In 2008 I, Larisa Akhmylovskaia, initiated the International Movie-Script Translation Project focused on “”, amazing Russian screen comedy based on Chekhov’s short story.

The author depicts the meeting of two playrights: an expert and a beginner...

The absurd story was first published in 1887. During Chekhov's lifetime it was translated into Bulgarian, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, and Check languages.

The Russian TV short comedy appeared in 1960. Later Spanish director Francisco Abad presented his version: El Drama (ТВ), 1969.

The English text of the incredible screenplay was developing for about a year in my dialogues with Russian translator Andriana Barysh & American poet Carol Levin.

Thanks to Daria A Gainutdinova, Lluís Baixauli Olmos, Maria Zryutina, Huong Nguyen, Balasaheb.M. Ladgaonkar by 2012 we had "Drama" in five languages: French, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Marathi.

The Project was successfully presented at the International Theatre Translators’Conference initiated by Professor Nobuyuki Nakamoto in Tokyo, at Kai Theatre in July-August, 2010.

In 2011 the International Vladivostok Bennale participants from many countries could enjoy the laboratory rehearsal of “Drama” at the Youth Theatre of Vladivostok, with Irina Tarasyuk as Murashkina, and Adison Salakhutdinov, as Pavel Vassilievich.

There were more Festival presentations, official Conference discussions and informal talks regarding the Project with colleagues in Russia, Japan, Korea, Poland, Iran, Ukraine, and Italy.

 "DRAMA" Project was introduced in the book "Translator. Status. Training. Perspective" devoted to the gained experience as cultural liaisons, 2012.

Now it is planned to publish these five versions again. Translators are invited to join the enthusiastic team of explorers.

Drama in progress ever!

The working title of the International Translation Project:

"DRAMA. The screenplay of the TV short comedy based on the short story by Anton Chekhov.

Participants of the Project & Chronology: 

By Akhmylovskaia Larisa, Ph.D. of Arts, Professor
Foreign Languages Section, Department of Humanities. Far Eastern State Institute of Arts.
Areas of Expertise: Multiethnic Art and Education Project, LPP Management, The Play Translator's Score Developing, and Meta Culture Studies within Cross-Cultural theatremaking. 

Abstract: The present article is devoted to the language learning experiments, introduces the Project method developing at the Far Eastern Institute of Arts. The ideas and examples presented are based on the author’s personal experience in the international theatre-making projects, opera laboratories, cross-cultural master-classes; outline more opportunities to single out the conditions, forms, means, and principles of teaching Language for Professional Purposes (LPP).

Teaching a foreign language to pre-acting students, future artists, and musicians implies certain training for professional functioning. The students are developing their professional communication skills, the ability to act in the possible contexts of their future activities. Conditions, mood, and role-plays, corresponding with the specific communicative circumstances that people of arts can encounter in their profession, are to be helpful to improve their communication skills within project making in the target language.

The objectives of this article are:

- to present the advantages of the project method, and drama techniques in the range of approaches;

- to outline the experiments of language teaching at the Far Eastern Institute of Arts, regarding some characteristics of future professionals’ activities;

- to share the results of the practice analysis.

Language teachers at the Higher Schools of Arts are not necessarily convinced that traditional drama techniques help first-year students become more motivated and involved in classroom activities to master English for professional purposes. However, they are to transform problems into tasks to integrate the newly acquired knowledge through finding creative solutions, considering errors, and exploring alternatives. It is even more important for yesterday's schoolchildren to get prepared for the challenges of the contemporary multicultural world, and adjust themselves to living in the changing conditions.

The Art Institute students are expected to interact with their foreign colleagues all over the world. They attend master-classes of foreign guest-teachers, participate in multicultural events, and gradually become able to conduct a seminar for an international audience or write a message to a partner abroad. The practice of cross-cultural events proves the need to review and complement the standard program and available materials with more specific tasks, means, and activities.

It should be noted that in the art areas the development of speaking skills is sometimes underestimated. Professional actors assume that while they feel capable of comprehending and voicing written drama texts, they frequently have difficulties in receiving and producing spoken language within the rehearsal process, festival, conference or concourse discussions, master-classes, TV, radio and movie presentations, etc.

The role-plays, corresponding with the specific communicative contexts and various functions that actors encounter in their profession, are to be helpful to improve their communication skills in the target language.

Historical overviews, theoretical ideas, practical implementations of drama techniques in language teaching are reflected in many papers. Alice Savage in her book “Lesson Plans, Activities, and Scripts for English Language Learners”(2019) shares her ideas regarding script and soliloquy analysis. Joe Winston (Routledge) suggests an academic discussion of topics including storytelling in an international context. (“Second Language Learning through Drama, 2011). Susan Hillyard’s “English through Drama: Creative activities for inclusive ELT classes”, 2016 introduces a wide range of drama activities including physical and vocal warm-ups, improvisations, lesson plans, and short scripts for performance, which is of interest for pre-acting students participating in The Special People Youth Theatre Studio in Vladivostok.

Dramatization has been used to various extents by means of different methods according to the works and master-classes of some innovators of language pedagogy, psychologists, and theatre practitioners.

In the time of the grammar and translation method, there were language teaching theorists who introduced revolutionary techniques borrowed from theatre mentors. Some instructors suggested that physical activity helps memorization. There were and there are Acting mentors whose approach is both process-oriented and product-oriented teach and explore intensive physical activities right within Acting class. Theatre experiments of Shiro Mikhara, Charlotte Tienken, Antonis Arabadzis, Krzhishtof Zhilinski, Agnieszka Magdalena Włoch added much to our Project method practice as well the brightest Foreign accents workshops of Judith Shann, Stage Speech master at UW.

