2nd Annual Mussoorie International Writers Festival

from swapan k banerjee momobanerjee@rediffmail.com to tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com date 27 October 2008 18:34

NATURE IN PERIL
How long the Nature will hold out and will not let us down? Why is tiger population shrinking in our country? Is self publishing more reliable than sending your stuff to publishers and wait eternally only to have it rejected? If Tolstoy, Pamuk, Oe, Szymborska, writing in their mother tongue, could be familiar all over the world, then why some of our highly evolved writers writing in vernacular are still unknown and therefore sadly underrated?

These are some of the topics that were debated and dissected over in the 2nd Annual Mussoorie International Writers Festival (7 Oct to 11 Oct) at Woodstock with 25 published authors from Australia, USA, Singapore, London and India and students from Doon school, RIMC, Welham, Woodstock and Tibetan Home Foundation School participating.
After the welcome address by David Laurenson, Principal of Woodstock School, and the introductory remarks by K Desiraju representing Govt. of Uttarakhand, the festival opened with a book release function at the lawn of Hanifl Centre: Freedom’s Child by Chandralekha Mehta, elder sister of reputed author Nayantara Sahgal who was present on the occasion. It’s a memoir that chronicles her growing up at a critical moment in India’s history. “I tried to capture the nuance of that long vanished age”, said Chandralekha.
The photographic exhibition of wonderful Uttaranchal landscapes, birds and of celebrated writers from that area, at Hanifl centre, by S F Ahmed, A Naurial and S Khullar, drew a large crowd.

In the first session titled ‘Writing about Nature’, Ullas Karanth, wildlife ecologist, basically a conservation scientist and Director of Tigers Forever at the centre for Wildlife Studies in Bangalore, talked on tiger preservation. It’s the decline of prey’s species rather than the poachers that has contributed to the shrinking number of tigers. At least an area of 15 sq km is needed to raise 3 cubs. Conservation is more a political decision than otherwise, he said.
Bill Aitken, the renowned travel writer, took the microphone next: “When I climb Landour’s slopes to meet my literary guru Ruskin Bond, I revel in the heartsease I share with him over the arching trees we have grown up with for fifty years. Faithful companions, their roots anchor the hillside while the canopy provides shade to Mussoorie writers-- as well as their publishers and book sellers. The message, at least to a writer, seems clear: If you must have shady companions, let them be trees.”
Mukul Sharma, a Senior Editor with The Times of India, who’s ‘an agnostic teetering on atheism’, spoke brilliantly on topics ranging from recreational mathematics and spirituality.
In the last session on the first day, poets from Uttarakhand: Narendra Singh Negi, Leeladhar Jaguri and Maglesh Debral were introduced by Padmashri Sekhar Pathak. The poems they read out touched the chords of the appreciative audience.

On the second day, Gabrielle Walker, award-winning science writer, who explored the coldest region on earth, swam in the Amazon, climbed trees in rain forest, and Gretel Ehrlich, Nature writer, poet, who visited Greenland more than once, enthralled the audience at Parker Hall, talking about their Polar Journeys.
The Antarctic has all the secrets of big bang buried in there. In the middle of the winter it’s -890C. Ice is more than 3 km thick. The deeper you go the older the ice you find. It’s the only way to calculate the age of the earth. Now there’s too much carbon heating up the earth giving rise to Green House gas. Ice is melting faster than ever. If the sea level goes up and up, places like London, Bombay, Bangladesh, New York are likely to vanish under the water soon. North Pole is frozen sea, no land there at all. But it’s drier than the Sahara desert! Yes, the South Pole contains land, almost a circle, isolated from the rest of the world. It’s the natural air conditioner on earth. Arctic ice has shrunk by half in just 15 years as a result of carbon emissions. The most miraculous stuff on earth is air which is born here. We live submerged in the ocean of air. It’s only who sees takes off the shoes.
In a discussion about editors and publishers at Media Centre, Woodstock Campus, Ritu Menon, co-founder for Kali for Women, and now publisher, Women Unlimited, said that theirs a publishing for social change. She stressed on precision and the danger of overstatement. One has to hammer home the message. She talked about the catastrophe that confronts the climate, about the tribal land appropriated by the Govt. for development. She said her publishing house wanted to be a small link in the chain of movement to generate a ripple effect.
Shamini Flint, whose crime fiction novels are to be published by the big publishing house Little, Brown in 2009, brought a whiff of great energy into the discussion. She said one can avoid standard rejections that sap the spirit, and go for vanity publication where one is at liberty to use recycled papers and actually get a bigger margin, but the stack at the backroom can be very depressing. The distribution, the reach, the way of getting books into a shop that’s what worries a self publisher.
Despite all this, Flint managed to make some money through self publishing. Her Sunbear Publishing House is still there, and doing brisk business. She publishes her own books when she does not find another publisher. Flint does not want the publisher to control what she writes. Moreover, some publishers take a long time to respond and this process of waiting involves frustration.
Neeta Gupta representing Yatra Books in collaboration with Penguin said: We publish creative writing and works in translation. We’ve so far during the last four years published some 50 books in Hindi, Marathi and Urdu. The ultimate translator’s tool is dictionary which will be published soon. A course in translation, said she, should also made compulsory.

In the fiction reading session at Vera Marley Library, Shamini Flint, Malaysian born who writes from Singapore, read out from Seeds of Time, an environmental fantasy. Its about a whale that swam up the Thames. Shamini has a knack of reaching the deeper layers of a child’s urges. Whatever she said was lapped up by the adults and the children alike.
According to Ken Spillman, a well-known Australian author, story telling is not something special. Every one of us has that power ingrained in us. The important tool a writer has is his/her sense, the receptor.
Now it was the turn of I Allan Sealy, a writer of great gifts. Introducing the story of his choice he said: “It’s basically a series of city in noir collections. This is the Delhi one. What happened was that each writer’s given the choice of a particular suburb, locality in which to set his crime. Mine takes place on a ridge. It’s roughly where the Delhi University is.” The story is told in the voice of an auto rickshaw driver. Sealy’s words wove a world of suspense, crime and mystery, taking the audience with him to the heart of the place where the actual crime happened.

The much-awaited poetry reading took place under the famed Lyre tree. Sampurna Chatterji, poet, translator, fiction writer who situates herself in the cacophonous world and makes sense out of it, recited some of her poems like Mother & Daughter: A Duel, Object Lessons from her debut collection “Sight May Strike You Blind” which carries an introduction by none other than Keki N Daruwalla.
Gieve Patel, one of India’s most distinguished poets, usually works on a poem for years. But one poem came and he hardly had to change anything. The poem ‘Killing a Tree’ was inspired by a huge peepul tree uprooted in monsoon blizzard. It’s prescribed for study in school. “I’ve lots of kids coming up to me. What’s the moral, they ask, what’s the hidden meaning? Horrifying questions! Was I writing a conservation piece, warning people not to kill? It was just a response…” Patel recited particularly those poems born out of his being a medical practitioner like Post Mortem, Hill Station, Just Stretch Your Neck, The Multitude Comes to the Man etc.

