Entomb age-old classics?
P erish
that thought :
My writer-friend emails me asking for a list of recent books I
enjoyed reading. Something flashed across my mind that very moment. I
cannot remember the occasion, but I remember it was Parakrama
Kodituwakku whom I heard say:
"We should go to ancient classics. We should read them but only the
smartest of us can manipulate that lingo to suit the modernity."
As a teenager I remember enjoying laying hands on classics at school.
Some sentence constructions and the thoughts embedded impressed me. But
that was not so sharp, because I had a hard time with obscure words.
I sat down and fixed my thoughts on books I enjoyed recently. Four
writers passed along: Roma Tearne, Chandani Lokuge, Gillian Slovo and
Anne Enright. Chandani and Gillian follow a simple writing style, while
Roma and Anne are a little complex.
Their sentences have simple words with simple meanings, but it's
neither the Paulo Coelho nor the Ken Follett style. I remember Ken
Follett mention in an autobiographical note he likes D. H. Lawrence's
rich language, but he personally would stick to a simple writing style.
Paulo Coelho gives prominence to his spiritual message more than the
line, and besides, we read him in translations, be it Sinhala or
English.
My list of books and authors was fairly long well including the four
writers I have trotted out a few seconds ago.
Then I had time to wonder how could they be influenced to write so
lyrical. I thought of testing Parakrama's speech.
I dusted up those long-forgotten classics, once again; this time to
reread. But there are barbed-wire restrictions too.
When you are overly familiar with modern poem and prose, you take a
while - probably months - to get used to the ancient.
You can't read them with the same hot haste and speed, you have to
cultivate patience so great if you need the essence. The beginning of
both Holy Bible, Odyssey and Beowulf are a good bore to the modern
reader.
Because they always tear up paths for kings and chivalry. No wonder
Don Quixote was glued to books of this type, he was such a boring knave.
Then you can read Geoffrey Chaucer thanks to Neville Coghill's
thankless job of giving it a modern touch. Shakespeare and Don Quixote
become much readable compared with the previous books. Shakespeare is
considered genius basically because he wrote 37 plays, but I think it is
more because of the way he handled his sources. He had classic sources
which made him think unsurpassable. Those sources rekindled his
imagination and made him pen down memorable proverbial quotes; Hamlet,
Macbeth, Othello and King Lear, can you name better ones?
Wordsworth, Frost, Lawrence are no hard read at all, compared with
Beowulf and Odyssey. We have come this far passing along a good deal of
centuries; if you are enthusiastic about the evolution of readability of
classics, you have to read like hell: from Holy Bible to Dan Brown, that
is.
When I was reading Shakespeare's 'King Lear' a friend asked me if it
is not boring. I showed her certain lines and expressed how we can use
them in modern context. Shakespeare is alive because of modified text
and the likes of pistol-bearing Leonardo Di Caprio.
Otherwise only a student will be interested in Shakespeare. But the
West accepts the fact that Shakespeare still hangs over the English
theatre.
"The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing."
- Macbeth Act 5 Scene V.
Who says these lines are boring? Who says these lines cannot be
manipulated and reshaped in modern context? Who says these lines don't
have life? Come on, we all know Robert Frost was inspired to title one
of his poems after 'Out, out'. Modern masterpieces derive their
inspiration from age-old classics. But everybody cannot perform that
marvel. Parakrama is right, only a smart one can reshape the language of
the classics to suit the modern nuances.
Ever thought of entombing Beowulf and Homer's Odyssey for keeps?
Perish that thought, right now.
Leave the reshaping to smart ones, let us enjoy the life in these
age-old thoughts.
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