The methods mentioned going perfectly well with Stanislavsky’s vision. Future actors are focused on the process of the natural and gradual growth of feelings, yet the task-based language teaching helps to convey the character’s task (objective) and lifeline.

The natural approach method has emphasized the importance of speaking practice as opposed to grammar and translation exercises, yet students are still eager, or at least ready to use them both at a time. However more and more encouraged are interaction, contextualization, physical activities, supporting perfectly well The Course of English for actors, artists, and musicians.

Semester Class-Concerts since 2000 have been confirming that it is more productive to present the protagonist’s soliloquy or a scene than just to translate a passage. So much more preferable is the artistically presented producer’s concept. director’s explication, dramaturg’s commentary, dramatist’s interview, diva’s aria or song, sportsman’s bio, president’s speech, teens’ game, TV journalist’s talk-show script, questionnaire, screenplay, art critic’s review, columnist’s story, academician’s essay, music theoretician’s article, etc.

A teacher should occupy no more than 20% of the class time, so preacting students could get more opportunities for the prepared monologues and spontaneous discussions, developing their interacting skills. The use of the target language and the avoidance of the mother tongue according to the direct method within the Drama School education process would be poor without demonstration, gestures, mimics, imitation, etc.

The audio-lingual method and other dramatizing methods, or humanistic methods are still essential for learning in context. The personality-centered, psychological approaches bring more professional and personal discoveries through the development of language learner skills.

The emotional factors gain more importance in the total physical response method when future actors are to respond with action to the director’s recommendations, orders, and instructions presented in the text of the target language.

The silent way approach implies the movements, gestures, and mimics of a character, whose mute performance in the classroom, on stage or screen, has to be interpreted by others in the target language; e.g. it is especially challenging to decode and tone the Charlie Chaplin’s scenes.

The community language learning method at Higher School of Arts is often based on emotional memory, mutual trust, and a relaxed, tension-free atmosphere in which even the most vulnerable and sensitive preacting students feel confident and comfortable. The creation of such a mood is the basic principle of suggestopedia and one of the basic conditions of the projects which we have been practicing for twenty years.

The Theatre terminology dictionaries, especially The Glossary of Stanislavsky terms, presented in the book “Language of Stage” support the learning approach based on personal experience. Some students are extremely brave to devote their weekly presentations to the antagonists/protagonists, associated to some extent with their private emotional life.

In such cases, the professional Actor’s Homework, Grammar exercises, and terminology drilling contain some (A) Persona non grata’s or (B). Hero’s portrait.

The Task of the scene or the role according to Stanislavsky can be expressed through the list of verbs, regarding the character’s nature:

1. A. Attack, criticize, discredit, humiliate, destroy, underestimate;
2. B. Make friends, encourage, help, believe, trust, support, construct, grow, value.

The Temporhythm (tempo and rhythm), mood, given circumstances, stage costume, props, makeup, wig, noises, music, set-design according to Stanislavsky are described inappropriate adjectives:

1. Gloomy, ugly, envious, pale, panicking, irrational, illogic, miserable;
2. Airy, joyful, gorgeous, generous, bright, friendly, fruitful, adequate.

The list of Stage directions contains expressive word combinations, adverbs metaphoric phrases as follows:

1. In a mosquito voice, with a squeaky sound, in his boring manner, cowardly;
2. Elegantly, delicately, exquisitely, warmly, carefully, thoughtfully, tenderly.

Art, Sculpture, Design, and Fashion terms are widely used in the community language learning method, especially for the groups of artists. They choose original themes and titles for their semester independent researches, e.g.: The Giverny green‎: from  Claude Monet’s garden to palette of new designers;  Picasso and Rodin exhibitions within Japanese landscape design; The  Great Wave by Hokusai in paintings of French and Russian impressionists, etc.

Group discussions that became extremely popular in the learner-centered communicative language teaching are always effective. They support learning based on self-observation and personal experience in problem-solving situations.

The semester projects, which we have been practicing since 2000, imply the independent analysis that students present on behalf of themselves or as a part of some character. Anyway, it is a composition or essay rich in professional terms and original ideas, supported by means of all methods mentioned above and illustrated with the Semester Class-Concert.

The project-based on Beckett’s short plays has discovered two performers acting as one character in two parts of her life. (“The Rockaby”). The actors described in their sixteen weekly essays and showed in the final semester class-concert the woman before and after her decision, conveyed by the dramatist.

Other especially bright presentations were based on:

- a choreography version of “Hamlet”, with a female actor as the Prince; The performer was pronouncing the soliloquy and simultaneously jumping, running, dancing;

- Carol Levin’s Poem “Baronessa of Ballard” with text additions and three performers: a doctor, a dying old lady and her son in the farewell scene holding mother’s hand as in his childhood.

There were a great number of brilliant presentations of Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Eugene O’Neil, Tennessee Williams, Neil Simon, Kunio Shimizu, Miroslav Mrozhek, Kim You Jeong and other authors. No spectators, no extra fears or risks, yet time of “auditioning” is as limited as in a real professional situation.

The Project of 2019-20 was devoted to the 160th Anniversary of Vladivostok.

The students’ essays covered the History of Arts and Culture of the third contemporary capital of Russia and the cross-cultural life of the  Pacific Rim.

They dedicated their semester researches to the greatest actors, poets, artists, sculptors, architects, musicians, composers, film and theatre festivals, Vladivostok Biennale, Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Opera, Primorsky Philarmonic, choirs, orchestras, museums, and art galleries.