On 9 Oct, Advaita Kala read out from her maiden novel: Almost Single. It’s now in its sixth print. She started with a disclaimer: The heroine in the novel is not me! The adhoc selections for reading she made resonated with the audience.
Anita Jain read out from her memoir: Marrying Anita, an under-explored genre in India. In response to a question regarding the danger of writing about someone who is shown in a negative light in the book, Anita said: “People are actually dying to be written about…”
Later, at Woodstock farm, Sampurna chatterji talking on the mystery and madness of translation recounted how difficult it was to retain some of the originality through translation which was for her a kind of reverse journey, when she felt something was lacking in the existing translation. She recalled how the dark, imagistic surreal images in Joy Goswami’s poetry drove her to the wall. The rule is: “Possess the text not kidnap”.
Ira Pande, writer, translator, Chief Editor of the Publications Division of the India International Centre, stole the limelight with her graceful exposition on how to keep intact through translation the visual memory of a word which’s the greatest challenge. Her advice was: Get rid of the vanity of a writer. You’re just like a medium. The original author is speaking through you. What has killed translation in India is the presence of the official translator who lacks the emotional depth and the sense of music that reverberates in the original. Writers like Tolstoy, Pamuk…— the translation of their works has brought them to the doorstep of readers all over the world, whereas the works of our writers of the same calibre writing in vernacular are relatively unknown…

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, next day, Mukul Dev, from the second oldest profession in the world (Army) read out from Salim Must Die (releasing in Jan’09). It’s all about terrorist strike and the chin-wagging politician. Answering a question on terrorism he said: Terrorism is not solved with military. The responsibility lies with the civil administration. Any lack on the part of intelligence will always lead to disaster. The terrorist has the latitude. He is going to get you somewhere.
Poet Bruce Berger, a poet of great distinction, specializes in desert setting. He started with a poem titled “Transmigration” which he recited from the heart. It’s on the black spot, the Death Valley somewhere in California. He captured the heart of the audience with poems on money (money is mysticism), how to look at desert sunset, and on the way the water flows and the writing moves.
The event on the last day was all about tips for creative writing. Geoff Page, the renowned Australian poet, after reciting some of his interesting animal poems, said: If you want to learn the business, art, craft of writing, you must keep your eyes and ears open for ideas from dream, newspaper, conversation … everywhere. Idea happens but the work is hard, for the poem does not happen easily. You need to revise, revise and revise to make them better and better.
Advaita Kala, the young novelist said that she grew up reading Ruskin Bond stories and stressed on the need of keeping a diary.
Shamini Flint had the children on their feet when she narrated her story. At the end, she had this advice for the budding writers: Don’t do a book for a reason. Think about your life. If you find a moment straight from the core of your heart, eventually it’ll come out the other side…
Stephen Alter, writer of international repute, also the main organizer of this writers’ festival, said that the intention of the lit-fest was not to restrict itself just to Woodstock but to see that it spread right across the country. -- SWAPAN K BANERJEE
13 THAKURBATI STREET, SERAMPORE, HOOGHLY - 712201
WEST BENGAL

Rancière’s micropolitics designate a third term between the two politics of aesthetics of art as art and art as life

Jacques Rancière: Aesthetics is Politics [1]
Sophie Berrebi The interlacing of political motivations, re-use of avant-garde forms and use of the archive are the kind of question the French philosopher Jacques Rancière addresses in his recent book, Malaise dans l’esthétique. (Paris, 2004).

Following his work in the field of political philosophy, Rancière’s interest has in recent years shifted towards visual culture and the relation between politics and aesthetics; two fields he perceives as inherently belonging to one another rather than being autonomous. While his new book reviews some of the theories developed earlier in The Aesthetics of Politics, (translated into English in 2004), it extends his reflection with the discussion of specific examples drawn from recent art exhibitions. Malaise dans l’esthétique seems to propose a working way of apprehending the political nature of aesthetics in the specific context of today’s art and provides at the same time a salutary demystification of the ‘critical art’ of the 1960s and its legacy.

In order to achieve this, Rancière’s program is rather ambitious: it involves nothing less than shredding notions we usually happily go by with: modernism and postmodernism, autonomous art and avant-garde. His departure point is a reworking of the notion of aesthetics, a term, he argues, that has been under attack in recent French intellectual debates. He notably responds to publications by Alain Badiou, Jean-Marie Schaeffer and reiterates his long-term dialogue with Jean-François Lyotard’s work on the sublime. Going back to the origins of the term aesthetics, in the mid-eighteenth century, Rancière contends that aesthetics is not a discipline as it is usually defined but rather a particular ‘regime of identification of art’, that is, a particular way in which, in a given historical or social context, art is identified as art. Art therefore never exists as an abstraction, but is always tributary to the way it is perceived in different periods or regimes, of which Rancière identifies three.

In the ethical regime, exemplified by Plato’s republic, a sculpture is gauged against the question of truthfulness and copy. In the representational regime the sculpture will be considered within the system of the hierarchy of genres and in relation to qualities such as skill and adequacy between subject matter and representation. In the representational regime the arts occupy a particular place in what Rancière has elsewhere called the ‘distribution of the sensible’, a notion that can be understood as the division of activities in a society. The aesthetic regime differs from the other two in that it no longer assigns to art a particular place in society, nor is art any longer defined by skill and practice: for this reason, the term art in the singular replaces the pluralized form of the (fine) arts. (Here, Thierry de Duve’s idea of art in general, motivated by Duchamp’s ready-made, comes to mind.) Stripped from these categorisations, what defines the work of art in the aesthetic regime is its belonging to what Rancière calls a specific ‘sensorium’— something like a way of being – in which it will be perceived as art. A paradox arises here, because this specific sensorium exists in a context in which art has not been attributed a specific place: the aesthetic regime rejects the distribution of the sensible. As a result, in the aesthetic regime art is constantly caught in a tension between being specifically art and merging with other forms of activity and being.

This tension between art as art and art opening up onto life enables Rancière to argue that there is no such thing as the completion or failure of the modernist project as signified by the advent of postmodernism, just as it is simplistic to oppose strictly, as is often done, autonomous art and engaged art. Instead of these, he says, one can better speak of two ‘politics of aesthetics’: the politics of the ‘becoming life of art’ (le devenir vie de l’art) and the politics of the ‘resistant form’ (la forme resistante), which always exist together: In the first politics, the aesthetic experience resembles other forms of experiences and as such, it tends to dissolve into other forms of life. In the second politics of aesthetics – the resistant form – the political potential of the aesthetic experience derives from the separation of art from other forms of activity and its resistance to any transformation into a form of life.

These two politics of aesthetics, although opposite, cannot be envisaged separately, but exist in a tension with one another. This principle anchors the political at the heart of the aesthetic. It permits, furthermore, to understand that opposite positions, such as for instance, Peter Bürger’s theory of the avant-garde as politically engaged and Theodor Adorno’s preservation of the autonomy of art are necessarily complementary. For the artistic generation engaged in ‘critical art’ in the 1960s, the question, argues Rancière, was not about negotiating between art and politics, but rather of finding a form that can exist in-between the two opposite aesthetics of politics. The critical art of the 1960s thus oscillates between legibility and illegibility, everydayness and ‘radical strangeness’. The heterogeneous forms emanating from Hans Haacke and Wolf Vostell try to establish what Rancière calls a micropolitics. The terms is perhaps ill-chosen in that it recalls the exhibition Micropolitiques (Magasin, Grenoble, 2000) which under the intellectual tutelage of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari brought to view artworks that favoured an immediate and restricted political impact (Kendell Geers, Philippe Meste).

