OD - 2 : Oneness of Literature

                         Thinking Activity

     

      All Literature is connected with each other. Somehow the theme of the work remains the same.  If we give the metaphor to Literature then according to me it is like a Banyan Tree.  The main trunk remains in the center and other aerial roots starts developing and makes itself new, Same way the literature remains the same. 

          What happens is that the new work of art follows the same tradition but new artist sets all the things with creativity. They takes the ideal things from the history in his or her work. So we can say that all literatures are connected with each other ;  all, those which are already written, those being written and those yet to be written. Thus, sign, symbol goes on recurrently happen and turns into literary metaphor. 

      Northrop Frye has also developed the theory of Archetypal criticism. Which concentrates on the idea of oneness of literature. He says that all literature shares the common DNA skeleton. 

     Here is an interesting example to prove this point.

These lines from The Waste Land can better be understood if we read it in the context of short story of AntonChekhov (A Joke).

And when we were children, staying at the archduke's, 
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled, 
And I was frightened. He said, Marie, 
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went. 
In the mountains, there you feel free.

    Interpretations of the lines :

    Openly we can not find the theme of sexual perversion in these lines but we can interpret the hidden meaning of it. In the Wasteland Eliot uses this reference which shows the lustful act. In the story " A Joke " by Anton Chekhov same thing appears.  Here the female character time again wishes to go for the sled with his cousin. So we can interpret that some how she feels fear of that act but because of lust see can not deny herself. 

     Another things comes in our mind is that love also seems absent because they both not marries to each other. So we can say that it is the lust which was the reason they were connected.

       Thus, the theme of sexual perversion remains the same which shows the uniformity in literature. 

          If we see the translation of the story is not changed much. Some of the words are not translated.