The sanitary and epidemic situation 2020 did not allow us to hold the traditional May & June Class-concerts, yet the process of English learning was fruitful and the result of the academic year was reflected in the independent essays accompanied with the Terminological Glossary presenting terms of Choir / Academic singing/ Wind instruments /String instruments/Painting/Acting etc.

In 2020 another daring plan has been outlined. “Meet JJ” is a working title of the exercises collection for James Joyсe’s “Ulysses”. Students are suggested to analyze abstracts from the novel, comment on the author’s ideas, lexicon, and stylistic devices.

Students are tuned to actively use the most important advantages of the project method. The combination of Art and Lingual Therapy devices, exercises, techniques helps the students of Arts to overcome difficulties in their social relationships and professional studies. Future professionals develop their speech fluency; increase motivation, positive thinking, adequate self-evaluation.

The Class-concert at the Drama School is concerned with the process of independent study presentation that is far from a finished product. The team is just discovering the abilities in a tension-free atmosphere, and step by step the process is getting more efficient.

Musicians feel free to introduce their musical composition in English, preacting students record their presentations, yet they can feel comfortable with it only having photography and camera skills. Future painters enthusiastically share their vision of post-digital art and post- internet art installations, seeking images, re-contextualizing them, and commenting the results.

The young people solve drama and language problems together, evaluate and encourage each other, explore books by great masters, learn professional terms, clarify timing and details, share opinions, and find decisions.

So they develop both their communicative competence and the whole personality which is the main goal (super-objective) of language teaching at the Institute of Arts

References

1. Anderson Dale. L., Act now! – New York: Chronimed Publishing, 1995. – 288 p.
2. Benedetti Jean, The Moscow Art Theatre Letters. NY: A Theatre Arts Book Routledge, 1991 – 377 p.
3. Berson M.The Seagull. Walter Kerr Theatre // The Seattle Times, December’21, 2008. – P. 13.
4. Blum D. Casals and the art of interpretation. – Los Angeles, London: University of California press, 1977. – 222 p.
5. Carnicke Sharon M. Stanislavsky in focus. (Russian Theatre Archive; v.17), London: Hardwood Academic Publishers, 2003. – 236 p.
6. Chief B. A Handbook for Human Beings. – Seattle, WA: Red Cedar Circle, 1993. – 47p.
7. Conable B., Conable W. How to learn the Alexander technique. – Columbus, Ohio, Andover Press, 1995. – 154 p.
8. Garfield David, The Actor’s Studio. – NY: Collier Books Macmillan Publishing Company, 1984. – 318 p.
9. Giebert S., «Drama and theatre in teaching foreign languages for professional purposes», URL: http:// journals. open edition. org/apliut / 4215.
10. Ilkhom Theatre Company. Sharing a vision: Tashkent to Seattle. JWTV production. 10/20/2008. DVD. Copyright,
11. Jackson K. Story Circles.–Seattle, WA: Rain City Projects, Inc., 1997– 22 p.
12. Katselas M. Acting class. Take a seat. Phoenix books, CA, 2008. – 298 p.
13. Kelly E.Y. The magic if. Stanislavski for children. – Baltimore, Maryland, National Educational Press, 1973. – 170 p
14. Linklater K., Freeing Shakespeare’s voice. The actor’s guide to talking the text, Theatre Communications group, NY, 1992.– 214 p.
15. O’Neill National Theatre Institute Intensive Theatre training with professional artists. – The O’Neill, Waterford. – 2008. – 27 p.
16. Smith B.K.Vassily Sakhnovski // Akhmilovski L. The language of Stage. – Vladivostok: Far Eastern Institute of Arts, 2019. – 176 p. – P. 101-114.
17. Skinner Edith. Speak with distinction. The Classic Skinner Method to speech on the stage. – NY: Applause. Theatre Book Publishers, 1990. – 406 р.

Keywords: language for professional purposes, academic project participant, individual semester project, inter-textual analysis in action, class-concert, self-observation, super-objective, communicative competence.

डा० सुरेन्द्र गंभीर

यूनिवर्सिटी ऑफ़ पेन्सिल्वेनिया

आज संस्कृतियों के संगम वाले युग में भाषा की या संस्कृति के अन्यान्य अवयवों की पारंपरिक शुद्धता बनाए रखना संभव नहीं है। जब दो संस्कृतियों में लंबे समय तक संपर्क होता है तो आदान-प्रदान स्वाभाविक है। आदान-प्रदान भौतिक स्तर पर भी होता है, वैचारिक स्तर पर भी होता है, और भाषा के स्तर पर भी होता है। ये तीनों स्तर संस्कृति के ही अंग हैं। सामान्यतः अन्य संस्कृतियों के साथ संबंध से भाषा समृद्ध होती है। नए आविष्कार, नए विचार, नई अवधारणाएं जनजीवन में नवीन ऊर्जा को जन्म देती हैं और उन को अभिव्यक्त करने के लिए  नए शब्दों का आयात भी आवश्यक हो जाता है।

आर्थिक, सांस्कृतिक और राजनैतिक स्तर पर प्रभुत्वशाली संस्कृतियां दूसरी संस्कृति से लेती कम हैं, देती अधिक हैं। वास्तविकता यह है कि प्रभावी संस्कृतियां देती नहीं हें लेकिन प्रभावित संस्कृतियां अधिक ले लेती हैं। पिछले लगभग एक हज़ार वर्षों से भारतीय रहन-सहन सहित भारतीय भाषाएं अनेक विदेशी भाषाओं से प्रभावित हुई हैं। सहस्रों विदेशी शब्द भाषा में आए और धीरे धीरे जनभाषा का अभिन्न अंग बन गए हैं। आज उन शब्दों के बिना हिन्दी भाषा के व्यावहारिक अस्तित्व की कल्पना तक नहीं की जा सकती। यहां तक कि ध्वनियों के स्तर पर भी ज फ और ज़ फ़ के अंतर का भी एक अपना सामाजिक महत्व स्थापित हो चुका है।

