had a "ghost of a smile" between her teeth and a "ghost of motherly pride" in her eyes. This conveys that her smile is so weak and pale that it does not even appear like a real smile. She is trying to put on a smile, but the hurricane of sorrow and suffering behind it makes the smile look haunting. She has motherly love and pride in her eyes like any other mother, but it is also not real, it is merely a shadow of what would have been real motherly pride.

The mother is combing the rust-coloured hair on the skull of her son. The words "rust coloured hair" show that the boy is severely ill, as his hair looks rusted; while the use of the word "skull" shows that the boy is nearing his bitter end as his hair seems to grow out of his skull, instead of his head. While she is combing and carefully parting her son's hair, the mother's eyes are so full of emotions that the poet says that she was "singing in her eyes".

Finally, the poet says that a mother combing the hair of her little son is a normal act of daily life. Every mother does it before her son has breakfast and leaves for school. This routine act of normal life looks ominous in the camp; it looks like the mother is putting flowers on the tiny grave of her son. Mother Mary let her son, Christ die on the cross. Like this, the mother has prepared to put the flower on the grave as she knows that her son would soon die.

Structure:
The poem is written in freestyle. It is not divided into stanzas. It has no particular metre, rhythm or rhyme scheme. The style of writing is similar to prose. The lines of the poem form complete sentences on their own. Only the spacing between the lines gives a "poetic feel" for this piece of work.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the poem " Refugee Mother and Child" is a very realistic and moving poem, which leaves the reader in tears over the deplorable state of living of the refugee and also over the gut-wrenching scenario of a mother tending carefully to her dying son.

The Verge (Susan Glaspell)

 

Introduction:

“The Verge” was one of Susan Glaspell's first full-length plays and is considered by many to be the most complex of her career. The play grew out of Glaspell's recognition of the way in which Victorian society left some women feeling trapped in roles for which they were unsuited. Because of the play's non-realistic speech patterns and expressionistic elements, it was dismissed by most critics as being muddled and confusing. It has recently been "rediscovered" by feminist theorists, however, who see the work as an important contribution to theatre history. At the time of the play's first production in 1921, women were still expected to stay at home and be dutiful wives and mothers. This mindset was meeting with increased resistance. Many women began to voice dissatisfaction with their lack of opportunities and tried to change the situation. Thus, the feminist movement began to take hold. Other women rebelled by retreating into despondency, depression and, sometimes, madness. “The Verge” also reflects the fascination with Freudian theory that was sweeping the United States at the time. Freud had delivered his first U.S. lectures in 1909, and his theories of psychoanalysis and dream interpretation were widely discussed in many popular publications of the day.

Discussion:

“The Verge” is a somewhat difficult play to comprehend upon first reading. Characters sometimes speak in sentence fragments and have strange syntactical patterns that are closer to poetry than to everyday speech. The play also employs a heavy dose of symbolism to deliver its message. If one pays careful attention to the visual and poetic elements contained within the text, however, the work reveals a fascinating portrait of a woman trapped in a situation that slowly pushes her to madness.

The central character of Susan Glaspell’s “The Verge” is Claire Archer, a scientist experimenting with plants. She aspires to ‘explode their species’, trying to ‘break them up into crazy things’. When Glaspell’s drama was staged in 1921, this female protagonist appeared to many as a New Woman gone mad. Yet, while most of the characters around her fixate their attention on gender issues, Claire focuses on more fundamental issues that not only concern women (or feminists) but all of humanity. Claire’s words and actions in this expressionistic drama are meant to teach us a symbolic lesson. Her example urges us to revise common notions of madness and sanity in order to understand that ‘madness is the only chance for sanity’; because humanity can be delivered from the dictates of normalcy by madness alone.

Glaspell explores this subject matter through the life of her character, Claire Archer, an ambitious botanist who seeks critical independence to achieve her life work. Claire is attempting to create a new plant called “Breath of Life”. But at every turn she is interrupted by friends and family who demand Claire’s time and attention. While everyone agrees with Claire’s husband that “she had a fire within” her sister, her daughter along with her two lovers, Tom and Dick and her spouse, Harry complain to Claire expecting her to follow their wishes, to meet their needs. They suggest, “be more motherly, a better hostess, a more attentive lover, go shopping!” but in Claire’s response: “We need not be held in forms moulded for us”, one can find the strong feminist streak. However, frustrated by their badgering, Claire retreats to a private tower.

Alone, Claire questions “what is there beyond the stars?”. She desires more than a conventional life but acknowledges the steep price to be paid for her freedom. “It’s lonely here on top” she acknowledges. When her latest flame Tom, bearing the ironic last name “Edgeworthy”, begs her to run away with him saying “I can make you safe” Claire rejects his offer admitting “You are too much. You are not enough.” She views Tom as an obstacle to be destroyed. She strangles him so that she can carry on with her real passion, her godhead, her career project, i.e. “The Breath of Life”. “I saved myself”, Claire says before singing “Nearer my God to Thee.”.