Rancière’s micropolitics, by contrast, designate a third term between the two politics of aesthetics of art as art and art as life. It is this that makes it impossible to read in a simplified way the art of the 1960s as politically committed, and by extension, annuls the idea of a postmodernity that acknowledged the impossibility of the political. Yet, the forms of these micropolitics developed by the artists of the 1960s have changed in contemporary practices. While the art of the 1960s expressed unambiguous positions (Haacke), today’s art functions on very different means. Rancière identifies these by looking at a series of exhibitions organised around the year 2000 in Europe and in the United States... Volume 2. No. 1. Summer 2008 ISSN 1752-6388

Understand what the author wished

13 April, 2008 Updike Warns; Choudhury Ignores
Many years ago, John Updike laid down, for himself, a few rules for reviewing books. The first of them was:
Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

I suspect my friend Chandrahas makes that error when he complains of Patrick French’s biography of VS Naipaul:
French’s book is too sexual, and not textual enough.
So no, I don’t agree that French’s biography is “somewhat unbalanced”. It is just that Chandrahas’s expectations of the biography were different; and that is not French’s fault.
Posted by Amit Varma in Arts and entertainment India Uncut

1] I have given up writing columns and Op-Eds, and am trying to be a full-time novelist instead. So those impassioned (sometimes too impassioned) essays about freedom and suchlike are a thing of the past—at least for a while.
2] While reacting to the news around me, I often find I am repeating myself. How often can I rant about the nature of government or free speech or the wastage of the taxes we pay? Posted at 3:16 AM by Amit Varma in Freedom Personal 11 September, 2008

Sri Aurbindo considered nothing more futile than for a poet to write on expectation of contemporary fame or praise

SRI AURBINDO AS THE PIONEER INDIAN ENGLISH CRITIC by Dr. Shaleen Kumar Singh

The fact that Sri Aurobindo is one of the pioneers of Indian English critics grows more and more vibrant and authentic when one journeys through the works of him where he appears to be a chief living authority on Indo-English criticism. As he was supposed more a saint or Yogi than a poet or critic, he was not properly evaluated by Indian scholars with a viewpoint of critic but his works like The Future Poetry, On Himself, Essays Divine and Human and Letters on Poetry Literature and Art are replete with scholarly jottings on poetry literature and art.

Besides The Future Poetry, the most original and authentic work on criticism, carries practical aspects of poetic criticism. The criticism of Sri Aurobindo is perfect and exemplary because it is never too close to its time nor it neglects the findings of its predecessors but as his more inclination towards spirituality and God, his criticism is fumed with the tinge of spiritual colors also. In his terrestrial existence Sri Aurobindo played many parts the politicians, the poet, the critic, the philosopher, and the Yogi which in sum made him the Rishi Aurobindo. But his part of critic not only set milestones in the world of English criticism but also torch bore the path of new critic and poet...

Aurobindo lays much emphasis on writing one’s own original thoughts and forbids the Indian poets to imitate or follow some particular school of thought, because it was his own conviction that ‘writing in one’s own words what another has said or written is a good exercise or a test for accuracy, clear understanding of ideas, and observant intelligence but it is also imperative to understand English and express oneself in good English.Undoubtedly most of the observations of Sri Aurbindo on English and Indo-English poetry are sound and valid even today.

Unquestionably the capacities of Aurobindo are yet to acquire proper recognition specially in the terms of criticism where he stands alone with the theory of his own. In this term he can be regarded as critics’ critic for he was the first critic who hoped so much with the Indian English poets and authors, yet he considered nothing more futile than for a poet to write on expectation of contemporary fame or praise, however agreeable that may be, if it comes; but it is not of any definitive value... Posted by Dr Shaleen Kumar Singh at 12:35 PM Friday, August 22, 2008

We find from Sri Aurobindo’s observations that the age of institutionalised religions is over

The human passage to God Tuesday August 12 2008 23:48 IST BANGALORE Aug 14, 2008 Manoj Das

ONCE upon a time,there was a king who believed that God being infinite can never be presented through any finite image. He desired all his subjects to follow his philosophy and direct their prayers to the infinite and the indescribable. All went well till one day he was informed that in a certain frontier village of his territory, a sage had been preaching the ideal that although God was infinite, He had the capacity to manifest as finite. There was nothing wrong in forwarding one’s prayers to an image as long as a devotee believed that image to represent the Omnipotent, Omniscient and the Omnipresent.

The report displeased the king. He summoned the sage to his court. “How dare you preach a different approach to God? Do you mean to say that my approach was wrong?” “My lord, before I answer your question, may I request you and your three wise minister to answer a small question by me?” appealed the sage. The king agreed. The sage wrote out his question in four slips of paper and gave them to the king and his ministers.

They wrote down their individual answers under the question. The sage read out the question and the answers aloud. The question was, “What is earth?” “Earth is that to which we all will be reduced after death,” was the king’s answer. “The earth is what gives us the crops,” was the first minister’s answer. “The earth is the base on which we walk,” had been the second minister’s answer. According to the third, “The earth was the stuff with which this world is made.”

“My lord, if to a most simple question the answers given by you and your three ministers could be so different and yet all the answers could be correct, why should we expect that the answer to the most profound of all possible questions, namely what is God, should be only one?” The king appreciated the truth in the sage’s observation.

For centuries, men have fought amongst themselves because of their variant concepts of God. Sri Aurobindo explains how the Supreme Divine, though One, has manifested at different planes of existence as emanations reflecting His different aspects and His different powers.

We find from Sri Aurobindo’s observations that the age of institutionalised religions is over and it was high time, man transcended all sectarian affiliations and pursued the Divine directly, for the Divine knows how to respond to each individual’s need according to the stage of evolution in consciousness the individual had achieved through vicissitudes of life, both present and past.

In Sri Aurobindo’s words, “The Divine is that from which all comes, in which all lives, and to return to the truth of the Divine now clouded over by ignorance is the soul’s aim in life. In its supreme Truth, the Divine is absolute and infinite peace, consciousness, existence, power and Ananda.” (Letters on Yoga) (The author is recipient of a Padma Award, the prestigious Saraswati Samman, Hon Doctorates from three universities and the highest honour of the Sahitya Akademi, its Fellowship)

Towards the utterance of the spirit in its natural and native tongue

Devotion: An Anthology of Spiritual Poems The Aspiring Soul of Poetry and the New Birth--A Review by RY Deshpande on Wed 06 Aug 2008 05:03 PM PDT Permanent Link

If there is an impressive mass of Aurobindonian poetry written during the past seven or eight decades, then it is time to have a proper compilation of this contribution to take stock of the situation and to assess its impact on our creative writing, its worthwhileness in the broader context of what is expected of it, of the Aurobindonian poetry. During those fruitful and awe-inspiring 1930s not only did Sri Aurobindo write a new kind of mystic-spiritual poetry drawing inspiration from the higher planes of expression; he also actively and extensively encouraged his poet-disciples to find the true poetic word in their utterances...

We have in this anthology entries of 111 poet-authors, the main text of the book spanning over a little more than 300 pages, plus notes and an index, with a total tally of 271 poems, a work that has been brought out exquisitely, in hard cover, designed by Auroville Prose Editors (Avipro) and published by Integral Enterprise of Auroville. We must say that, for its fine quality, it has been very reasonably priced, just at Rs 400 (approximately $10), something which a poetry lover and bibliophile can easily afford to own for himself. There is no doubt that over a couple of years the editors have patiently and meticulously gone through thousands of poems belonging to this genre of poetry before making their final compilation; a huge pile of Xerox sheets made by them is a witness to this colossal effort that has gone into it. But then they should have also done a couple of more things. We do not know what was the criterion employed by them in making this difficult selection, although it could be their personal taste which is always understood. In other words, the anthology does not seem to celebrate a landmark event in the arrival of the future poetry in any distinctive or specific way, if what Sri Aurobindo wrote in his critical essays and letters has been in some manner or other fulfilled, that we are assuredly moving towards the utterance of the spirit in its natural and native tongue, of the seeing speech that is paśyanti vāc...