जब दो भाषाएं किसी समाज में साथ-साथ सक्रिय होती हैं तो उन दो भाषाओं की मिलीजुली एक मध्यवर्ती भाषा का समुदय धीरे धीरे सर्वत्र होता है। भाषा-द्वैत की स्थिति में औपचारिक प्रयोग-क्षेत्रों में प्रयुक्त होने वाली भाषा की शब्दावली का आयात अनौपचारिक प्रयोग-क्षेत्रों में व्यवहृत भाषा में होने लगता है, और यही मिश्रित भाषा एक मध्यवर्ती भाषा बन जाती है। शिक्षा के प्रसार के साथ लोगों के दैनंदिन व्यवहार में औपचारिक भाषा के शब्दों के प्रयोग की संख्या धीरे धीरे बढ़ती जाती है। मानक हिन्दी और भोजपुरी के संदर्भ में भोजपुरी के लिखित साहित्य में मानक हिन्दी के शब्दों की भरमार इस मध्यवर्ती भाषा का एक उदाहरण है। इसी प्रकार अंग्रेज़ी और हिन्दी के प्रसंग में हिंगलिश की उत्पत्ति इसका दूसरा उदाहरण है। भाषा-विज्ञान में औपचारिक संदर्भों वाली भाषा को शब्द-दायिनी (लैक्सीफ़ायर) भाषा कहा गया है।

आयातित शब्दों की उपादेयता के आधार पर हम उन्हें दो वर्गों में बांट सकते हैं। एक तो वे शब्द हैं जो अपरिहार्य हैं अर्थात् जिनके लिए दूसरी भाषा में कोई उचित पर्यायवाची उपलब्ध नहीं। ऐसे सब तत्वों को भाषा-संपर्क की स्वाभाविक और अनिवार्य प्रक्रिया मानकर हमें स्वीकार करना ही होगा। दूसरे वर्ग में वे शब्द हैं जो अपनी भाषा को अधिक प्रतिष्ठित दिखाने हेतु लिए जाते हैं। यह तर्क अंग्रेज़ी-हिन्दी पर अधिक लागू होता है और हिन्दी-भोजपुरी पर कम लागू होता है। उसका कारण है कि हिन्दी-भोजपुरी एक ही संस्कृति के अंग होने के कारण एक सातत्य-रेखा (कन्टिन्युअम) पर अवस्थित हैं परंतु अंग्रेज़ी-हिन्दी उस स्थिति में नहीं हैं।

अंग्रेज़ी-हिन्दी के प्रसंग पर थोड़ी गहराई से चर्चा करते हैं। इस समय अंग्रेज़ी औपचारिक संदर्भों वाली भाषा के स्तर पर है और हिन्दी आपसी सामाजिक व्यवहार में और बाज़ार में प्रयुक्त होने वाली भाषा है। कुछ प्रयोग-क्षेत्रों में दोनों का व्यवहार होता है परंतु उपर्युक्त (औपचारिक और अनौपचारिक) इनके प्रधान प्रयोग-क्षेत्र हैं। इसलिए अंग्रेज़ी शब्द-दायिनी भाषा है और हिन्दी अंग्रेज़ी के शब्दों को आत्मसात् करती है। एक भाषा देने वाली है और दूसरी लेने वाली है।

पहले वर्ग के शब्दों का अनिवार्य आयात स्पष्ट है। दूसरे वर्ग के अंतर्गत आने वाले विदेशी शब्दों का प्रयोग हिन्दी जैसी भाषा पर क्या पड़ता है इसपर थोड़ा विचार करते हें।

1. अंग्रेज़ी के अनावश्यक शब्दों के समावेश से हिन्दी और अंग्रेज़ी के बीच एक मध्यवर्ती नई बोलचाल की भाषा का जन्म हुआ है जिसे हम हिंगलिश कहने लगे हैं। फलस्वरुप समाज में सम्मान के स्तर पर अंग्रेज़ी का पहला स्थान है, सामन्य बातचीत में हिंगलिश का दूसरा स्थान है, और हिन्दी का तीसरा स्थान है।
2. अनेकानेक संदर्भों में हिंगलिश का प्रयोग ही स्वाभाविक लगने लगा है और केवल हिन्दी का प्रयोग खटकने लगा है।
3. मध्यवर्ती शैली की सुलभता के कारण प्रयोग-कर्ता इतने स्वतः-संतुष्ट हैं कि परिणाम-स्वरूप आज भारत में अनेकानेक लोगों की न अंग्रेज़ी अच्छी है और न हिन्दी अच्छी है। यह इतो नष्टः ततो भ्रष्टः वाली स्थिति है।
4. जहां जहां अंग्रेज़ी के शब्दों का प्रयोग हो रहा है वहां वहां वर्षों से हिन्दी के प्रचलित शब्दों का प्रयोग अस्वाभाविक होता जा रहा है, और परिणाम-स्वरूप वे शब्द धीरे धीरे प्रयोग से बाहर होते जा रहे हैं।
5. अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों के प्रयोग से भाषा का अपना पारंपरिक सौंदर्य नष्ट हो रहा है।
6. हिन्दी में सुलभ शब्दों के स्थान पर अंग्रेज़ी के शब्दों का प्रयोग स्वभाषा के प्रति गौरव और सम्मान का हनन कर रहा है और मानसिक दासता की प्रतीति को संपुष्ट कर रहा है।
7. हिंगलिश जैसी भाषा में अभ्यस्त होने के कारण युवा पीढ़ी की हिन्दी में लिखे साहित्य की समझ और उनका उससे वास्ता कमज़ोर होता जा रहा है।
8. समाज में अंग्रेज़ी-शब्दों का प्रयोग करने वालों और अंग्रेज़ी न जानने वालों के बीच में दूरी बढ़ रही है।
9. हिन्दी में अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों के प्रयोग के कारण जो देश अंग्रेज़ीभाषी नहीं हैं उनके नागरिकों के लिए हिन्दी सीखना अधिक कठिन हो रहा है। उनके लिए सम्मिश्रित हिन्दी को सीखने के लिए हिन्दी के किस प्रयोग-क्षेत्र में कितनी और कहां अंग्रेज़ी लानी है इसके लिए अंग्रेज़ी की शब्दावली सीखने के अतिरिक्त हिन्दी व्याकरण के नए नियम भी सीखने होंगे।
10. हिन्दी में अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों के प्रयोग से अंग्रेज़ी न जानने वाले देशों के लोगों में हिन्दी के प्रति आत्मीयता और सम्मान में कमी आएगी।

