The Thief and the Dogs

The Thief and the Dogs. A novella depicting life in post-revolutionary Egypt, written by Naguib Mahfouz. A vivid psychological study into the mind of Said Mehran, a thief who spent his whole life seeking justice, oh the irony.

Existentialism is a prominent theme in the novel, built by Mahfouz's narrative techniques: stream of consciousness, soliloquy, and interior monologues. The end result is a surreal novella, hauntingly vidid.

I truly enjoyed attempting to capture what was lost in translation in this translated text. I often found myself thinking "I know what you are saying here Mahfouz, although it makes no sense in English, I know what you are saying." The truth is: idioms, wit, humor, amongst many other things, are lost in translation. The reason behind why I understood something a non-arabic-speaking reader would have looked over is due to my understanding of the form and structure of the Arabic language. A lot of what was said in English was rooted in an Arabic way of thinking and an Arabic mentality. "Ha-Ha!" I cried aloud as I felt privileged and wealthy through my knowledge of the Arabic language, as if it empowered me in some way. Then, I began to ponder at the amount of rich content which must have flown over my head from the translated text's I have read in the past. The feeling I felt at that moment could never be comprehended through words, I can only compare it to the fusion of nausea and high blood pressure.

Although a lot can be lost though translation, I think it is important for us to read translated texts. Not only do translated texts provide us with an authentic unveiling of a new culture and a new part of the world, but they reveal to us eras of history which he haven't lived long enough to see. Translated texts reveal a new style of writing, a new form of narration, and a new experience in which story-telling is presented as you had never seen it before.

A translated text is a ticket taking you through time and across the whole world.

Munro's Influence on the Ocean's Current

Over the summer, we have been asked to read several short stories by Alice Munro. Upon discussing these stories with my peers, I have found that many of them failed to connect to Munro's writing. However, I failed to understand them.

How could they not have devoured Munro's writing techniques? A treasure hunt, a guerrilla war against words in attempts to find a second dimension. The world that Munro has hidden behind the ivy blue ink, which she has slapped across the white A4 pages. A whirlpool, enjoy a front row seat in the theatre as the past and the future pirouette around you. A magic trick, in which Munro knows the cards in all the decks: one side of the card may read 'Alfrida', yet as you turn it upside down you will discover it is not 'Alfrida', it is the joker.

How could they have not grappled with Munro's exploration of the human psyche? Munro's short stories confront humans with their flaws: the flaws which they have veiled and hidden from society's scrutiny. Many writers utilize literature as a form of escape into a world with no sense of reality, detached from the tasteless life on earth and attached to the world in which dreams become a reality. Not Munro. Munro is fascinated by what we all think we understand, yet in reality, we don't. Munro is fascinated my humans. Munro delves into the human mind; she searches through an uninhabited ocean of human psychology.

Finally, how could they not marvel at Munro's influence on the ocean's current? How could they not pick up on the hints of the second wave of feminism weaved throughout all of the short stories our eyes demolished? The second wave of feminism strives for a"truly equal partnership with men" as aptly stated by the National organization for Women.

Munro's stories were often painful to read, they reminded me of the flaws in my society, the burden of womanhood. Munro's writing was heavy on my chest as it was incredibly personal: her words truly struck a chord and made me think whether I am truly "just a girl" and whether I would be able to walk against the wind for long.

Thank you Munro for adding flavor to my dry return to the desert.

IOC Practice

Text:

Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

Act IV, Scene 7

AUFIDIUS

I understand thee well; and be thou sure,

when he shall come to his account, he knows not

What I can urge against him. Although it seems,

And so he thinks, and is no less apparent

To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly.

And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state,

Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon

As draw his sword; yet he hath left undone

That which shall break his neck or hazard mine,

Whene'er we come to our account.

Lieutenant

Sir, I beseech you, think you he'll carry Rome?

AUFIDIUS

All places yield to him ere he sits down;

And the nobility of Rome are his:

The senators and patricians love him too:

The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people

Will be as rash in the repeal, as hasty

To expel him thence. I think he'll be to Rome

As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it

By sovereignty of nature. First he was

A noble servant to them; but he could not

Carry his honours even: whether 'twas pride,

Which out of daily fortune ever taints

The happy man; whether defect of judgment,

To fail in the disposing of those chances

Which he was lord of; or whether nature,

Not to be other than one thing, not moving

From the casque to the cushion, but commanding peace

Even with the same austerity and garb

As he controll'd the war; but one of these--

As he hath spices of them all, not all,

For I dare so far free him--made him fear'd,

So hated, and so banish'd: but he has a merit,

To choke it in the utterance. So our virtues

Lie in the interpretation of the time:

And power, unto itself most commendable,

Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair

To extol what it hath done.

One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;

Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.

Come, let's away. When, Caius, Rome is thine,

Thou art poor'st of all; then shortly art thou mine.