 

THEMES

Death and Rebirth

Numerous images and symbols of death and rebirth occur throughout “The Verge.” First and foremost are the symbolic elements lent by the plants. Through her plants, Claire brings forth life. She has the power to create this life, but she also has the power to destroy it, as she does at the end of Act I with the Edge Vine. Claire also intimates throughout the play that she is not afraid of death and would perhaps find it a welcome respite from her horrible existence. Claire believes that if people are "planted" in the earth, they might sprout forth anew into a better world. When she kills Tom at the end of the play, it is not out of malice, but love. She calls it her "gift" to him because in Claire's idiosyncratic mind, death is the best possibility for life.

Shattering and Exploding

Images of shattering and exploding occur throughout “The Verge” in both the dialogue and the action of the play. Claire wants to rearrange old concepts and ways of being, and she believes the best way to do this is to first explode what already exists. In Act I, the audience is introduced to Claire's desire to shatter conventions and affect change when she says, "I want to break it up! If it were all in pieces, we'd be shocked to aliveness." This theme is visually emphasized a moment later when Claire smashes the egg. The theme is also tied to various objects and images throughout the remainder of the play. In Act III, Claire says to Tom, "Perhaps the madness that gave you birth will burst again." Of course, at the end of the play, Claire literally shatters the Breath of Life plant by knocking Tom into it, and she deliberately shatters the greenhouse when she shoots through the roof.

Locked Out and Locked In

In The Verge, Claire feels trapped within her circumstances, and Glaspell uses numerous visual and textual images to emphasize Claire's imprisonment. In Act I, Harry tries the trap door and finds, it is locked. He then exasperatedly says, "Well I love the way she keeps people locked out!" This, of course, refers to the trap door, but on a thematic level, also refers to the larger issue of how Claire keeps everyone locked out from her own feelings. A short time later in the play, the theme is visually played out when Tom is locked out of the greenhouse. Later in the play, when Claire is trying to explain her view on why the war afforded such great possibilities she says, "We were shut in with what wasn't so." Claire was hoping that the war might help society to break free from its conventions and restraints and for human beings to find a better way to communicate with each other. Unfortunately, she finds that this did not come about and that human beings are still trapped within the same patterns and circumstances. At the end of the play, Glaspell once again foregrounds the theme of Claire's desire to escape from what she perceives to be her prison, with Claire's final speech. Her last word before sinking into the revery of the hymn is "Out."

Expressionism in “The Verge”:

Expressionism was a movement in literature and the arts that took hold in the early twentieth century. It uses techniques of distortion and symbolism to try and convey inner human experience. In drama, expressionism can be thought of as "seeing the world through a particular character's eyes." For example, in “The Verge”, the sets appear deformed and certain elements are exaggerated because they represent Claire's experiences. When Claire feels trapped in her situation, Glaspell uses visual elements to clue in the audience. For example, in the second act, Glaspell has the audience view Claire in the tower through a "bulging window," one that might seem as if it is being pushed on from the inside. This helps to convey Claire's emotional isolation and also her desire to escape from the "prison" of her world. Other distorted elements are used throughout the play to also try and convey a physical expression of Claire's inner emotional state. For example, at the opening of the play, a strong shaft of light emanates from the trap door to illuminate the Breath of Life plant, giving it a special significance. The plant emerges as a bright spot in this dark world. The severe lighting lends a mystical quality to the scene. The plant itself is described as having "a greater transparency than plants have had," and it is in a "hidden place" within the greenhouse. This again emphasizes that it is a unique and yet strange living thing, much like Claire herself.

Historical Context:

The early 1920s were a time of great change for the United States. World War I had ended in 1919 but was still exerting its influence. There was a postwar letdown in the country during which a large part of the population began to get restless. After the stress of the war, it seemed that much of American society was looking for a release. The country had been disillusioned by the devastating war and much of society was now questioning old values and beliefs. The old Victorian ideals of decorum and etiquette were going out of style and were being replaced by a new "modernity" that was much less restrictive. Attitudes toward sex became more open and a general eroding of family life began to occur. Many people adopted a looser moral code than they had followed previously, and society saw a real questioning of long-held beliefs and values.

Concurrent with this new modernity, women were moving into a new position in society. They began to take a wider variety of jobs outside the home. Up to this time, women who held jobs had been largely restricted to school-teaching, nursing, social service, or clerical work. They now began to work in publishing, real estate, and numerous other professions that had previously been considered appropriate for men only. Many women who did stay at home were able to spend less time on their domestic duties, as many laborsaving devices such as electric irons and washing machines became available. Some women were able to embrace their newfound freedom and found it to be a very liberating time. Others, like Claire in “The Verge”, were not able to reconcile their inner desires with the expectations of women that society had ingrained in them for so long. They found themselves caught in an inner struggle that was emotionally devastating for some.