इसमें संदेह नहीं कि विदेशी शब्दों का समावेश एक दृष्टि से दो संस्कृतियों के मेल का ऐतिहासिक दस्तावेज़ है। जब मेज़ कुरसी से लेकर पहनावे, खानपान, और वैचारिक स्तर तक हमने बहुत कुछ दूसरी संस्कृति से ले कर अपना लिया तो आज वर्षों से व्यवहार में लाए जाने के बाद भाषा के विदेशी शब्दों को बीन बीन कर बाहर फेंकना कहां तक संभव होगा? परंतु जिन विदेशी तत्वों का आयात दूसरी भाषा के प्रयोग से मिलने वाली सामाजिक प्रतिष्ठा से अभिभूत होता है, उन शब्दों के समीकरण से हिन्दी जैसी भाषा के अपकर्ष और अधःपतन का दिशा-निर्देश होता है। सार-रूप में यह कहा जा सकता है कि जहां एक तरफ़ अंग्रेज़ी के अनेकानेक तकनीकी और दूसरे अपरिहार्य शब्द हिन्दी में आएंगे ही, वहां बिना कारण हिन्दी शब्दों का निराकरण करके अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों को वहां स्थानापन्न करना हिन्दी भाषा का क्रियोलीकरण करना है और उसे मध्यम दर्जे की भाषा के वर्ग में ले जाना है।

All human civilizations have sprung with the combined effort and inspiration of great men. Ages may come and ages may go but human nature and human experiences culminating into human consciousness remain practically one and same throughout ages. In the same manner, the disintegration and decay of such civilizations can be attributed to human vanity and ambition resulting in loss of moral integrity. As literature is the mirror of life itself, it tries to give the impression of truth and in the modern times, such realist scenario came into being which was free from normative judgments and philosophical theories and rather tried to depict the life together with its harshness, sordid realities, and objective truth. In such an environment the exposure to poverty, violence, racism, inequality, filth, squalor, prejudice, corruption, prostitution, and disease cannot be overlooked. In such an environment, World literature tried to find a panacea by dwelling into human consciousness. Unsurprisingly, the continuum of the same can be understood through the comparative study of two major poems of two great poets of two different languages. The comparison is to be done between ‘The Wasteland’ of T.S.Eliot and the Mukti-Prasang by Rajkamal Chaudhary.

The stark difference between these two poets ranging from the different circumstances but reaching to the same realities and crisis is that one poet and his work, The Wasteland by T.S.Eliot, has been so widely and globally read that it is no less than a challenge to write something new and unsaid, and the other poet and his work (or oeuvre so to say), Mukti-Prasang by Rajkamal Chaudhary, has been so much ignored and marginalized deliberately that such ignorance is well taken as the basic notion of the language in which it is written and the culture it breathes in.  Dwelling into the starved and dry soul of humanity, both the poems tried to question the bitter truth of humanity.

Though the authors are placed in two different world cultures yet the human consciousness which reverberates within the human body is one and the same. The striking similarity between both the pieces originates after acceptance of death as eternal truth and acceptance of this body as fragile, brittle, and subject to decay as after this acceptance comes into being the new quest for real life, freedom, and independence.

Eliot, in order to represent the malady of the present-day civilization, chose the mythical method which helped him in the concretizing the present with the past showcasing the parallels and contrasts of the civilizations through the stream of consciousness of Tiresias, a person in whose consciousness unfolds the multiple layers of experience of man as well as a woman. Eliot writes in The Wasteland,   

Eliot uses Tiresias as a spectator who is actually not a character but a link connecting various wastelands, the wasteland of King Oedipus as well as the contemporary modern-day wasteland. Nevertheless, Tiresias can be seen as the embodiment of suffering of humanity, of the human consciousness in whom all the sexes meet just as Phlebas, the Phoenician sailor, the Smyrna merchant having a pocket full of currants, and Ferdinand, the king of Naples, all merge in the consciousness of Tiresias in the same way the consciousness of female sex merges with him as told in the Fire sermon--

Further, beneath all the shifting experiences of the females which entail the themes of desertion, violation of innocence, sex, and fertility as the sections of Wasteland proceed further, there is the presence of Belladonna, the lady of the Rocks who in the first section itself and where Madame Sosostris, the famous fortune teller, picks the card up and prognosticates about future. Here, the Belladonna becomes any Lady of the present modern times. Identities merge in the proceeding sections where the female characters strengthen such acts of violation of innocence and morbidity in sex acts irrespective of their character’s names on the surface.

