The following is one of my long term projects in development
story Dshamilja. It made headlines around the world and was translated
into English as are other texts by Aitmatow Chinghiz.
To me personally ‘Pegij pjoss begutschij krajem morja’ (Der Junge und
das Meer) is ultimately more touching and complete. First published 1977 in Kirgizie 1977 and 1983 in Russian (paperback 92 pages).
Short synopsis of the story translated by myself from Rovolt Taschenbuch Verlag 1983 german edition.
“If one is on land one never thinks about being on land. If one is at
sea however, one thinks continually about the sea”
Perplexed by this elementary revelation, young Kirsik is taken to sea
for the first time by the wise Organ, Emrajin his father and Mylgun
his uncle. On this journey Kirsik is meant to be learning the skills
of the hunter and to become friends with the sea as is custom in his
clan the ‘Nifchen of the distant Ochotskischen sea’.
When the hunters get lost in an impenetrable fog, tragically but
equally as a matter of course, the three men sacrifice themselves to
offer the boy the chance for life.
Dreams, myths and legends became alive and are mixed with reality and
with Aitmatow’s own culture and traditions of his childhood.
Aitmatow considers the aim to find a harmonious relationship between
human and nature one of the most pressing messages that art can offer
today. Presenting us with the ultimate humility evoked by the power
and understanding of nature, he is demonstrating how a respectful
relationship with nature will evoke generosity, empathy and dignity in
humanity. (Translated by myself from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 1983)
‘Der Junge und das Meer’
‘Pegij pjoss begutschij krajem morja’ 'The Boy and the Sea'
story Dshamilja. It made headlines around the world and was translated
into English as are other texts by Aitmatow Chinghiz.
To me personally ‘Pegij pjoss begutschij krajem morja’ (Der Junge und
das Meer) is ultimately more touching and complete. First published 1977 in Kirgizie 1977 and 1983 in Russian (paperback 92 pages).
Short synopsis of the story translated by myself from Rovolt Taschenbuch Verlag 1983 german edition.
“If one is on land one never thinks about being on land. If one is at
sea however, one thinks continually about the sea”
Perplexed by this elementary revelation, young Kirsik is taken to sea
for the first time by the wise Organ, Emrajin his father and Mylgun
his uncle. On this journey Kirsik is meant to be learning the skills
of the hunter and to become friends with the sea as is custom in his
clan the ‘Nifchen of the distant Ochotskischen sea’.
When the hunters get lost in an impenetrable fog, tragically but
equally as a matter of course, the three men sacrifice themselves to
offer the boy the chance for life.
Dreams, myths and legends became alive and are mixed with reality and
with Aitmatow’s own culture and traditions of his childhood.
Aitmatow considers the aim to find a harmonious relationship between
human and nature one of the most pressing messages that art can offer
today. Presenting us with the ultimate humility evoked by the power
and understanding of nature, he is demonstrating how a respectful
relationship with nature will evoke generosity, empathy and dignity in
humanity. (Translated by myself from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 1983)
MY INSPIRATION
I realise now, that it must be twenty five years ago when I first red this little book ‘Der Junge und das Meer’ and it had become part of my inner conscience since. At the time I was puzzled as to why I was given it by a person who I did not know very well and had only met once. In any case I was intrigued and right away loved the beautiful completeness of the description of the human condition and its relationship to nature.
Sadly I was never able to ask the person of his reasons for giving me the book as he died under tragic circumstances soon after.
Hidden away in my library, the booklet traveled with me from one country to the other until settling in Exeter on one of my bookshelves.
There was a little flurry of activity when I was trying to pass the story on to my then teenage children. However, they never really got to read it, as my treasured book turned out to be written in German, something I had completely forgotten about by this stage. To my everlasting regret my children are not truly bilingual. I was disappointed at the time, but with life moving so fast and children living here and now, I left it at telling them the story to the best of my ability and was simply glad for the reminder of reading it again with a little more maturity. It had not lost its magic on me.
The story keeps popping into my head at the most unexpected occasions and gradually I started to visualize different scenes of the story in a variation of active scenarios. Sometimes the story is telling itself in my head as an opera, at other times as an animation or puppet show. Some scenes I see as stills and paintings, sometimes just a colour appears other times the fog and the water become alive with images of people.
Then, again a big surprise: a dear Swiss friend giving me a lovely edition of the same little book for my birthday. I read it again with pleasure and at this point I am thinking this is a sign and no coincidence, I must do something with this story, it is too profound and beautiful a story to be forgotten. At that time I was too involved with a number of other projects to do anything about it, but in the back of my head I start to formulate a plan.
ACTIVATING THE VISION
It is only a few months ago when I felt ready to activate some of my visions. For this to happen however, I needed to give the book to other practitioners to read. No problem I thought, and searched the net to order a few copies in English. It was only then, that to my disbelieve it emerged, that this fantastic story had never been translated into English.
Well I thought, could I possibly be so bold and try to translate it myself? Perhaps I could just about get away with creating a working english copy but never could I do the poetic accomplishment of Tschingis Aitmatow any justice. Besides the fact, that he wrote the story in Russian and I could only translate from its german translation even though I believe this translation is beautifully done. So, no I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to attempt this.
Next step, I make a few enquiries with some of my friends. One very senior publisher suggested to me that I had little chance to get this taken on by anyone without paying a considerable amount of money (regretfully money I don’t have). But after some research and through the Society of Authors I stumbled onto Robert Chandler, a highly respected russian-english translator. He promptly answered my enquiry in regard to translating this story and after sending him a short synopsis (in my crude English) he pointed me with encouraging words to Meike Ziervogel. As luck had it, Meike is german speaking and runs a small publishing company in London. Apparently she devoured the story without delay and loved it straight away. The story suits the company’s profile perfectly and Meike is now waiting to hear if it is at all possible to negotiate the publishing rights.
This will take some time as no doubt it will not be straight forward. I am waiting eagerly for a progress update next month.
Should this channel not materialise, I will resort to plan B with a russian speaking friend who is willing to attempt to translate a working copy from russian into english.
For now I am creating a list of a colourful selection of creative practitioners of all medias who I would like to encourage to create a piece of work inspired by this book.
One day I hope this will result in a kind of festival of emotional expressions evoked by this story.
Secondary to my vision of some wonderful productions, it might be interesting to study the individual outcomes of the works, considering the cultural and social backgrounds represented in the participating artists.
No comments:
Post a Comment