Death 7/21/14

            To say that someone survived the Holocaust is never exactly accurate. The nightmares, the guilt, the anguish and the nightmares that live on in the minds of those who were in Nazi concentration camps but were not physically killed can be harder to bear than death might have been. Like so many Holocaust “survivors,” Paul Celan ultimately took his own life rather than live with the concentration camp hangover. Before he did so, however, he penned an impressive body of work based on his experiences there, and in his poetry we find windows into the dark world he inhabited.

            Celan’s first published poem, “Deathfugue,” reveals just how fixated he was on the death that surrounded him during his incarceration. He describes morning as the “black milk of day break,” referring to the way the sky was darkened by the smoke from the ever-burning crematoriums (Celan 1470). He mentions the Jews having “a grave in the clouds where you won’t lie too cramped,” describing the bodies that have burned and turned into black smoke, sent to dissipate in the sky among the clouds (1470). Those images were burned into Celan’s memory, as surely as the bodies of murdered Jews were turned into that black, milky smoke.

            There is also an element of martyrdom in Celan’s poetry, such as “Tenebrae.” The word tenebrae is Latin for darkness, but it is traditionally associated with the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth at the hands of the Romans. The sacrifice of Jesus is the last remaining comfort for those who are about to be killed by the Nazis. “Pray, Lord,” the poem begs. “Pray to us, / we are near” (1472). The condemned cling to each other as they approach death, asking Jesus to pray for them as they walk their final steps. When they come to a water trough they see blood instead of water, and the speaker sees it as the blood that Jesus shed, saying it “shined,” no doubt as the final hope for those with little hope (1472). The evocation of the sacrifice of Jesus is especially remarkable since the Jews who were being exterminated did not believe he was the Messiah. In their hour of darkness, however, they found him to be a powerful image to which to cling.

Works Cited

Celan, Paul. “Deathfugue.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 1469-1470. Print.

Celan, Paul. “Tenebrae.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 1472-1473. Print.

Borges 7/14/14

            The idea of there being alternative realities and alternative timelines is an intriguing one. It has fired the imaginations of fiction writers and movie directors for years, and is also the subject of scientific study. Quantum physics can even explain ways in which alternate realities exist and can be studied in theory. In the popular film series based on “The Matrix” there is a scene in which Neo (portrayed by Keanu Reeves) sees all of his alternate realities played out on little TV screens. In an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Commander Worf somehow winds up switching places with one of his alternate realities and has to find a way back. Likewise, there seems to be an occurrence of alternate reality in Zhang Ailing’s “Sealed Off.”
            The entire story has an odd feel to it, not quite Orwellian, but it is abundantly clear that it is written about another culture. Poverty seems to be more prevalent among the people outside the limits of the tram car, and it is so pervasive that there is a kind of depressed silence in the outside world. Inside the car are a random selection of people who, if not for their Chinese names, could be the people one might meet in a subway car in New York or on a city bus in any city across America. Two people, in particular, however, become the focus of the story, and this is where the reality shift takes place.
            Cuiyuan is a brilliant young woman who is feeling pressure from her family to find a wealthy young man and get married. Zonghen is a decade older and married, yet for a brief moment their lives intersect and they have a glimpse of another life in which they are together as unmarried lovers. That moment passes somewhat awkwardly, however, and at the end of the story it isn’t clear whether the episode really happened, or if one or the other of the two merely dreamed it. Dream or not, that moment could very well be seen as a glimpse into a different reality akin to Neo’s moment in “The Matrix” or Worf’s dilemma in “Star Trek.”

           

Works Cited

The Matrix Reloaded. Dir. Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Hugo Weaving and Carrie- Ann Moss. 2003. DVD.

Roddenberry, Gene, and Brannon Braga. "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Parallels. UPN. Los Angeles, California, 27 Nov. 1993. Television.

Zhang Ailing. “Sealed Off.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 1346-1354. Print.

Gender 7/1/14

            There are many sources of power in the world, particularly the power to make people do something they might not want to do. In Joaquim Maria Mchado De Assis’ short story entitled “The Rod of Justice,” several different methods of wielding power are on display. The power of the Church over young seminarians is the issue facing Damiao a the beginning of the story. There is also Damiao’s fear of his father’s power to make him return to the seminary from which he has escaped. The strongest source of power, however, derives from the feminine wiles of Sinha Rita.