When Maggi Lidchi speaks of “hums and glows in great and littlest things but for which the tongue no words can ever find”, we feel behind it “a power that emanates a thousand rays”. And it is there everywhere, all-pervasively: “It chimes at root of rock and sea/ Of earth and sky/ It sings in flower, fern and fire.” When Narad (Richard Eggenberger) sees behind this world of forms a beauty breaking upon the subtle sight, there certainly is the assuring possibility that this world is not an illusion, that it’s not a dream through which we wander, but is for the habitation of the supreme Lord himself, īśāvāvasyam idam sarvam. The divine glory bursting everywhere, in every name and form, nāma and rūpa—that’s a spiritual experience. Georgette Coty’s bird of blue sings on the bough and strange sound of strings cross the sphere—and she tells us to listen to it, asks why really is it calling us. And the call goes so deep, deep that her soul becomes her eyes in this most magical night. That’s wonderful indeed. And the wonder, having wondered, moves on.

The lawyers may know the law of the land but, says Nani Palkhivala the jurist-poet, they cannot tell what’s that law which makes honey the food of the bees, why the winter comes when freeze the rivers. How can they understand that, if hope and charity and faith are unknown to them? But for Vikas Bamba there’s no fall from the peaks when is seen the One in the depths of all. Sailen Roy is enamoured with a golden dream and in it gigantic grows his faith; he wouldn’t then care if there aren’t hearers even when he talks aloud. For Ashalata Dash words leap and, though lame, already is composed a poem; soon in her hot deserts flowers bloom even as poetry starts humming. And for Damodar Reddy it is the breaking forth of the dance the timeless Ancient had ordained long ago; now the celestials are here,—even as the Master steps alive to embrace this earth. But look at what Themis has—an incredible experience: within her night is a hidden sun and there is moon-nectar in her breast; no wonder, the star-eye within her inward sight goes to make all her quest. Chandresh Patel has weathered tempests, and ridden strong waves in a storm; indeed, he has passed the test in flying colours and the reward is the surprise, the disclosure of the form that is behind them all. Akash Deshpande tells us of the hushed miracle of silver light bestowing sight on vaster sight, and there’s the enormous peace with a fulfilling joy. Suresh Thadani saw, with “other eyes”, Vishnu of antiquity pervading the air and transcending time and stone, the stone that enshrined him and time that bound him in its movement, as if born again among people who worshipfully aspired and who themselves had another birth in him.

Yes, there is the aspiring soul of poetry and the new birth must take place. What we have in the present anthology is a believable promise and it seems that we have to go a long way in carrying out that promise. There are often wonderful snippets, with authentic inspiration and expression but they do not generally constitute the totality of a poetic experience. Hardly is there a poem which can be said to be a whole ‘success’, with the power of vision, and the nuanced rhythm and movement, and the firmness of substance, all going together and breathing the presence of the poetic spirit in its full authenticity. Very often we seem to be in a rush to write out the poem without allowing it to express itself with its native inspiration. A kind of calm, a spiritual calm, a luminous spiritual poise with its receptive silence has to be the support for it to happen, and seldom is it present. Yet the aspiring soul of poetry must aspire, and the new birth of poetry must take place. But how is this going to be?

The anthology itself has a few perceptive excerpts on poetry from Sri Aurobindo and these could provide the needed guidance. In poetry that aims at perfection, there has to be the eternal true substance which is not a product of mental manufacture but which comes with the “eternal spirit of Truth and Beauty through some of the infinite variations of beauty, with the word for its instrument.” Then speaks, through the personality of the poet, the impersonal spirit of Truth and Beauty; following it comes the inspired and inevitable word, the gleaming poetic word with the rhythm that reveals the creative secret that is behind all. “The essential power of the poetic word is,” writes Sri Aurobindo, “to make us see, not to make us think or feel; thought and feeling must arise out of the sight or be included in it, but sight is the primary consequence and the power of poetic speech… There must be a deeper and more subtle music, a rhythmical soul-movement entering into the metrical form and often over-flooding it before the real poetic achievement begins.” There has to be the “direct call of three powers, inspiration, beauty, and delight”, and when it is there and when it has done all that has to be done, then the essential work of poetry is done. If the anthology can urge us towards it then it shall have served the purpose well, fulfilling genuinely the condition of what the “spiritual poems” should be, the Word expressing itself under the five suns of poetic Truth and Beauty and Delight and Life and the Spirit. Keywords: SriAurobindo, Spirituality, Review, Poetry, Mysticism, Literature Posted to: Main Page CULTURE LITERATURE .. Book reviews .. Poetry

Anita Desai: née Mazumdar

"As a novelist you can only view history through individuals. But I see history as something that happens in spite of individuals; it gathers momentum and sweeps them away. What they choose to pick up when they flee, what they lose and what they take - that makes history real to me."

Journey To Ithaca further explores foreigners' encounters with India through Matteo, an Italian ascetic and disciple of "The Mother", and his more materialistic German wife Sophie, who prefers sybaritic Goa to the ashram. Spanning India, Paris, Cairo, Venice and New York in the 20s of Sri Aurobindo - the Indian yogi and philosopher - and the 70s of Hermann Hesse-inspired hippies, it stages a conflict between scepticism and belief, but ends ambiguously.

Desai was interested in "the non-political colonial view of India, of mystery, exoticism, the spiritual fascination. Indians take it for granted; it's as down to earth as eating and drinking. But Europeans approach it on a different level, so there's constant misunderstanding and distortion." Yet she rejects the "mediating" role sometimes ascribed to her, insisting she has no answers. "To me, fiction is exploring; if you felt you'd arrived, you'd give up."

The Guardian Profile: Anita Desai: née Mazumdar. Born: June 24 1937; Mussoorie, India.
A passage from India
Maya Jaggi traces a journey from provincial India to suburban America
The Guardian, Saturday June 19 1999

Our knowledge of Sri Aurobindo the philosopher may remain incomplete without our knowledge of Sri Aurobindo the poet

Sri Aurobindo’s Collected Poems
from sunayana.com Most people think that one bids goodbye to poetry when one steps out of the student life. This may be why poems don’t usually form a part of our general reading. Sunayana Panda

A combination of factors has made the poems of Sri Aurobindo so little appreciated. Firstly, among his followers, especially the Indians, there are very few who are familiar with the subtleties of English poetry. Secondly, even among those few who do take pleasure in reading poetry, an even smaller number would turn to the poems gathered in Collected Poems, as they don’t belong to the kind of poetry which the modern reader is used to. Then for those who do not know much about Sri Aurobindo the reputation of his prose works as being rather difficult to understand without close study may lead them to assume the poetry of this yogi must be incomprehensible to the common man. There may also be a certain impression in their minds that he probably wrote poetry as a pastime after he had become a yogi...

We can open the Collected Poems and take delight in the many-coloured emotions, in full bloom here, of one whose high thoughts we usually have to grapple with. Perhaps knowing his feelings through his poetry may help us to understand his thoughts better. Perhaps our knowledge of Sri Aurobindo the philosopher may remain incomplete without our knowledge of Sri Aurobindo the poet. ‘Love & Death’

Poet Gańgādhara Meher is influenced by Bhavabhūti

Tapasvini of Gangadhara Meher: A Critical Observation
Gańgādhara Meher, popularly known as ‘Swabhāva-Kavi’ is one of the illustrious makers of Indian literature. Dr. Harekrishna Meher

In the verses of Kālidāsa, ‘Tapas’ (penance) is clearly meant for Sītā in the later part of her life. Gańgādhara happens to take the word ‘Tapasvi’ from Kālidāsa and has used it as ‘Tapasvinī’ in feminine gender for Sītā. Moreover, the poet in the Preface of Tapasvinī kāvya mentions : “The main purpose of this book is to elucidate how Sītā strengthened and heightened more and more, her devotion-to-husband (pati-bhakti) by deeming exile as her own misfortune and how she as a ‘Tapasvinī’ elapsed time by rendering her forest-dwelling into penitential austerity beneficial to her husband.”(9) The poet further expresses his hope that the wise readers would once unveil the memory’s curtain portrayed with the brilliant impeccable and sacred character of Sītā of their own hearts and would render uplift of the hearts of women.(10)

Gańgādhara is very distinct and doubtless in his writing. Sītā is the heroine of this epic poem that analyses the social condition of a married woman and contends to give appropriate honour and status even after separation from her husband. Tapasvinī mainly treats of the plight of Sītā’s later life, yet the entire story of Rāmāyana has been recounted contextually. So in this perspective, this kāvya may be regarded as a ‘Miniature Rāmāyana’ in Oriya literature. Just as Rāmāyana is named after King Rāma with depiction of his life-deeds, so in a greater sense Tapasvinī kāvya may be construed as a ‘Sītāyana’, as it prominently features the sublime character of Sītā in the entire story.(11)...