Exeunt

Guiding Question for Passage Analysis:

1.  What is the main theme or idea in this text, and how has it been developed?
2. What atmosphere is the writer trying to create in the text?

Summer Blog Post 2: Language and Law

As language and literature students we are taught to understand humans, the manner in which they communicate and why they communicate that way. We often take this for granted.

This summer I embarked on a journey; seven hours on a plane and another two by train, soon enough I arrived to Oxford city. I spent two weeks learning about British law and building myself as a law school candidate. All of my peers were intellectual individuals; all of whom had confidence, public speaking abilities and charisma. I needed to prove myself an outstanding law school candidate, yet struggled to find a way to do so. As the course went on, I found that my language abilities had enabled me to excel. I was provided with many cases, in which my understanding of language, the use of language and my interpretation of the use of language was what caused me to win.

When provided with a case the lawyer that can understand it best is bound to be on the victorious side. Additionally, it is unlawful for lawyers to speak to their witnesses before court or prepare them. Thus, lawyers must be eloquent enough to ask the right questions to lead their witnesses to say the right things. Furthermore, lawyers must be able to use their opponent’s witness’ words against them, as this is the most powerful way to deem a witness unreliable. The best lawyers can bend the law; interpret ambiguous laws in a manner that would positively impact their case. Lawyers must understand the choice of diction, the connotations, the denotations, the meanings behind what is said, and even the meanings behind what is not said. Lawyers must understand the power of language in order to feed off this power. 

 Language and law are intertwined in ways I had never imagined before. Language is the essence of the academic study of law and language is the key to becoming the best in the field. 

Summer Blog Post 1: Poetry for Pleasure

‘Annabell Lee’ By Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,

   In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

   By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

   Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

   I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

   Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

   My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

   And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

   In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

   Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,

   In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

   Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

   Of those who were older than we—

   Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above

   Nor the demons down under the sea

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

   Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

   In her sepulchre there by the sea—

   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Amidst the luscious green shrubs of Oxford, I found poetry. I have always been enthralled by poetry. As finite humans we live in a world that is infinite, we spend our lives attempting to adapt to the world in which we live yet we fail, for we are finite beings that can never become infinite. This has left us feeling empty, this has caused us to spend a life in which we attempt to fill our innate emptiness, yet we fail and we die unsatisfied. We create what is infinite to fill our emptiness. Poetry is our creation: poetry is infinite. Poetry can be read and re-read a hundred times over, yet the reader will never reach a conclusion. We create poetry to emulate the life we want to live and our relationship with poetry reflects our lives so accurately.

This summer I have gained an appreciation for Edgar Allan Po’s poem ‘Annabel Lee’. At face value, I found that “A Romantic image of a beautiful woman who has died too suddenly in the flush of youth” was the perfect way to capture the essence of this poem in a sentence. I was wrong. This poem is about what is physically tangible and what is intangible. This poem explores the blurred border between what is finite and what is infinite.

This poem celebrates child like emotions in a manner consistent with the ideals of the romantic era. Romantics of the 18^th and the 19^th century viewed childhood as the purest stage of life that was inevitably corrupted by adulthood. This poem reveals that childhood love is the purest; it is real despite being dismissed by society. It is wholly accepted by nature. Society is the finite concept that is enforced upon nature, an infinite concept. Childhood love is portrayed as the purest form of love: the eternal and infinite love.  In his poem, Poe creates a hazy romantic atmosphere that revolves around a Kingdom. However, he disrupts this image later on as he creates a disturbing atmosphere, the most disturbing atmosphere known to human kind: death. The “sepulture by the sea” filled the air with an eerie feeling of emptiness in the physical world and a feeling of overload in the intangible world of emotion. Soon the readers begin to associate the city in the sea with death and decay, further fueling the melancholic mood. The nostalgic tone and the gothic background serve to inculcate the image of eternal love that outlasts the intangible spiritual jealousy and the tangible barrier of death. Although Annabell Lee has died the narrator sees a spark in her eyes that resembles life, symbolizing a promise that they will meet again in the future. The potent refrain phrases in this poem are: “Kingdom by the sea” and “Annabell Lee”. The repetition of “Kingdom by the sea” sets the setting and creates a romantic mood. The repetition of “Annabell Lee” reveals to the reader how much the narrator is consumed by his lover. Poe stresses the feeling of fulfillment he felt from this love, it is evident through phrases such as “And this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me.” Or “but we loved with a love that was more than love.” Evidently, Poe is constantly exploring the romantic philosophy of infinity and fulfillment.

The tone of the poem was dynamic shifting from love and happiness, to loss and anger and finally to peace and serenity.  The stanzas of the poem were irregular in length and structure. Rhyme emphasizes words such as: Lee, me, sea, as Poe wanted to enforce the linked nature between these concepts which gave the poem rhythm. This peaceful musical rhythm reflects the overall musicality of the poem.

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;