Sigmund Freud’s theories became very popular in America during this time. Freud had given his first lectures in the United States at Clark College, Massachusetts in 1909. Freud posited that mental illness was caused by "repression" of memories and experiences and could be cured if the underlying causes were discovered.

Hence, Susan Glaspell inspired by the major social and personal elements such as the impact of World War I and its aftermath, feminists’ ideals and women’s liberation from the traditional role and Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theories, wrote the play, “The Verge to bring out the existential angst of modern woman like Claire, the protagonist. 

Conclusion:

Thematically, to this day, breaking out beyond societal expectations remains a major challenge even in the most liberal countries. Wanting to love and be loved is a powerful drive but realizing one may loose or give up one’s self in the process is an ongoing human dilemma. Men continue to seek intelligent partners but balk when those partners put their careers above their relationships. Is love liberating or enslaving? Do men exploit women? When are we too selfish? When are we too selfless? The Verge conjures up these pertinent questions.

Evam Indrajit (Badal Sircar)

 Introduction: Evam Indrajit is a three-act play by Indian dramatist and theatre director Badal Sircar, first translated in 1975. It was the first play which was performed by Sircar’s ‘Shatabdi’ group. It was because of the performance of this group, Badal Sircar came to be known as a ‘barefoot playwright’. Evam Indrajit is an abstract, absurdist play with a central theme of the monotony of a mechanical existence. It explores the writing process and the search for inspiration and something exciting to motivate creation. It was Sircar’s first drama after a string of comedies, and remains one of his most enduring works, especially outside of his native India.

As Sircar investigates into the problems of middle-class society, he reflects on the existential attitude of modern life through contemporary situations. This play catches the attention of almost all concerned in the society. It displays the passion, ambition and frustration of the youth. The characters in it feel quite happy, consoled and relieved while moving on to their way. In the play, Manasi is a woman character and Amal, Vimal, Kamal and Indrajit are young youths who keep changing their roles, language and dresses, etc. with the progress of the play.

The play is a tragicomedy, inventive and contemporary in spirit. Sircar’s focus is on the meaninglessness of existence which is filled with a sense of concerned guilt and responsibility, maladjusted persons who belong to the urban middle class, and a world which is full of violence and inhumanity. The play not only demonstrates the external world but also the internal world or the psyche of the characters. It displays a true picture of the contemporary society, the meaninglessness and pointlessness of modern life.

Discussion: It is clearly observed that all the conventions of drama are given up in this play. In the opening of the play, a writer is seen on the stage, scribbling something on the papers, sitting with his back to the audience. Evam Indrajit is about a Writer, who struggles a lot to write a play but all in vain. Being unable to write something meaningful, he gets frustrated and angry. He himself admits that, though he tries to write a play yet he is not aware of the downtrodden – the labourers in the mines and the fields, the snake charmers and the fishermen. At this juncture, he is introduced to a woman named Manasi, who asks him to select the characters for his play from the people he knows. She suggests him to write about those people who are sitting in the audience and who appears to be quite undramatic.

Hence the Writer gets inspired by the suggestion of this lady and beacons four late coming youths from the audience to come on the stage and asks their names. In response to his question, they give their names as Amal, Vimal, Kamal and Nirmal. Listening to them, Writer gets perturbed and yells at the fourth one and challenges him that his name can be anything but Nirmal. Finally, the fourth man is compelled to expose the reality and confesses that his real name is Indrajit. He does so not to invite disturbance by breaking the set rules of the society. As against Indrajit, the characters like Amal, Vimal and Kamal are seen to be entirely different in their approach towards life. They represent the mass getting themselves satisfied only with their worldly comforts and never wishing to bring any change in their fixed routine. Such people are counted as the intellectuals of the society as they are knowledgeable about science, arts and worldly affairs. Their only aim of life is to achieve as many comforts as they can, as it provides them with a higher social status. They keep on doing all this without making a single attempt to think of the significance of their existence. As their existence is meaningless, they may be regarded as dead. When the Writer inquires Indrajit about his existence, - whether he is dead. At this, Indrajit replies that he is not sure about it.

The structure of this play comprises various interviews of the four male characters Amal, Vimal, Kamal, Indrajit and the female character Manasi taken by Writer. The other female character in the play is the Auntie, who is a typical elderly woman, understanding nothing about Writer’s attempts of writing something meaningful and, thus, represents the mass who is unable to realize what Sircar is writing about. With the help of the character of Writer, Badal Sircar in this play, attempts to demonstrate the life of the middle-class people and focuses on the middle class set of values which is rendered absurd. The very title of the play, Evam Indrajit suggests that the identity of Indrajit is not ‘only Indrajit’ but ‘and Indrajit’ and is presented being associated to the society and not being independently associated to his own existence. This play presents the hollow and futile picture of the pseudo-modern existence. Today with the progress of science, we are living in a world which demands success from every individual. Man, being a social animal, has been completely lost to its requirements and, in this way, he has lost his own individuality. Having been on such a stage in place of defining society, man is defined by society itself. Now man is bound with endless problems and frustration.