POETIC STYLE: Tapasvinī, as the masterpiece of Gańgādhara Meher, enjoys an outstanding position in the arena of language and literature. The desideratum of the poet in composing this kāvya was mainly to fill in the gap of a character of devoted chaste wife flourished with Indian culture, in the domain of Oriya literature and to establish the language of Orissa with its epical excellence. Befitting the modern taste, the poet has utilized different nine melodious metres (Chaturdasākshara, Rāmakeri, Bańgalāśri, Chokhi, Rasakulyā, Kalahamsa-Kedāra, Kedāra-Kāmodī, Nata-Vānī and Kalyāna-Paditāla), collaborating the old metres with the modern ones.

Musical melody, grace of diction, serenity, rhythmic eloquence, lucidity with emotional touch and sweetness of meaning are the remarkable features of this epic poem. Various figures of speech such as alliteration, simile, metaphor, imagery and the like also find proper and praiseworthy places in this literary work. There occurs no verbosity or stiffness of speech. Predominance of meaning and sentiments is greatly appreciable. Words of Gańgādhara are pleasantly intelligible and imbued with emotions. So this kāvya has become unhesitatingly attractive and appealing...

In Classical Sanskrit Literature, Bhavabhūti is the first poet and dramatist who advocated and elucidated the Sentiment of Pathos (Karuna Rasa) in a separate style and presented it as the original source of all sentiments.(14)...Poet Gańgādhara is influenced by Bhavabhūti. In Tapasvinī, the excellence of Pathos begins from the outset. Though other emotions are accessories in the middle, sentiment of Pathos is prominent. The poet has avoided to end the kāvya in a tragic description and made the ending comically happy, depicting Sītā’s union with King Rāma even in a dream state. Apropos filial affections of Sītā for her twin sons (Canto-X), also that of Anukampā and River Tamasā (Canto-IV) and as well as of Godāvarī (Canto-VIII), Vātsalya Rasa is contextually blended in this kāvya.

Kālidāsa’s words are mostly indicative or suggestive of sentiments, while like Bhavabhūti’s, appropriate words of Gańgādhara are mostly expressive and directly appealing to the hearts of the readers. In comparison to other sentiments, Pathos directly touches the core of heart and Gańgādhara has successfully portrayed the sentiment that leaves an ever-lasting impression in the mind...

Gańgādhara vividly and exhaustively delineates the beautiful facets of Nature. With his poetic insight, he sees human feelings, conscious life and internal beauty in her. Nature imbibes her comely, gracious, fierce, tranquil and auspicious forms in various contexts.

Gańgādhara is a prolific painter of Nature. Depiction of Dame Ushā (Dawn) in Canto-IV is most popular all over Orissa. Here Nature honours Sītā as an esteemed Queen and offers all the royal formalities of worship. Dawn, the blooming lotus-eyed lady, cherishing hearty desire to behold Sītā and bringing presentations of dew-pearls in her hands of leafage, stands in the outer courtyard of the hermitage and in cuckoo’s voice speaks to grace her with Sītā’s benign sight. The retinues of Dame Dawn perform their duties to wake up Sītā...

PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE: The ideology of Bhavabhūti along with the naturality of Vālmīki and Kālidāsa are intertwined in the poem of Gańgādhara. The quintessence of poet’s philosophy of life has been contextually reflected in Tapasvinī. Forbearance, theistic trend, noble endeavours for the attainment of goal and high aspiration are signified in his work. He believes in both deed and destiny, but never adheres to pessimism. For instance, life of fortitude, benevolence and polite activities is indicated in Canto-IV...

Gańgādhara’s humanistic approach of reaching the destination through incessant practice is traced here. Simplicity, modesty, purity, harmlessness and noble services are the gem-like features of his work and life. Whatever may be the obstacle, the poet’s optimistic insight pervades the realm of life. “Simple living and high thinking” is his view-point both literary and empirical.In spite of negative attitude of some fault-finders in social life, one should patiently and courageously go ahead to establish one’s own goodness and virtues valuable to others.

[ Published in ‘Kalahandi Renaissance’ (Research Journal), Vol.-1, 2005, pp. 39-52. Courtesy : Government Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna, Orissa, India.]* For My English Translation and related topics, please see : http://hkmeher.blogspot.com/2007/07/tapasvini-canto-iv.html
REFERENCES : 1. Meher, H.K., Kavi Gańgādharańka Tapasvinī Kāvya : Hindī-Ińgrājī-Sanskruta Anuvādara Trivenī,‘Bartikā’, Vishuva Special Issue, 1999, pp.178-209.Saraswat Sahitya Sanskrutika Parishad, Dasarathpur, Jajpur, Orissa. 2. Meher, H.K., Canto-IV from the Complete English Rendering of Tapasvinī Kāvya,‘Kantāraka’, 2000, pp.14-20, Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi.* * * Posted by Dr. Harekrishna Meher at 10:49 AM Address: Dr. Harekrishna Meher, Reader & Head, Department of Sanskrit, Govt. Autonomous College, BHAWANIPATNA-766001, Orissa (India). * Phone : +91-6670-231591 * Mobile: +91-94373-62962 *** Email : meher.hk@gmail.com * * * * URL : http://hkmeher.blogspot.com

Rasika presented pieces dealing with the Buddha and Sri Aurobindo's classic poem on the 'Bliss of Brahman'

Abhinaya News
Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose, 52, Harold Avenue, San Jose, CA 95117
Phone: 408-983-0491 - Fax: 408-983-0492, URL: www.abhinaya.org - Email: abhinaya_sj@yahoo.com
August 12, 2006 Summer Concert : Rasika Kumar Solo

On Saturday, July 1, Rasika Kumar presented her solo performance “Saatvika – the Emotions Within” at Hoover Theater in San Jose. The emotion of Sringara (love) in manifest forms was communicated by Rasika through the elaborate choreography of a composition of 19th century composer Maharaja Swati Tirunal. As Saatvika also evokes serenity and tranquillity, Rasika presented pieces dealing with the Buddha and Sri Aurobindo's classic poem on the 'Bliss of Brahman'.

The performance featured a visiting orchestra from India: Sri.E.P.Sudev Warrier (vocals), Sri.A.P. Krishnaprasad (flute), and Sri. K.S. Sudhaman (mridangam) along with Malavika Kumar (nattuvangam). Comments both from other dancers and the general public alike were glowing. Susie Cashion of Stanford University’s Dept of Dance said, “Rasika is AMAZING. Never have I felt the power of the emotional, inner to outer, aspect as she was able to communicate”.

Vidya Ramakrishnan, a Bharatanatyam dancer who attended had this to say, “It is such a pleasure to see Rasika blossom into such a wonderful dancer of such high caliber. All the hard work, her commitment, determination and involvement were obvious and very inspiring”. Ragavan Manian, a noted musician of the Bay Area praised “Rasika & co'shardwork and interpretative skill” and “Malavika’s control of layam and nattuvangam; I felt very proud that she could match the mridangist jathi for jathi!”

