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| Post Graduate Diploma in Translation Studies |
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| UNIT 422-1: INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY LITERARY THEORIES |
| 422.1.5.4. A SYNTHESIS OF DIFFERENT LITERARY POSITIONS |
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| In every advanced age, whether in science or in literary theory-building, past errors are corrected and the hackneyed points of view are gradually phased out. In the context of 'uttar-aadhunikataa', then, going beyond modernism. By no means 'modernism' as such can be taken merely as an '-ism' of errors. It has often been pointed out that modernism, comprising the bourgeois philosophical and aesthetic norms, contributed in its own way to the advencement of human sensibility. Modernism was the correct 'ism' so long as the bourgeois attitude had its positive effect on society and civilization. For the young artists and thinkers, inspite of decadence, it is all the more relevant to take into every correct and positive idea of 'modernism', to that extent, also from 'medievalism', 'classicism' and 'primitivism', too. We had earlier assumed a literary space to be 'infinite'. This infinity accommodates all: the finite special occupations as well as the finite time-measurements. But the uttar-aadhunik platform perhaps provides one with an advantageous position to solve some of the unresolved mysteries of human nature. |
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| 422.1.5.4.1: ANTICIPATION |
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| One such mystery relates itself to the artist's nature to anticipate. If we do away with infinity, it is inexplicable how artists in Europe - long before the rise of the Bourgeoisie - anticipated what were to become the bourgeois values of humanism and individualism; how some of these artists were so prophetic so as to choose between the 'Dark Renaissance' and the 'Renaissance Enlightenment'; how, for example, in the cotemporary world literary scene, consciously or unconsciously, many poets and authors have been able to choose between decadent literary position associated with modernism and the newly emerged position of postmodernism. If we, however, believe in space and time as infinite, we realize that the total consequences bridges every possible gap: the receptive brains of artists and thinkers shares this consciousness in the past, present as well as in the future times. |
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| 422.1.5.4.2: RELATING ONESELF TO OTHER TIME AND SPACE |
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| We may cite another example of this 'merging' of the different times. As we talk about tradition and heritage, and expect that they are there in the artist's template. We actually discard the norm that keeps the past and the present apart. Knowingly or unknowingly, artists (scientists, philosophers, or any other creative person) show a natural tendency of relating themselves to ideas, texts and personalities beyond different ages, sharing overlapping gaps in time and space. This is what makes this position interesting, perhaps quite sensible, too. The uttar-aadhunik creative mind, perspicacious as it is, while occupying the space with an art-work, a scientific discovery, a philosophic observation or anything else, will thus offer new patterns. |
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| 422.1.5.4.3: TEXTUAL INTEGRITY |
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| One such pattern is the textual integer of Uttar Adhunika poetry : the term does not obviously occur in post-modern criticism as it is a Uttar Adhunik concept. Today's critics are indebted to one of the most famous poets of Bengal of this century, Jibanananda Das, for this coinage. Jibanananda, in his 'Kabitaar kathaa' (1953 : 120) refers to the lack of vitality in modern Bengali poetry and to the future possibility of 'Mahaakabitaa' or poem of a greater dimension for getting rid of the poverty of modernism. Jibanananda could probably see into the future and realize that one day such poetry would be written in which the textual integrity would fulfill his criterion of 'Mahaakabitaa'. In many brilliant collections of poems brought out today, we come across a total text. The graphic deign of a text may offer sections, parts and units (by a unit we mean to suggest a single poem). These parts and units are integrated through what is known as 'isotopy'. The message (of both the core and flux; it may be remembered that the flux too has a text-message) through isotopy finally brings in the complete aesthetic deliberation. Arrangement of morpheme and phoneme in a work infuses the harmony of sounds with images. |
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