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| Wednesday, 11 February 2004 |
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Expect more of Andre Gide Focus by Prof. Sunanda Mahendra Those of us who have a fairly good understanding of the flavour of Andre Gide's narratives and new forms of writing via English, could visualise how good it would have been to read them in French. A good friend of mine once told me in the early sixties that he is 'mad on Gide', what he meant was the great admiration for Gide's vision of life as expressed in his varying type of books, especially written in the form of journals. Perhaps Gide would have been the first writer who would have written most number of novels in the form of journals, commencing with his celebrated work. 'The Counterfeiters', for which presumably a Nobel prize was awarded for literature in 1947. Gide's counterfeiters was equally kept abreast with such works as Thomas Mann's 'The Magic Mountain', James Joyce's 'Ulysses' and Marcel Proust's 'Remembrance of Things Past'. Those who like me who found Gide not only refreshing but also inspiring in an alternative manner, feel how nice if my generation of students get the chance to read him in Sinhala and Thamil. Two important novels of Gide are now available in Sinhala. The original French novel 'la symphony Pastorale (1919) is translated as 'Sadhu Sandvaniya' by Ven. Mandavala Pannavansa, from the original. The second novel is 'strait is the gate' (la porte etroite) (1909) is translated as 'patuya vasaladora' into Sinhala by a director of education, J. A. Jayaratna. Apart from these two novels, no attempt has been made to introduce Gide in Sinhala, with the exception of a radio play written by my friend Karunaratne Amarasinghe, some years ago, based on 'The Pastoral Symphony'. While enjoying a short holiday in Poland on a UNESCO fellowship, I had the chance of watching a wonderful film based on the same novel with English subtitles. I wonder whether our spectators ever had the chance of viewing it. It is said of Gide, as I discovered, that after World War II new works by Gide, including his celebrated journals, continued to appear, and he remained an incredibly young spirit, a leader among those dominating twentieth century European literature. Romances I feel that the introduction of Gide help the Sinhala creative writer who dabbles with petit romances to delve deeply into the human relationships. It looks as if the outlook of the love story writer is so parochial that one cannot go beyond the making or breaking of a love affair! But Gide as one sees is penetrative, and the journals as a mode of expression helps to broaden the outlook. Andre Paul Guillaume Gide (1869-1951) has written quite a number of poems, plays, novels, journals, letters and critiques representing a continuous, self-absorbed examination, which eventually when translated from French to other langauges helped development of the modes of creative communication patterns. Gide's doctrine of the liberation of feeling transcends the barriers of 'story telling', a welcome variant to the conventional narrative patterns. He punches the significance of living, though his avowed homosexuality like, Oscar Wilde, created a storm in the French literary world. One should anticipate more of Gide in our national languages. Creative process Andre Gide, it is observed was fond of explaining his creative process and the various types of influences, he had on his creative thinking. This process is vividly shown in his collection and lectures, letters, diaries and random jottings, which is titled 'pretexts', selected, edited and introduced by Justin O'Brien. In one of his lecture notes Gide says: "I have read a certain book; when I finished it, I closed it, put it back in the shelf in my library - but there were certain words in that book which I cannot forget. They have penetrated so deeply into me that I cannot separate them from myself. Henceforth I am no longer the one I was before I met them. Though I may forget the book in which I read them, though I may even forget that I read them, though I remember them only imperfectly - this is of little importance; no longer will I be the person I was before I read them. How can their power be explained?" I sincerely feel that the influence of Gide, in translation ought to help build a new creative thinking process. **** Back **** |
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