Finally, R. Radhakrishnan, a Bay Area poet lauded the sisters thus, “Rasika has marveled in abhinayam; shringaram, as we all know is the most difficult (emotion), was expressed by Rasika with great ease and Malavika's strong cholkattu added a great deal to the performance. Her (Rasika’s) Tillana choreography was unique and was executed very well”

Since her graduation from MIT and subsequent return to the Bay Area, Rasika has been a featured soloist in many of Abhinaya's recent productions. Rasika currently works as a software engineer at Google, Inc while actively pursuing the dance form and developing as a solo artist and choreographer.

Writing difficult prose is a will to power in the face of impotence, futility, death, indifference

Chances are theorists are merely too lazy to find clearer ways to express themselves (or they have cowed all potential editors), especially when opacity also serves a beneficial end casting the aura of difficulty over their works to make it seem more profound, and the scholars that pursue it to comprehension more ascetic. With that in mind, it’s worth remembering what Nietzsche said about asceticism in The Genealogy of Morals:

“For a very long time the ascetic ideal serves the philosopher as the sole phenomenal guise under which he could exist qua philosopher.”

Writing difficult prose is a will to power in the face of impotence, futility, death, indifference. This can prompt a grandiloquent egotism:

“Whoever, at any time, has undertaken to build a new heaven has found the strength for it in his own hell.”

Difficult prose may be just as difficult for the writer as it is for the reader, but necessarily so, because the ideas must seem tortuous to feel true. —Rob Horning 11:55 pm Permalink

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Music, like the other art forms, was placed under the sanction of the Rishis

Editorial By Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore (Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore) What does the genius of Sri Aurobindo speak of music?

In The Indian Renaissance (Pg 227, 228), Sri Aurobindo, writes of how in ancient India, music, like the other art forms, was placed under the sanction of the Rishis “and were made ... Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore - http://sassingapore.blogspot.com/

World Dance Day, 2008 celebrations across India

Celebration of dance
Commemorating the the birthday of dance reformer Jean-Goerges Noverre, April 29 is celebrated every year as International Dance Day. In the city, the celebrations for this year are being jointly hosted by West Bengal Dance Group Federation and West Bengal State Music Academy, with active support of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. To mark the occasion, two contemporary dance workshops have already begun on April 20, in which young dancers from all over West Bengal are working under the guidance of choreographer Leng Poh Gee of Malaysia. To be inaugurated by well-known choreographers and dignitaries, the day-long celebrations slated for today will showcase scintillating dance presentations by a multitude of dance groups. The morning session (10 am - 1 pm) will commence with Remembering Sachin Shankar and Remembering Narendra Sharma, two short films, followed by choreographic presentations by various groups. The afternoon session (4 pm - 5 pm) features folk dances by a Santhal performing troupe and a Purulia Chhau dance troupe. The evening’s programme (6 pm - 9 pm) includes felicitation to Leng Poh Gee, two presentations by the participants of the workshops conducted by him and performances by dance groups.
Event: International Dance Day celebrations When: Today; 10 am onwards (day-long) Where: Rabindra Sadan

WORLD DANCE DAY April 29 at Janhabi Centre for Performing Arts, A7 New Gari Housing Cooperative Society, near Garia railway station; 5 pm - 7 pm: Janhabi Centre for Performing Arts celebrates International Dance Day with performances by Prarthana, Sariful and Madhuboni Chatterjee with her students of Janhabi and Prayasam, a civil society organisation working with underprivileged children. April 29 at Max Mueller Bhavan; 6.30 pm: Kolkata Sanved and World Dance Alliance (West Bengal), in collaboration with EZCC, present Dance in Outreach, focussing on the role of dance in changing the lives of the disadvantaged strata of society by moving beyond performance in mainstream creative outlets. Featuring work by young therapists/ choreographers/ dancers of Kolkata Sanved; Priti Patel’s long-standing work with cerebral palsy patients; Alokananda Roy’s work with inmates of correctional homes; and Suman Sarawgi’s work with the hearing impaired. The Telegraph, Front Page > Calcutta > Timeout Tuesday , April 29 , 2008

Tamil Isai Sangam: Bharatanatyam by N. Monica, Raja Muthiah Mandram, 6.30 p.m.
Yadharthaa: 30th anniversary and World Dance Day celebration, Madurai Kamaraj-Manonmaniam Sundaranar-Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association, 6 Kakathoppu Street, 6.15 p.m. In Madurai Today Engagements - The Hindu Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008

Amma Arts & Cultural Academy: International Dance Day function, Hanumantharaya Grandhalayam, Gandhinagar, 6.30 p.m. onwards. In Vijayawada Today Engagements - The Hindu Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008

Shh! Don't give away our secret!

6 Responses to “The Plain Truth, Please!”
on April 23, 2008 at 7:02 am1 Shahar Ozeri
That’s why in an interview about academic writing and the broader culture Spivak referred to the book as a “defective form” because it moves at a slower speed than the broader culture in which efficiency is of the essence. This seems like a better metaphor than the notion of a bomb a mutual acquaintance of ours tends to insist upon. Accordingly, Spivak herself insists the book becomes oppositional, quite literally, it carves out a space in which we can think. So if we are to follow this logic then books are especially oppositional when they are obscure, difficult or “intentionally incomprehensible.” It would seem that difficult texts force us to surrender control, both of the difficult text at hand and of the conceptual apparatus that anchors our understanding of the world. Adorno, in his “Words From Abroad” is himself accused of obscurity by using foreign words, writes about this stuff (a theme you nicely point out throughout your post):
attempts at formulation that swim against the stream of the usual linguistic splashing in order to capture the intended matter precisely,and that take pains to fit complex conceptual relationships into the framework of syntax, arouse rage because they require effort.
So, ok, for one there is an aspect of cultural conditioning here, or, a cultural learning structure that clearly resists anything but a clear unambiguous presentation of ideas. The broader culture teaches us as readers to approach texts in a certain affective manner. Difficult texts challenge our affective disposition by introducing and even allowing for a new and different disposition; a disposition which sets its sights on something new, but also recognizes and critiques the disposition imposed on us by the broader culture. I think Deleuze/Guattari’s distinction between major (repeats a social structure of control by insisting on the use value of language as communicative) and minor language (language that “stutters,” but subtends the major language) would be germane here. Regardless, in negotiating difficult texts there is a sense of shock, but perhaps this shock can be mobilized as a positive, like a “cool, dude” (assuming our students talk like that). Maybe it’s better to pitch this stuff more affectively–so these texts become an affective interruption of the over regulated linguistic structures that govern thought. So, one of the questions then, towards this more affective line of thought is how we as teachers may be able to foster ways that allow students to experience an obscure or difficult text affectively, but in a positive (affective) way, rather than in a negative affective manner. As in: “holy shit, this hurts my tender brain, gives me a headache, it’s hard so it must be bullshit!” However, all of this is complicated more by the institutional setting in which we are working , e.g. a classroom within a broader college machine that tends to determine how such texts are experienced. So, to suggest that philosophy, theory, difficult fiction etc simply detaches itself not only with say, structure, but with “the establishment” is to as far as I can tell, risk festishizing and sentimentalizing a space that is already overconditioned, overcoded or in Deleuze’s terminology, territorialized.
Mikhail, didn’t we see a panel presentation about such things when affectivity was the hippest buzzword in cultural theory at that conference circa 2003–you know, the 18 hour drive…I could be wrong.
on April 23, 2008 at 9:19 am2 Mikhail Emelianov
That was a long drive, by far the longest drive on my life, but the conference was fun, wasn’t it? Despite the creepy house…
So, one of the questions then, towards this more affective line of thought is how we as teachers may be able to foster ways that allow students to experience an obscure or difficult text affectively, but in a positive (affective) way, rather than in a negative affective manner.
I think it’s what I was trying to say - how do I use a difficult text to create a kind of learning event that could come both from rational realization of certain connections between ideas and irrational engagement which would be affective. I think we can both agree that teaching isn’t all about lecturing or reading or exposition of texts as commentary - there’s a certain educational event that, when it does take place, affects both the students and the instructor. I think this is what everyone who ever taught knows: sometimes it is good to teach a difficult text to be able to engage it from a perspective of a commentator and not just as a reader. I think difficult texts allow us to achieve at least two things: a) show the smart-asses that they are not as smart as they think because they “get” Plato (education through gradual but consistent humiliation), and b) raise the level of discourse from simple “S is P” to a kind of philosophical discussion that we as teachers would enjoy (education through raising the expectations and thus making sure that those who “make it” will learn a great deal).
on April 23, 2008 at 9:39 am3 Shahar Ozeri
That was a fun conference, in fact, we actually made friends at the conference despite you dressing like a Mormon! By the way, I had completely forgot about the house and all the creepy religious iconography that saturated it! And we got a parking ticket in front of the house to boot–more confirmation that God hates us.
on April 23, 2008 at 9:45 am4 Mikhail Emelianov
Technically, Shahar, God only hates you because you refused to go to church with the nice Christian folks claiming to be - what was it? - Jewish!
on April 23, 2008 at 9:52 am5 Shahar Ozeri
Perhaps, and I certainly would have appealed to my status as Jew, but as I remember it I don’t think they even asked me, I’m beyond help! I think they asked you right in front of me, but I don’t recall you jumping at any chance to attend church then or….ever! Face it, you’re just as screwed as me, Mikhail!
That phrase Homer uses to describe Flanders on The Simpsons kept coming to mind that weekend, viz., Churchy Le Femme.
on April 24, 2008 at 8:46 pm6 Style « Larval Subjects .
[...] 25, 2008 Style Posted by larvalsubjects under Politics, Writing Perverse Egalitarianism has an interesting post up on “difficult books”. A taste: I have been thinking along [...]