Striking similarity and resemblance can be viewed in ‘Muktiprasang’ when one’s consciousness strikes between the intense desire to be free from the pangs of birth and death and when the life spirit embalms one’s spirit to join the force of life. This struggle of consciousness is the major thrust of ‘Muktiprasang’. When the power of Indian myth is about to expire, one has to bear the decayed, torn, destructible, fragile, and acrimonious body of self just like the Omnipotent Shiva who has carried the body of Dakshkanya, Sati. Rajkamal Chaudhary, in order to portray this state of human body and consciousness, goes into striking details as a true realist into the limitations and possibilities of this caged bird who goes and comes forth as the village deity, social lives of contemporary city lives, and the current state of modern-day civilization, which is as decayed as the septic body just before the final moment, struck. But even in this crucial moment, the author is unable to dissociate himself from the destiny of humanity which can be seen in the lines given below:

Here, in both the poems there is a striking resemblance that the sense of self is a myth and if there exists a thing called ‘self’ it is constantly changing and evolving and nevertheless it is impossible to discard it or to keep it unaffected from the external conditions of human civilization.

The characters portrayed by authors are imagined nameless, faceless, isolated, and neurotic. In The Wasteland, there is an extensive work of racial memory through the extended time approach and there is the intrusion of the central consciousness approach which pervades the poem from the very beginning. In the first section itself, the archetypes give an identity to the characters as there is the substitution of ‘corpse’ for the seed which starts in an abrupt conversation in the section symbolizes assimilation with the characters of the past. The passage conscious recognition gets derived from the unconscious recognition of another life of the past. The substitution of the corpse with the seeds hints at the mythical method of vegetation rituals of fertility, there is double consciousness of Stetson with ships at Mylae where the war between Romans and Carthaginians were fought. “There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying:

The same conscious self derives identity from the unconscious identity of the past rather merging its identity to and fro from the various identities of the pasts in Muktiprasang. This consciousness of self is derived from the name of false God with masks. This false God is the demon Bhasmasur or decaying body of Duryodhan left to decay after the battle of Mahabharata or it is the soldier’s self which goes on to Korea, Cuba, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria.

The natural balance is displayed as a major requirement and if this balance is disturbed it definitely leads to the degeneration of morality as well as spirituality and corruption of society. Occurrences of The Wasteland reflect this symbolically in the third section of the poem. The Fire sermon reflects the sermon of Buddha in which he mentions that the infatuation with the fire of birth, death, misery, youth end up in grief, grief which burns up the Life, only this fire of lust can be overcome with the fire of suffering and pain. In the fire sermon, the fire of lust, corruption, and sexual perversion so rampant is brought out significantly. The pollution of the river Thames signifies the sexual perversion of the times as the scenes of vestiges of summer parties besides banks of Thames reminds this.

The sounds of horns of motors on the bank of the river, every class of people right from the merchant class of Mr. Eugenides to sailors as well as fishermen all are indulged in sexual acts for cheap merriment and have forgotten the regenerative power of this. Even the common households in London pubs and public houses have the topic of adultery and abortion, forgetting the discipline in married life and among the many appetites sex has degenerated into one of the chief appetites whose gratification is atrophied of prime achievements forgetting its redemptive power. The chief motive and drive of the generation have remained confined to preserving youth for indulging in sex for hours and days till the death knock arrives as symbolized by the bartender repeated remarks--HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME.--This is further signified by the episode of typist girl and her lover who has degraded the act to mechanical measures and the act is there for the sake of doing devoid of its rejuvenating power as she is glad that act is over now--“Well now that’s done: and I’m glad it’s over.” Further, the act is compared to the act of mechanical automobile engine by the poet--

The consciousness of a man is unable to discern him from the fate of humanity as is evident by the consciousness of a man who is about to die and by the consciousness of humanity i.e. Tiresias. The crime of opportunity is seen on all the vulnerable sections of the society as presented by Eliot in the sections where he goes into the deeper details of the room of the lady of fashion may it be Belinda, Belladonna, Cleopatra, Dido where exquisite details right from the aroma of synthetic perfume to state of various cosmetics are described including the grandiose marble stone of the dressing place to the reflection caused by seven-branched candleholder reflecting lady’s jewels and flames. But in such an atmosphere the darker aspects of humanity are still remaining unanswered as reflected in the paintings of Satan entering the gates of Eden to lure Eve and the painting of Philomela which is proof of the untold suffering of a lady who was a victim of crime of opportunity by a king and whose pathetic song is a reminder of the barbaric rape forgotten by the contemporary humanity as Elizabethan poets painted this picture in bad taste as the sound “Jug Jug” is only an act of sexual pleasure for them. Also, this sexual perversion is evident in the present situation of the daughter of Thames in Richmond, Kew, and Highbury where sexual crimes and sexual assaults are the matter of every day where their situation is expressed in the words of a survivor girl comparing herself to the broken fingernails of a dirty hand maybe the society itself which has gone so,

This presents a quite contrary picture of past when on the quite serene atmosphere of Thames roamed Queen Elizabeth together with Earl of Leicester. But the present situation is more near to the city burning with the fire of lust, city from where Saint Augustine wants refuge;

The chief reason behind using various myths is that due to this parallelism between the past and present we are able to figure out the continuity of past and present and bridging of gulf helps us in giving a concretized picture. Such mythical references occur in the conscience of Indian literature as well. As evident in Muktiprasang, there is a rich plethora of net of myths that weave an intricate design on human consciousness. The injustices and unanswered questions reverberate in them which seek justice for the oppressed social structures also presenting a continuity of the past structures with the present time but most striking are the counterpoint or counter perspective to established histories which gives voice to victim narratives thus giving them a larger platform. The same suffering voice of humanity can be heard as of Eliot’s Daughter of Thames as well as in the voice of Philomela, in the suffering female feticide going from ages as well as from cultivators, farmers, laborers flesh and bones:

The universal quest for the meaning behind life, the search for the eternal question behind the birth, death, and usual business routines are asked by the soul of thinkers and philosophers as does Shakespeare in his masterpiece Hamlet

This Question and eternal thinking are presented in Eliot’s Death by Water section when the Phlebas a young and handsome businessman sailor is caught in the whirlpool and drowns which represents Objective correlative of the fate of humanity who dies without the quest for spiritual regeneration and is shown by the chain of events which reminds of this inevitable decay of modern civilization which cares only for food, shelter, wealth, living and the questions beyond them are irrelevant to them. Since death consumes all the humanity is subsumed by the common fate of birth, followed by youth and which finally culminates into death but still we remain ignorant of this fact till a large part of our life is lost “Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you” The same question which haunts humanity is seen being reflected in Muktiprasang too which lies in the base of things.

Again and again, it is not possible to distance oneself from the pain, suffering, starvation, and death of humanity as a whole till then one is unable to attain renunciation, liberation, and lasting peace.

The society of the modern urban civilization marred by rootlessness, the collapse of cultural, moral orders as both the poems deal with the world war and colonial period. The cities signify the same destruction and decay irrespective of their names. Industrialization and scientific achievements proved no good for society. Whether Vienna, Alexandria or London each had got the same story to tell as all of them were war-ravaged societies

The same intensity can be felt in Muktiprasang when the consciousness of a dying man is unable to forget the scenario of crumbling world order and the future of peace talk initiatives of the contemporary World order:

Further, the modern man’s disillusionment of worshipping the same God and still struggling with its messages is quite ironic to look at. The enormous power wielded by politicians is frightening to look at. Even the peace initiatives are dyeing an untimely death

The whole idea points out to the untold suffering to the people, directly and indirectly, people wandering in search of basic necessities and in madness for the loss of their near and dear ones is heart wailing. The picture of a woman mad with grief, sense of loss presented by both the poets is quite remarkable “A woman drew long black hair out tight

And fiddled whisper music on those strings” While in other landscape the picture of starving humanity being cast in the form of a woman who goes on asking for food and water from structures of society that emerges from the loop of the democratic system and continue working on oppressed oppressor model.

The mechanical, constructed dead social environment is portrayed where there in buried libidinal life split between self regarding consciousness and unconsciousness and there is a panorama of death in life itself, as in the very first section itself of The Wasteland there is a reference of Dante’s Hell which is now found in any city of modern-day--

Even the postcolonial society of Rajkamal Chaudhary is not free from a mindset that is unable to reason or question logically and is leading a libidinal lifestyle again having a split personality where the cold war atmosphere has outlived reasons.

In the temporal sense the death, decay, disintegration, perversion of morals of society is slowly brought out through the realistic portrait portrayed which clears out how decadence brings decay. In the text of The Wasteland as we proceed from the heap of broken images from ‘The burial of the dead’ to ‘A game of Chess’ we come across the boudoir of a lady with exquisite details whose outer aura, grandness, and ambiance can match with either Cleopatra or Dido queen of Carthage but there is nothing stately about it. The lady signifies the combined racial memory of the situation of the class to which she belongs and that is the state of neurosis, bored libidinal state, and inner vacancy devoid of vitality and force of life.

Adding to this lifeless routine the state of decay is further enhanced by lack of communication between the dear and closed ones in the modern-day society as in the same section the lady tells her lover “Speak to me. Why do you never speak? Speak.” This degeneration, filth, decay is compared with the condition of the decomposing body encompassed in the lines of the companion of the lady of ‘A Game of Chess’ being said when he is compelled to think-“ I think we are in the rats’ alley

Where the dead men lost their bones” The same intensity of disintegration of consciousness and it’s melting and merging consciousness of the hermaphrodite scholar of the Greek civilization can be heard in the ‘The Fire Sermon’ where he emerges according to shifting references Prince Ferdinand, Hamlet, Claudius, various unnamed kings of the vegetation rituals who combine and merge with the present world’s malady-“But at my back in a cold blast I hear/The rattle of the bones and chuckle spread from ear to ear” The same intensity of feelings can be felt in Muktiprasang when Rajkamal Chaudhary compares the degenerated body of a person going to die with the corrosive, corruptive, filthy atmosphere of the contemporary situation of the section who are oppressed—

In the last section of The Wasteland, Eliot has many wastelands in his brain and he connects the modern-day wasteland to the wasteland of the Fisher King, King Oedipus of Thebes, and the Biblical wasteland whose reign were known for the severe drought and bareness due to sexual perversion of their rules. Only when the virtuous knight Sir Parsifal went to Chapel Perilous then the only curse of the land was removed. There is a comparison between the sickness of modern-day humanity and the sexual orgies of the Fisher king. Here images of the absence of even a drop of water and dryness suggest towards the spiritual decay of the times as water is regarded as a source of regeneration from ages—