The character of Indrajit is chosen by Writer as the hero of his play. There is a scope of relationship between Indrajit and Manasi. Indrajit’s love relationship with Manasi cannot be considered to be appropriate in a middle-class society of India. As she was his cousin, so it becomes a case of taboo. A daring attitude is demonstrated by Indrajit to protest against the rigid norms of society, but he does not find the same kind of co-operation from the side of Manasi. In the starting phase of the play, we find Indrajit being possessed with a romantic spirit, as he looks being interested in a world which is beyond geography but inch by inch, he is seen becoming disillusioned. Though he gets to London, ultimately, he has to come back to the same place to accept the same existing system. Abiding by the existing social system he marries a girl and leads a toiling meaningless life. Still, it is his sheer consciousness of the world in which he is living, and his independent existence in the callous social system which is a point of great concern. Indrajit represents a modern man, who is afraid of going beyond the existing system and so he assumes a name ‘Nirmal’ to go to the same order.

Though the play Evam Indrajit is seen to be an expression of despair yet the dreams of Amal, Vimal, Kamal and Indrajit project a ray of hope. The characters represent the common men of the society suffering from a lot of external and internal conflicts. Out of all these factors, the play Evam Indrajit is found to be unconventional. The play is contemporaneous, inventive and replete with absurdist elements. The characters of the play are seen raising a voice against man’s existential crisis, his absurdity, death-wish, unemployment and anarchy prevalent in the society. Life is to be lived with full enthusiasm, zeal and zest, in place of being relegated to death. So, the desire for death is rejected in the play along with some other negative forces as cruelty, brutality, hypocrisy and foolishness, etc. The language of the play is ironical mixed with lyrical tone and touch.

Conclusion: The conclusion of the play, suggests that the present life system is fixed and it goes on the same way as everybody follows it. Still, there are a few who make an attempt to come out of this mechanical routine and think of an entirely new and dynamic system, without being afraid of getting rejected from the so-called established system. Such kind of people are represented in the play through  the characters, Writer and Indrajit. The main focus of the play is also on the point of existentialism to brood over the significance and meaning of one’s existence. Though, materialistically, the twenty-first century’s youth may be in a better condition from the youth of sixties, existentially, the same question is lying for them which was felt there in the play by Amal, Vimal, Kamal and Indrajit regarding the need of their running blindly after material gains, without being aware of the meaning of their existence.

 

 

The Battle of the Books (Jonathan Swift)

"The Battle of the Books" by Jonathan Swift contains a satirical account of the controversy that had been going on for some time in England with regard to the comparative merits of the ancient authors and modern authors.

Swift gives the origin of the dispute between the two parties of books in the very beginning in allegorical terms. He regards the ancient authors and the modern authors as the occupants of two summits of a mountain called Paranssus (which was sacred to Apollo and the Muses), the summit occupied by the Ancients being higher than the one occupied by the Moderns. A feeling of jealousy leads the Moderns to challenge the right of the Ancients to occupy the higher summit. The quarrel between the occupants of the two summits, says Swift, then spread to the books lying on the shelves of St. James’s Library.

Before describing the actual battle fought by the books, Swift takes the opportunity to attack Richard Bentley who was the keeper of the aforesaid library and a champion of the Ancients, Swift satirizes Bentley for his discourtesy towards those who wanted to borrow books or manuscripts from the library and for his inability to think clearly or to keep the library books in proper order.

Swift then turns to the books themselves and the dispute which was taking place between them. One of the Ancients, says Swift, had tried to settle the matter by arbitration but had failed in his effort to assuage the tempers. This ancient author had pointed out that the writers belonging to his side were really wiser than those of modern times and that they were entitled to greater respect because of their antiquity. But the Moderns did not accept this argument and went so far as to claim that of the two parties the Moderns were the more ancient.

Swift then proceeds to describe an important event that occurred at this juncture. A bee, finding a hole in a broken window-pane of the library, came inside and landed upon a spider’s cobweb. This invasion by the bee led to a dispute between the two (the spider and the bee). The spider spoke to the bee in a contemptuous tone, pointing out that while he himself owned an impressive palace(namely, his cobweb) the bee had no property or substance at all except a pair of wings and a drone pipe. The bee in reply said that heaven had given to him the power to fly and the power to sing, and that he visited all the flowers and the blossoms of the field and the garden, gathering the required materials for his use. The bee also alleged that the spider’s palace, while exhibiting “method and art”, was absolutely devoid of “duration and matter”. The bee went on to say that all that the spider produced was poison while the bee produced honey and wax.