            Sinhra Rita, the mistress of Damiao’s godfather, is consumed with her own influence and is “eager to show her power over both her lover and her slaves” (Puchner 911). Rita’s gender is important because she uses her sexuality to establish her power over men. In this case, her relationship with Carneiro, Damiao’s godfather, enables her to exercise power and influence over Carneiro’s father. She sends Carneiro to convince the father to allow Carneiro to drop out of seminary. Though Carneiro is extremely reluctant to carry out his assigned task, Rita’s hold over him is strong enough that he does as she asks (De Assis 914-915).

            Rita wields another kind of power, however, and seems to relish this second type even more than the first. Her authority over her slaves betrays a darker, angrier side to her nature than is seen in her efforts on behalf of Damiao. When one of her slave workers does not complete her task on time, Rita goes after her like an enraged banshee, “her face on fire, her eyes starting from her head, calling for the rod” (916). Though Rita is a female, and therefore limited in what kind of power she might attain overtly, she is certainly obsessed with the power she can wield within the confines of her own little world.

Works Cited

De Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado. “The Rod of Justice.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 911-916. Print.

Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. Print.

Marti and Dario 6/21/14

          Walt Whitman is one of the most famous American poets of all time, but his influence reached well beyond the borders of America and even the bounds of the English language. His influence on Latin American Spanish-speaking poets, for example, can be clearly seen in the works of both Jose Marti and Ruben Dario.

            Marti’s “I Am an Honest Man” reads almost like it was written by Whitman himself (when translated). Marti’s use of the first-person narrative style, as well as his exploration of self mirrors closely Whitman’s style and content in the latter’s “Song of Myself.” Like Whitman, who writes “I am the poet of the Soul,” (Whitman 650), Marti writes, “before I die I wish / to fling my verses from my soul,” (Marti 681). In each case, the poet claims to be divulging the contents of the soul through his poetry.

            Likewise, Ruben Dario shows the influences of Whitman in his poetry, especially as it pertains to nature. In “Blazon” Dario admires the beauty of an Olympic swan, comparing the bird to sublime architecture, fine linen and beautiful flowers (Dario 692). In “Song of Myself” we see similar descriptions and appreciation of animals from Whitman, who says he “looks at them long” in admiration (Whitman 651). As Dario described a swan in loving detail, so Whitman paints a picture of a “gigantic beauty of a stallion” (652) in his own poem.

            Imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery, and if that is the case Dario and Marti are engaged in their own brands of hero worship as they emulate Whitman in their own work.

Works Cited

Dario, Ruben. “Blazen.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 692. Print.

Marti, Jose. “I Am An Honest Man.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 681. Print.

Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 648-653. Print.

An Essay On Man 6/14/14

         Mankind has been trying to understand the nature and state of man for just about as long as those concepts have been able to process through the human intellect. Since the 1700’s, when Alexander Pope was wrestling with these issues, we have advanced exponentially. It’s no longer accurate to say that we are “ignorant of the relations of systems and things,” as Pope observed in “An Essay on Man” (Pope 90). For all of our scientific advances, however, mankind has yet to conceive of a rational and ordered way to reconcile some of its deepest rifts in understanding. No concept has been more difficult for society to fully understand than the existence of evil and disorder in what is supposedly a divinely ordered universe.

            In the realm of juxtaposed realities, Pope’s observations are just as valid as anyone tacking the issue in modern society. In this case, Pope seeks not to understand the methods or the reasoning behind the order of the universe, but rather charges his readers to simply accept that there is a higher purpose that cannot be understood. “Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate,” writes Pope. “All but the page prescribed, their present state / From brutes what men, from what spirits know” (92). He goes on to say that mankind should simply wait until God reveals all at death, saying “Hope humbly, then; with trembling pinions soar; / Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore. / What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,” (92). Instead of wrestling with that which cannot be known, Pope suggests, simply live in peace like the Native Americans lived and await God’s revelation in due course.

            There is a certain appeal to the idea of just setting aside questions that seem to have unknowable answers. Pope’s approach certainly suggests a peaceful, worry-free existence. The problem with his approach, however, is that there humans are also imbued with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, including knowledge of the nature of the universe. That thirst is highly unlikely to allow humanity to simply choose not to question the nature of the universe any time soon.

Work Cited

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay On Man." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 90-97. Print.