Friday, February 8, 2008 Do Continental Philosophers Have Arguments? Posted by Roman Altshuler at 10:19 PM Labels: philosophy 16 comments:

Troy Polidori said...
Do you think that Wittgenstein's notion of escaping oneself from the bewitchment of language is similar to your idea here? A philosophical problem has the form: I don't know my way about. Could we call this philosophical therapy?
February 9, 2008 4:14 PM
Roman Altshuler said...
There is certainly some similarity here, but I'm suggesting something different from philosophical therapy. The goal of therapy as I understand it, roughly, is to explain the problem away; it is to show that, once some basic terms are understood, there isn't really a problem there at all. I am suggesting, on the other hand, an approach on which one doesn't explain the problem away, but finds it to be expressive of a deeper problem. This kind of therapy doesn't make the problem go away; it shows the problem to be a symptom of a deeper illness, one might say. This is an approach on which philosophy does not solve problems, and also doesn't do away with them. It places them within a wider context, a larger narrative.
February 9, 2008 6:08 PM
Reinis Ivanovs said...
meh, I don't know who's saying that they don't make any arguments, but I know that people are saying that they make less of them, and the ones that they do make are much more muddled
February 10, 2008 2:50 AM
Anonymous said...
I have a radical suggestion: Both continental and analytical philosophers are chiefly interested in signaling that they are smart, or at least--whether they realize it or not—they spend a great deal of time laboring toward this effect. The difference in their styles is mainly a function of the fact that in America "smartness" is associated with a crisper, more explicit style of argumentation than in Europe, hence the differences in style.--M's Bro
February 10, 2008 2:35 PM
Roman Altshuler said...
Shh! Don't give away our secret! (You forgot to mention that in Europe, smartness may also be associated with knowing a lot of names and even some of the work associated with those names, having at least some [literary] style to one's writing, and not repeating things that at least ten articles have already said in the same year...; in the US, smartness is associated with a more egalitarian attempt to write so that [supposedly] a wider audience can understand you, knowing lots of science [because science is Truth and the closer you come to it the more you partake of its essence], and maybe giving the impression that you are expounding a radical new thesis instead of expounding a radical new thesis [since people who do that might come off looking stupid].)Reinis-yeah, that too. But I think different approaches to argument and to the function of philosophy in general can also account for the appearance of muddled arguments (and, of course, if a lot of the arguments don't look like arguments to you, you're more likely to think that there are fewer of them)
February 10, 2008 3:22 PM
Vancouver Philosopher said...
I still think it is the case that there is one proper aim of argumentation, and I still believe that CPers are actually arguing for something. Take your example of Ricoeur's aporetics. Isn't it just that he is arguing definitively for the insolubility of the problem of free-will? It's either that or contextualizing an issue beyond the immediate dialectic in which the problem surfaces is just doing a history of philosophy. Secondly, I used to know a B. Rouss from ephilosopher.com. If it be you, Brian, then hit me up, JediKnight Tage aka Ed of http://philosophicalchasm.blogspot.com/
February 11, 2008 2:22 AM
Roman Altshuler said...
Hi Vancouver, I don't think anything you say really suggests that there is "one proper aim of argumentation." You actually seem to just assume that in the rest of your remark, and then go on to say that either Ricoeur is making an argument, or he is just doing history of philosophy. Let me clarify a misunderstanding: Ricoeur doesn't apply his aporetics to the free will problem (unfortunately); that's just my pet project, so I used it as an example to demonstrate the style (Ricoeur uses it instead to show the insufficiency of various attempts to grasp personal identity). What I want to suggest, though, is that there really are two different ways of making an argument--whether these involve different aims of argumentation, I really don't know. If the aim of an argument is to convince, then yes. If the aim is to clarify the dispute itself, then I'm not sure the analytic mode is generally aimed there (although of course clarifying the problem is part and parcel of analytic writing, I don't think it is the aim of a typical analytic argument. Can you really argue that the problem of free will is insoluble? That depends. If there is one clear problem of free will, then one can't prove that it is insoluble. What one can do, however, is point out that the problem of free will, like any philosophical problem, is at least partly a conceptual problem. And the concepts involved are embedded within contexts of philosophical assumptions and premises and standards of intelligibility. And insofar as these undergo historical change, there problem itself will keep changing. In this sense, one can show that the problem of free will--if it is taken to be not a single problem, but a general term for a class of problems that are context-dependent in their expressions--is insoluble because it is not a single problem to solve. So, what one can do is point to the debate around the problem at a particular point in history, take the debate itself as indicative of the context involved in generating this form of the debate, and attempt to re-interpret the context, with the form of the debate as the guide according to which one makes the context itself intelligible. This is, in some sense, doing history of philosophy. But it is doing history of philosophy as a mode of philosophical argument.
February 11, 2008 2:05 PM
Gary Williams said...
Hey RomanIn one of your comments, you said that the approach you are talking about tries to express a deeper problem instead of explaining the problem away. This makes sense to me, but does it bottom out? Will there always be a deeper problem? You say that the approach places things in a wider context, but it seems like eventually you will either have to solve the problem or dissolve it. I don't see how you can just continually place things in a larger narrative because it eventually you will run out of space, so to speak. There has only been a finite amount of narrative, so it doesn't seem like you can keep going on and on expanding the context wider and wider. Perhaps I am missing something though.
February 11, 2008 7:23 PM
Roman Altshuler said...
Hi Gary, This is definitely a problem I've wondered about. Does the process go on forever? How is that possible?Here's my thought, which is very open to change. I would simply deny the claim that the amount of narrative is finite. It's true that the amount of narrative that has already occurred (i.e., philosophy up to now) is finite. But, much as a story can undergo infinite variation in its telling and re-telling, so the finite narrative becomes infinite in our interpretations and re-interpretations of it. This follows, I think, if we do not assume that there is exactly one correct meaning to any text (and, frankly, I just don't think there's much going for that thesis any longer). This is one side of the issue: the narrative up to now, though finite, becomes infinite in our re-interpretation of it. And then there's the other side: the narrative is constantly growing, with no logical limit. Our re-interpretations of the narrative themselves contribute to a change in the existing narrative, and a further proliferation. So I would say that the narrative is not limited: it keeps changing, both because the way we understand the past of philosophy is open to infinite variation, and because the future of philosophy is infinitely open.My suggestion was that the goal is to find a deeper problem by finding the context in which the surface problem you start with becomes more intelligible; but intelligibility is always context-dependent, so if the context is infinite, then the process can, in principle, go on infinitely. (This involves seeing philosophy as something other than the search for truth, where truth is conceived as the final word on an issue. I don't have much of a problem with this. We can make progress in philosophy without thinking that there is a terminal point.)
February 11, 2008 7:48 PM