Eliot in order to find a way for the suffering humanity refers to the event of Indian history when the land was hit by drought and famine. In order to overcome, people sought divine intervention which was ratified as God’s voice in the name of thunder who’s Da Da Da held the panacea for the whole humanity which emphasized on the dedication of our lives to a useful cause, sympathies with the creation of God i.e. the philosophy of Vashudhaiva Kutumbakam and the will power to self-control. It is on this note of hope that Eliot ends The Wasteland. While the last section of Muktiprasang has been divided into eight contexts but they can be summed up as reaching to the final conclusion of the consciousness of a person who is between the state of life and death. Here emphasizing the realist and naturalistic details Rajkamal Chaudhary is of the view that even a dead human being can be attributed to having beauty in it as well as can ignite desires. Again with the myth of Ganges drowning her infants inborn, the poet dwells on the purpose, the significance of mortal human life and the immortal muse of poetry which is the purpose of the poet’s life. One is reminded of the water imagery as in the last section of The Wasteland, which enhances the symbol of water as a purifier and its purgative values-“In the last, I have been born to enliven her in the Trishuli cave having the power of mantras” But even greater than the power of muse the poet considers the creative force of this nature supreme as in its unconscious meditative state it goes on creating life even after the untold barbarous acts of cruelty with it. Here the poet cuts a sorry figure if by stepping over the figurative details of places, times, and characters he has aggressed his limits. In the rest of the sections, there is a resemblance of striking magnitudes of the qualities of Daya, Datta, and Damyata. As in order to secure oneself, one goes on collecting innumerable items forgetting the dharma of humanity, the significance of fellow feeling (Daya) since we are unable to restraint ourselves (Damyata) in the absence of will power forgetting the divinity of sharing(Datta).

References:

• Eliot, T.S (2001). ‘The Waste Land’ New York: W.W Norton.
• Eliot, T.S. (1986) 'The Frontiers of Criticism' in On Poetry and Poets London: Faber and Faber Ltd., London
• Chaudhary, Rajkamal. ‘Muktiprasang’ Neel Patra Prakashan, Kamayani, Bhikhnapahari (south), Patna-4, Janmbhumi press, Patna city.
• Spencer, T. J. B., ed. 1980 Hamlet. New Penguin Shakespeare ser. London: Penguin
• Tradition and the Individual Talent, Bartleby.com 22 June 2010
• AthatoKavya jijnasa, page 206 Goggle Books Result

By João Gabriel Pereira da Silveira

In the 1980s, Translation Studies was consolidated as an autonomous disciplinary field and, allied to this, the need arose to develop and implement a wide variety of research methodologies related to translation practice that could follow not only the theoretical perspectives that emerged at the time but also the technological advances. Thus, the joint use of software, questionnaires, scales and, interviews, for example, were gradually implemented to the data collections and analyses, especially regarding the empirical-experimental research of translation as a cognitive process.

Among the methodological alternatives carried out in the researches, it can be affirmed that the data triangulation, already consolidated in the field of Social Sciences at the time, started to stand out as a consistent alternative in the acquisition of results in researches related to translation. According to Alves (2001), this is a methodological alternative that, by cross-referencing quantitative and qualitative data, provides greater reliability, consistency, and, consequently, greater generalization to the results obtained, which, in turn, can contribute to the clarification of issues considered fundamental to Translation Studies. Following this line of reasoning, Alves (2001) points out six data collection instruments that help in the triangulation process and have a consolidated tradition for decades by researchers from several countries: 

1. Think Aloud Protocols (TAPs): It is a simple technique which consists in asking the volunteer translators to verbalize everything that comes to their mind at the time they translate a given text. All that is said by the participant is recorded and transcribed later by the researcher for future analysis.

2. Retrospection: A technique used to collect reports from volunteers of the research about the task performed by them. It is a technique performed after the translation activity and is simple to apply and can be recorded for a future transcription and analysis or can simply be noted by the researcher at the time of the informant’s report.

3. Structured questionnaires and addressed interviews: The questionnaires, as well as the two previous techniques, have a simple application and should be previously prepared by the researcher and completed by the participants. They should have well-ordered and well-defined (open, closed, or mixed) questions that are relevant to developing research. The addressed interviews, in turn, follow the same precepts of the questionnaires, distinguishing themselves from these by the fact that they are applied directly by the researcher, not requiring the volunteer, therefore, to do any type of filling out.

4. Video: In this data collection technique, video cameras are used to identify the stages of concentration and distraction of the volunteers, the periods in which there was the use of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other sources, the motor activities performed and reactions in general. Cameras are usually used together with the TAP technique and/or synchronized to some software, for a better performance of data collection.

5. Expert judgment: This is a technique that seeks, through previously defined criteria, to evaluate the quality of the translations performed by the research volunteers.

6. Software: Software is nowadays essential to monitor the processes performed by volunteers in certain translation tasks. The programs used are usually compatible with the Windows platform, which is a system commonly used by the user. One of the main software is Translog, which allows the recording of all keyboard and mouse touches (insertions, deletions, text corrections) and allows the researcher to observe variables of time (pauses, hesitations, reading time).

Alves (2001: 84) points out that the joint application of these techniques “[...] makes it possible to obtain differentiated cutouts that, in a complementary way, contribute to the clarification and understanding of the constitutive processes of the task of translating”, thus justifying, the use of triangulation as a methodological strategy that provides greater reliability and consistency in terms of obtaining results. Besides, it is important to highlight that several research groups around the world carry out empirical-experimental research using triangulation, such as the PACTE group (Procés d'Adquisició de la Competència Traductora i Avaluació), at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the TRAP group (Translation Process Research Group), at the Copenhagen Business School, and the researchers of LETRA (Experimental Translation Laboratory), located at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, which corroborates not only the impact of this strategy from the 1990s to the present day but also its adaptation to the various technological devices that are emerging over the years.

References

Alves, Fabio. 2001. “A triangulação como opção metodológica em pesquisas empírico-experimentais em tradução”. In Pagano, Adriana (Org.) Metodologias de Pesquisa em Tradução. Belo Horizonte, Faculdade de Letras, UFMG, 69-92.