Od on Oneness of Literature.

Od on Oneness of Literature.

All literatures are connected with each other; all, those which are already written, those being written and those yet to be written. For the better understanding of the work of an art, one must have to be aware about this continuity. 

All literature are connected with each other; all, those which are already written, those being written and those yet to be written. For the better understanding of the work of an art, one must have to be aware of this continuity.

Literature is like flawing water of river not like steady water of the pond. The water of river flaws in various directions but their root remains the same. In a same way, with the passage of time, we observe a lot of changes in literature or even in any artistic work. It’s difficult to find entirely newness in any work of literature. Every new literature has always a connection with the old one, it should never be entirely new work. We can find a change in the way of creation but the basic content of any work remains the same.

We also, refer to it in T.S.Eliot’s famous essay “Tradition and Individual Talent”. He believes that,

‘what happens when a new work of art is created is something that happens simultaneously to all the works of art which preceded it. The existing monuments form an ideal order among themselves, which is modified by the introduction of the new (the really new) work of art among them.’

So, here we can say that archetype of literature is similar but there is a difference in the manifestation of various words in which we can find a one’s personal touch and it plays a vital role in making a literature little different.

Northrop Frye also believes that every organized body of knowledge can be learned progressively and experience shows that there is also something progressive about the learning of literature as well as he also developed the theory of Archetypal criticism based on the idea that the whole of the literature has oneness of its existence. All literature shares common DNA or skeleton.

 “The Wasteland”

 It is a well known long poem written by T.S.Eliot. In each and every line of this poem, we can find deep meaning. Eliot also made use of various myths in his long poem. The central theme of the poem is sexual perversion. We can also find this element in John Donne’s “The Flea” as well as in Andrew Marvell’s “To his coy Mistress”. This theme remains the same but we can find a change in perspective of poet. In this poem we find some lines which seems quite similar in Anton Chekhov’s “A Joke”.

And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,

My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,

And I was frightened. He said, Marie,

Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.

In the mountains, there you feel free.

 Interpretation

This stanza is about the nostalgic feeling of girl named Marie. Who remembers her experience of coasting in the mountain over the sled with her cousin. We can find a same theme of sexual perversion in ‘’The Wasteland’’ and in “The Joke”. Also the same elements of nature are found in these. In “The Wasteland” we have a Marie while in “The joke” we have a Nadia instead Marie. In this poem as well in the short story we find a lustful nature of boy. In the story boy many times uttered a word I Love You, but there is not a kind of significance in this. At end of the story they both went on their different path of life. It can’t be considered as pure love rather it seems more lustful.

Gujarati Translation of “The Joke”

The famous short story “The Joke” is translated in one of the column of the Gujarat Samachar. In its Gujarati version the title is translated as “NANAKADI MAJAK” which itself is problematic. We can not find that essence of originality in it and also may English words are not translated in Gujarati because it is a difficult to find exact word for them.