Aesop now speaks and states that whatever the bee had said in favour of himself could be applied to the ancient authors and that whatever the bee had alleged against the spider could be applied to the Moderns. According to Aesop, the Moderns have no real grounds for boasting of their genius or their inventions because, even if they possess method and skill, they have only produced works which will soon be forgotten because the materials of which those works are made have come out of the authors themselves and are therefore no better than dirt. The Moderns cannot claim to any genuine productions of real value. Much in their work can be described as mere wrangling and satire which may be compared to the spider’s poison. As for the Ancients, they have their imaginative flights and their language. The Ancients collected their materials from every corner of Nature and they have produced works full of honey and wax which have contributed to mankind two of the noblest things, which are sweetness and light.

Swift then goes on to mention the books which took part in the battle. However, instead of naming the books by their titles, he names the authors of the books which took part in the fight. When the two armies of warriors had thus got ready for the battle, Fame, who had at one time an important position in the library, flew up straight to the chief god, Jupiter, and gave him a faithful account of what was happening below on the earth. Jupiter immediately called a meeting of the gods and goddesses in order to decide upon a course of action. However, there being a difference of opinion among the gods and goddesses, Jupiter privately consulted the Book of Fate and gave appropriate orders to his agents to go down to the library and manipulate events in accordance with those orders.

Momus, the god of jealous mockery, who at the conference of the gods and goddesses had taken the side of the Moderns, now enlisted the support of a goddess known as Criticism. This goddess was very malignant and she lent her full support to the Moderns.

Swift then goes on to describe the battle itself. He tells us that the first to start the offensive was Paracelus who attacked Galen with a javelin but who was himself wounded by Galen’s counterattack. Then Aristotle shot an arrow at Bacon, but Bacon escaped being injured and the arrow hit and killed another modern philosopher whose name was Descartes. Now it was Homer’s turn to launch an attack upon the modern epic poets. Next came Virgil, another ancient epic poet. He found himself face to face with the modern poet, Dryden who also had attempted epic poetry (by writing a translation of Virgil’s Aeneid). Dryden, however, acknowledged Virgil’s superiority to himself as an epic poet, and sought a compromise with the enemy.

Yet another ancient epic poet, by the name of Lucan, now attacked two Moderns who also had attempted epic poetry. These Moderns were Richard Blackmore and Thomas Creech. Then the ancient poet, Pindar, the famous writer of Odes came forward and killed such modern writers of Pindaric Odes as John Oldham and Afra Behn, and Abraham Cowley. Then comes the last episode in The Battle of the Books. The central figures in this last episode are Bentley and Wotton (who were the champions of the Moderns), and Temple and Boyle (the champions of the Ancients). Swift pours all his scorn and ridicule upon Bentley and Wotton. These moderns see Phalaris and Aesop lying fast asleep in the distance, but they do not have the courage to attack them. Wotton even fails in his attempt to quench his thirst at the spring known as Helicon. The two friends then encounter Charles Boyle who attacks them with a lance and kills both of them at one stroke. According to Swift’s satirical account, then, Temple and Boyle had been victorious in their support of the Ancients as against Bentley and Wotton who had opposed the Ancients and given all their support to the Moderns.

 

Bye-bye Blackbird (Anita Desai)

 Introduction: Anita Desai is an Indian novelist and short story writer. She is known for the portrayal of the inner life of the characters. She is deeply concerned with human problems. She uses different techniques to narrate her story. She has won ‘National Academy of Letters Award’ and ‘Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize’ for her work “Fire on the Mountain”. Her novel, “Bye-bye Blackbird”  mirrors the complexity of human relationship. There are three major characters named Dev, Adit and Sarah. The novel mainly deals with the problem in immigrants, alienation, love-hate relationship, lack of adjustment and existentialism.  Anita Desai makes use of various techniques such as contrasting characters, the use of Hindi words, rhetorical skills, slogans, psychological analysis, and poetry in this novel.

Plot of Bye-bye Blackbird: In Desai’s third novel, Bye-Bye, Blackbird, like has a tripartite structure: arrival, “Discovery and Recognition,” and “Departure.” The three main characters are Dev, who has recently arrived in London from India when the novel begins, his friend Adit, with whom he is staying, and Adit’s British wife, Sarah. All three characters are in conflict with their environment. Sarah is an unstable wife who finds herself playing two roles, that of an Indian at home and that of a Britisher outside; all the while, she questions who she really is. Dev and Adit are, in a sense, doubles like Nirode and Amla. Dev is the more cynical and aggressive of the two, while Adit, though essentially the same, is muted at the beginning. The novel follows a pattern like that of Henry James’s The Ambassadors (1903): Adit, who thought he had felt at home in England, returns to India, while Dev, the militant cynic who has reviled Adit for staying, takes Adit’s place after his departure, accepting a job in Adit’s firm and moving to Adit’s apartment. Bye-Bye, Blackbird is a satisfying novel partly because Desai builds an inevitability into the narrative; characters are subordinated to pattern and rhythm. Dev’s and Adit’s decisions have not been fully explained. Their conflicts are not resolved so much and the pleasure at the end is as much formal as it is emotional.