Vancouver Philosopher said...
Hello Roman, I guess I did implicitly assume obnoxiously that either Ricoeur's aporetics is an example of an argument meant to convince someone on insolubility on a point, regardless of whether the issue is personal identity or free will. Could we say that the purpose of argumentation is still to convince, but think of convincingness in terms of degrees. In a sense, even in history of philosophy, there are still arguments. I argue for an interpretation I think most salient to Kant's notion of the imagination for instance. I am still making an argument, but the sphere of that argument is only directed to say someone influenced by Allison or Wood on Kant that doesn't follow the Heideggerian/Sallis line of thinking about Kant. When you make an argument to clarify the dispute itself, then what you are doing is showing a failure of a dialectic to take into account something that needs to be accounted for. You are still doing philosophy to convince interlocutors--in this case, it just is all sides not accounting for what's missing. I still think this is compatible with the analytic mode of making an argument. I wonder if we have just reached similar conclusions without realizing it.
February 12, 2008 11:21 PM
Roman Altshuler said...
Dude, did you just lump Heidegger together with Sallis? I agree with most of this, and as I said before, yes, I do think all arguments aim to convince. (And there are definitely arguments, vicious ones, in the history of philosophy! Both about the plausibility of a certain interpretation, and about the plausibility of a certain view. And these are, of course, related.) But I'm a little confused about where you're going with this point.Are you saying that analytic and continental philosophers are just employing different styles of argument because they're speaking to different audiences? Or that the maximal degree of convincingness calls for an argument that attempts to find what both sides are missing?As for whether this is compatible with the analytic style, again, I think it is often done, but on the side, as part of developing a more direct argument for or against a position within the active debate. Maybe there are analytic philosophers who focus on the approach I have in mind. (Sometimes Nagel seems to go in that direction, for example.) But I can't really think of many, and I don't think it's a prominent analytic strategy. Any examples you're thinking of?
February 13, 2008 12:54 AM
Michael Sigrist said...
Roman, Great post, well argued, fun issue. First off, am I missing something, or do you end up suggesting that most analytics use formal argumentation in what is actually a hermeneutic spirit. The aim is not really to convince in a single knock out or even TKO, but to clarify the crux of an issue or to recontextualize a less familiar topic into a more familiar idiom. If so, fine, I certainly agree. But can we conclude from this that they aren't so different after all? Could we not just as well conclude that, while the difference may not be between an argumentative and an interpretive approach, the difference is still large as ever, only within two very different approaches to interpretation? Secondly, I wonder if you let the continentals off the hook too easily. What you describe is certainly how most contintental philosophers would describe what ideally they are up to....but, so many in fact aren't. Much of continental philosophy might be compared to biblical interpretation, where one certainly finds arguments of sorts, but only of the severely question-begging sort. Finally, and leading off from this latter point, while analytic philosophers certainly spend a lot of time on the minutiae of fruitless and pointless arguments, at least they're making arguments, and are therefore less susceptible to outright sophistry.
February 13, 2008 12:15 PM
Roman Altshuler said...
Hey Michael, I don't think I say anything to contradict your second paragraph. Sure, I think a lot of continental philosophy ends up being bad, precisely because there is not attention given to formal argument. Philosophical arguments, not just analytic ones, but arguments throughout the history of philosophy, often have a formal structure, and no hermeneutics can grasp them without a proper grasp of that formal structure. Additionally, I think that mediocre analytic philosophy at least makes clear points, while mediocre continental philosophy is just words arranged in peculiar ways. My point, though, is that continental philosophy (at least of the kind I am pointing to) can be done well, and when it is, its philosophical elements might still be missed by someone looking for a more direct form of argument.About the first paragraph: I don't think I am saying that most analytic philosophers work in a hermeneutic spirit. I would say, rather, that many end up doing some hermeneutics but without a hermeneutic spirit. One obvious reason for this is that philosophical problems and their proposed solutions are treated (at least implicitly) as trans-historical ideal objects, which is anathema to any real hermeneutics. So sure, there are different views of interpretation involved. But I also think the goals to which interpretation is put are very different. So I am actually trying to resist the view that analytic and continental approaches aren't so different after all, and the difference in argumentative and interpretive approaches is an even bigger difficulty for bridgebuilding work than the more obvious differences in language and substantive background assumptions. (By which I mean not assumptions about methodology and interpretation, but assumptions about the correctness of teleology, the threat posed by reductionism, etc.)
February 13, 2008 2:23 PM
Joe said...
How do you suppose this "Continental strategy" fairs against the oft flung accusation of committing the Genetic Fallacy? I suspect that in light of this "Continental strategy," if not many of the conclusions Continental philosophers (and American pragmatists) have made, the genetic fallacy loses some of its rhetorical oomph.
February 16, 2008 3:43 PM
Roman Altshuler said...
Hi Joe,To be honest, I haven't seen the genetic fallacy accusation you mention leveled against continental philosophy, so I don't really know who you have in mind. Let me know. I sometimes suspect that Nietzsche can veer into the genetic fallacy (after all, the details of his genealogy could largely be turned into a story of the discovery of morality, rather than its invention). But phenomenology, critical theory, and (in a certain mode) hermeneutics seem to me to be committed (when done well) precisely to maintaining the validity of truth, meaning, normativity, aesthetic experience, etc. And on the other hand, the genetic fallacy--at least on some readings--is certainly not exclusive to the continental side of things, as the various behaviorist and reductionist programs of the analytic tradition show (my contention in the latest post is precisely that the experimental bent of recent philosophy can be taken in just this direction--holding normativity hostage to discoveries about its supposed origin in psychology).As for the strategy I am suggesting, I don't see how it could be accused of the genetic fallacy at all--the goal isn't to reduce a problem to a deeper problem, but instead to show the validity of the former problem as the expression of underlying philosophical tension. That is, the point of the strategy isn't to show that the problem is invalid, unfruitful, or completely misguided, but rather to bring its validity into clearer relief by showing the background against which the problem arises in the first place.
February 17, 2008 12:17 AM
himanshu damle said...
another major difference could be attributable to being argumentative and defending/refuting arguments. i guess, the mistaken notion given to the continental philosophers is the former. yes, i do completely agree that there is always a flux in the schema constructed by the continental philosophers and hence this is the reason why i propose to call them argumentative. most of the times, the schema is inflationary and hence it becomes difficult to deeply comprehend the problem in easing it. this inflationary narrative might succeed in giving an extensive understanding, but i opine it often is at the cost of intensivity. it plainly becomes a play of centrical and circumferential shifts.maybe, this play is an event only and a possible recourse to escape the allegations made against continental philosophy. himanshu damle
April 10, 2008 10:02 PM

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