Analysis of Bye-bye Blackbird:

Fascination for England: Dev is a Bengali student. He arrives in England to enter the famous London school of Economics. He wanted to get higher education. At the very beginning, he starts to seek the job for him. He stays with Adit and Sarah. Nevertheless, he has high prejudice against English snobbery. After arrival, he starts to seek the job for him. Initially he is frustrated but gets the job of a sales representative in a bookshop. At the beginning of the novel, we find Adit Sen and his English wife Sarah live very happily. Adit  settled down at this alien shores. He is the hero of this novel. He was born in a middle class. He comes to England to enjoy the freedom. Here he falls in love with English girl Sarah and get married. Hence London is fascinating and captivating for him. Thus, Adit  has transformed himself entirely to the English culture.  He has fully adopted the lifestyle of Britain.

Feeling of Alienation and Nostalgia: Feeling of alienation is the other side of identity crisis and uncertainty. In the novel “Bye-Bye Blackbird”, Dev’s alienation and spiritual agony are objectified in his hellish experience in London at the tube station. He is in dilemma as whether he stays on in London or return to India. It is the world which makes him nostalgic for India. India is that place for him full of familiar faces, sounds and smell. For him London is the thickly populated place. Even Adit does not escape from the feeling of alienation and nostalgia. Adit’s nostalgia is caused by his visit of in-laws. It is also intensified by the unexpected outbreak of the Indo-Pak war. Gradually his nostalgia takes a dreadful turn. It makes him ill and suffocating in English surrounding. He gets visions like one who is a psychotic. He is lost in the memory of India. He carves for the Indian twilight. Like a child, he wants to see an Indian sunset with rose, orange, pink and lemon colors in the sky. He becomes so homesick that he visualizes the Indian rivers. He also desires to see the bullock-carts, monkey-walah and marriage procession of India. He declares to his wife… “I can’t live here anymore…, our lives, here have been so unreal…..”

In the case of Sarah, she feels uprooted even from her own culture because of her marriage with Indian immigrant. Basically, she is a great lover of India. She came to know about Indian life from the glimpses of pictures on the stamps. Emma is her co-sharer. Both Sarah and Emma are fond of Tagore’s poetry, Himalayan flowers, Henna patterns on the palms of ladies, food items, music of Bismillah Khan and Ravishankar. In this way, Sarah is very close to India. Nevertheless, she puts away all her wishes. She feels her face only a mask and her body only a custom. Her own people like Mrs. Miller, insults her.  Thus, she is culturally alienated and her marriage with a ‘wog’ obliges her to keep “to the loneliest path”.

Identity Crisis: All the principal characters are not sensitive but introvert. Dev hangs with a sense of uncertainty. His problem starts from the sort of treatment, which Indian immigrants get from the English people. Dev is full of excitement and agitation. He feels divided within. Because English people treat him very badly. He becomes a victim of insult and abuse at the hands of English people. Indian immigrants are even not allowed to use a lavatory of the English. The London docks have three kinds of lavatories meant for Ladies, Gents and Asiatic. He wants to return to India because he can never bear to be unwanted. Once a peddler refuses to tell Dev the price of Russian icon because he considered Dev too poor an Indian to purchase it. That peddler thinks that India is known for its poverty. Their typical and narrow-mindedness towards Indian immigrants is very sharp. Dev hates the label ‘Indian Immigrant’. He feels like a stranger in England. Yet Dev is sceptic and realistic about everyone who believes in oriental wisdom. When therefore, he was called ‘wog’ by white boy, Dev sharply reacts and addresses him as ‘paji’. Dev feels alienated in the beginning but at the end of the novel, he is very happy. In contrast to this, Adit feels nostalgic for India. In the beginning of the novel Dev is in confusion between either to stay or to return to his homeland. He reveals his prejudices for the foreign land. Dev thinks that he is losing his real identity.

Adit understood well the line of reconciliation between these two cultures i.e. the eastern and the western. Once upon a time, he has a great fascination for England but the same feeling makes him suffocated. At Christine Longford’s wedding the symptoms of his nervous breakdown is seen. A question torments him “Who is he and where is he?” He wants  to be seen under labels ‘wog’  ‘Asiatic’, ‘Indian Immigrant’ anymore. He carves for his identity. He feels alienation. He feels that he is losing his real identity. He wants to return to the motherland. His nostalgia acquires a dreadful dimension and illness. He fed up with the life in England. Ultimately he decides to return India with his wife.

Like Dev, Sarah too is in search of identity. She is portrayed as a traditional wife. Her situation is more complex. She cannot decide her real identity. There are numerous adjustments of Sarah in the novel. She hates English People’s love of privacy and narrow-mindedness. She thinks herself as puppet in the hands of Adit, though Sarah is fully devoted to her husband. She readily makes Indian food for her husband. On her husband’s demand, though she has problem in wearing Indian attire and ornaments, she wears Sari. She prepares herself for her husband every time. Her marriage is successful but she lives a disturbed life by her contact with Adit. She is fed up with this unhappy life. She avoids answering the personal questions from her neighborhood. She lost the harmony of her life. She cannot join English group in conversation, jokes and laughter. Her rituals and beliefs are very different from those English people. As a result, she remains as an alien in her own land. She felt mismatch herself among these English people. Sometimes she feels ashamed of her husband and sometimes she feels afraid of being tortured. She is always ready to care her husband but there is still some lack of liveliness between them. She has to face many taunts from colleague because she has broken the social code by marrying a brown Asian. She felt uncertain in her own society. Adit too notices in Sarah “an anguish loneliness”. That is why she tries to keep herself away from English people. She does not know where she belongs. She feels uprooted. In fact, she is caught between two worlds and she belonged to none. She is a pathetic figure. Many critics consider that her problem is rooted in her cross culture marriage and that is why she only suffers the pathos of an alienated girl

Thus, Dev, Adit and Sarah are in search of identity. Dev and Adit are strangers in an alien land. Whereas Sarah is an exile in her own native land.  Adit feels nonbelongingness in England. The same feeling was felt by Dev in early part of the novel. Adit has much emotion for his motherland in the later part of the novel. At the end of the novel, he rejects the western culture and society. Adit wants to escape from the unreal and artificial life, which he is leading. The Indo-Pak war is the last stroke to finalize Adit’s decision to return his own clan. Therefore, Adit, with his wife Sarah leaves England and goes to India.

Conclusion:

Thus, Anita Desai in “Bye Bye Blackbird” deals with the tropical problem of adjustment. It is the story of Indians who have immigrated to England for the better prospects of life. Some critics consider the present novel as an autobiography as it describes Desai’s own experiences whatever she felt, observed, and lived in England. The novel, in fact,  is a combination of personal experiences as well as the experiences of all immigrants. In true sense, the novel reveals alienation encountered by Indian immigrants in England. In the novel, identity crisis is portrayed through three characters namely Dev, Adit and Sarah. In the novel, there are so many situations in which the characters feel alienated. The cross-cultural encounters and human relationship experienced by the characters in this novel are common to any Indian immigrant in the western lands.

 

Non-literary Text Translation

Literary and non-literary Texts: The substantial difference between the two is that whereas non-literary text is concerned with information, facts and reality, literary text comprises the world of the mind, i.e. ideas and feelings and is grounded on imagination. While non-literary texts are primarily about objects from the extra-linguistic reality, literary texts usually revolve around fictitious characters, being ontologically and structurally independent from the real world. Even though literary texts attempt to represent reality, they only imitate it at their best, which makes them mimetic in nature. While non-literary texts are based on precision, reason and can be characterized by more or less logical argumentative progression, literary texts as the product of author’s imagination sometimes in vagueness of meaning, ambiguity and multiple interpretations. Besides, non-literary texts are written to be skimmed or scanned. Non-literary texts are expected to fulfil a certain pragmatic function while literary texts, on the other, are not intended for any specific purpose. Concerning linguistic properties of the investigated textual genres, the language of literary texts is susceptible to getting old quicker because the text’s stylistic layer is burdened more in comparison to non-literary text. By contrast, what is getting old in non-literary text is actual text information only. Further, in terms of lexical specificities, vocabulary of non-literary texts is based on a high degree of notionality, standardized language schemata and clichés with no register blending permitted.
Non-literary Text and Translator’s Tasks: Contrasting non-literary and literary texts from a translational point of view, some radical dissimilarities can be observed. Firstly, rendering non-literary text demands frequently complete faithfulness to the SLT and utmost precision in terminology, not admitting a very creative participation for the translator. Especially the translation of institutional-legal text, constituting a partial subject of interest of this publication, is heavily controlled and governed by norms. Hence non-literary translation may be considered a science.   Secondly, in non-literary texts the author’s personality is hidden to say the very least, whereas in literary texts writer’s personality is fully exposed given the communication of his/her world-views, attitudes, and convictions. Thirdly, the interpretation aspect in the non-literary text fulfils only an auxiliary function in stark contrast to literary translation Consequently, the non-literary translator is required to be an expert in the field in which he/she translates in order to be able to perform an adequate intrasemiotic translation. Peter Newmark sums up the difference between non-literary and literary translation as follows: Literary and non-literary translation are two different professions, though one person may sometimes practise them both. They are complementary to each other and are noble, each seeking in the source text a valuable but different truth, the first allegorical and aesthetic, the second factual and traditionally functional. They sometimes each have different cultural backgrounds, occasionally referred to as ‘the two cultures’, which are detrimentally opposed to each other. Taking a critical approach, he then goes on to assert that while “literary [translation] is viewed as traditional, old-fashioned, academic, ivory-tower, out of touch, the non-literary is philistine, market-led, coal in the bath [and] uncivilized”.
Types and features of Non-Literary translation.
Types:
Non-literary translation may be of  different types. We may broadly speak of technical, journalistic, commercial and  official translation. There is also a category of terminological translation which cuts across all these types. In technical translation, we include not only translation of  scientific texts from medicine, engineering, physics, chemistry and mathematics but  also translation from social sciences such as psychology, sociology, history,  anthropology, linguistics etc. Journalistic translation will include translation of news,  interest stories, editorials for all kinds of mass media including radio and TV. Commercial translations include translation of advertisements, notices  and formative Literature of all kinds, for example, information for tourists, publicity  materials and instruction manuals. Official translation consists of legal, diplomatic and military work. It also includes interpreting, a task which involves a native-like control on both the languages involved.
Features
There are several important features which distinguish literary and non-literary translation.
1. A non-literary translation is addressed to a specific section of society. A poem or a short story may be read by every literate member of the target group but translation of scientific or an office text is used by the specific group for which it is meant.
2. A non-literary translation is generally done only once. A play of Shakespeare or   Kalidas may be translated afresh by every age but a science or social science text will generally be translated only once. In fact, one of the major reasons to translate non-literary texts is to overcome the gaps that may exist in the cumulative knowledge of the target language group.
3. Translators of non-literary texts need to know not only the two languages involved but also the subject itself. Unless you know physics well, for example, it will be difficult for you to translate a physics text competently.
4. Non-literary translation often involves introducing a few terminological and conceptual machinery in the target language. The sources a translator of non-literary texts must explore to coin appropriate terms is indeed a very challenging task.
5. A non-literary text makes far greater demands in terms of reproducing the original as sincerely as possible.
 

Literary Text Translation

 

Literary Text: Literary texts include all forms of literature whether written in prose or verse. They are the short story, the novel, the drama, the essay and the critical text. Although all these kinds of literary texts apparently differ in form and content, yet they all have shared universal characteristics which distinguish them from other manners of writing.

Translating Literary Text: Translating a literary text involves the reshaping of words from one language to another. The text translation has always witnessed a substantial significance in the history of translation. According to the readers, the translation of Holy books like Bible, Quran and others, into local languages have been identified as big milestones in the course of time. Thus, it is recognized as an impactful conduct in terms of all the cultural, social, religious, and political approach.

Translator and the Literary Text: The translator is known as efficient personnel, who has the ability to produce text with the same impression as the original text. It has been, therefore, considered necessary for the literary translators to contemplate the aesthetic aspects of the translated text in order to maintain the style and laxity of the original content. Therefore, the translators are expected to have acquired extensive artistic skills along with efficient language abilities. The competence of a translator in the performance of translating a text from source to target language must be highly proficient. It is considered that the target text, which is finally shared with the target audience, is basically the perception and final resolutions of the translator towards the material. Thus, the translation is realized and regarded more as a product rather than the process.

Translation Problem: The transformation of a text from one language to another has been a challenging task, particularly when dealing with sensitive materials that may have strong impacts on society. The problems related to literary translation have been considered as factors involving a multilingual environment responsible for attracting maximum attention. The issues related to translation have been expanded to encompass various regional, national, individual identities and power concerns.

Recognizing the characteristics such as special language, expressive function, suggestive power, form, and timelessness and placelessness in a literary text will enable the translator to be at least partly qualified to fulfill his task with much more accuracy. Moreover, the remaining rate of accuracy can only be achieved if the translator himself has had the fundamental literary qualifications. If so, he can transform to the target text nearly most of the syntactic, stylistic and aesthetic elements originally found in the source text, in a way which creates that desirable artistic correspondence, or rather the most acceptable equivalents. So it appears that the process of literary translation can never be just an automatic one narrowly restricted to merely finding words and sentences in the target language that correspond to those in the source language. The fact is that a literary text is more likely to bear an extra message usually concealed behind the apparent and surface linguistic structures. Quite often such a message takes shape by the interaction of certain words and syntactic structure with each other in part or in whole, rather than by these apart. Also it is worth remembering that translation is always concerned with the matter of co-existing cultures. Truly there are always distinctive differences between them in respect of folklore, mythology and symbolism of which the cleverest or the most qualified translator should be well-informed. Once again, being only aware of them is insufficient. He has indeed to recognize some historical or social facts about such culture distinction in order to be on a safer side when interpreting the text as properly as possible. Consequently, he had rather, whenever possible, acquaint himself with almost every piece of information related to the etymology or semantic development over decades and centuries; especially when translating older literary text.