Reviewing of a Review

The online journal Sydney Review of Books publishes many literary criticisms.  I would like to discuss the book review which is written by Sasha Grishin titled “Through The Contemporary Darkness: Blood Mystic by George Gittoes”.

The book, Blood Mystic is an autobiography, and perhaps, that is why the book review discusses the author more than the book.  Nevertheless, this review is important because it discusses the artist's works in which his duality of art and life has influenced him to further engage with people around the world and led to explore the newer dimensions of human life. This review is also significant because it focuses on the book, which opens up our perspective particularly on harsh realities in conflict zones around the world. 

The review shows how the artist has chosen his mission in life, and despite numerous risks throughout his dangerous journeys, he has survived and successfully overcome evil. The review states that Gittoes success in his mission correlates highly with his upbringing in the early ages in Rockdale, Southern Sydney, where he grew up in a family that taught him arts and toughness together. Experiencing the contradictory aspects of life has underpinned the author's character from the early ages.  The article features this effect in all the activities and works of the artist. From meeting with Mother Teresa and many other celebrities, visiting the war-torn regions in Asia and Africa, bringing art into a deprived community in Jalalabad, all the way to the title of his autobiography, Blood Mystic, what we notice very vividly in Gittoes life is the presence of dichotomy.  What seems important here is that various characteristics or even conflicting aspects of life have not been neglected in reviewing literary work.

The form of the book is also examined in this review. According to the review, the writing of the book employs many other techniques of narrating arts such as cinema, painting, and cut up methods, but does not follow a conventional style of autobiography.  The review assesses the book as a non-linear narrative, which is not in any way comprehensive.  The review defines this book as an autobiography, and therefore, as a biographical work it comes under non-fiction, but some features and quality of fiction art are used to portray a person's life. This is particularly important in the literary criticism for it explores some new ways of combination for further enhancement in the genre.  In this way, the significance of literary criticism is in its inspirational effects.

A review opens up the book for a reader and works as a spectacle providing a wide angle for comprehensive reading. This requires a closer opinion of the reviewer to reflect upon the core subject of the book associated with its particular historical or cultural context.  Although this review admits that there are not enough details about the involvement of the author with mysticism, it states that the author has experienced various manifestations of mysticism throughout the years and has always been interested in Sufism. The review even goes farther and predicts that the future works of Gittoes would be more mysticism than adventure.  Considering the fact that Sufism is the intensification of an Islamic creed and practice, this important question had to be discussed - how Gittoes will retain his inherent duality and preserve the essence of artistic diversity in his tendencies towards Islamic mysticism.

Reference:

Grishin, Sasha. Through The Contemporary Darkness: Blood Mystic by George Gittoes. n.p. Feb. 2017. Sydney Review of Books. Web. Retrieved on 7 May 2018 from https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/blood-mystic-george-gittoes-review/

Circumstances of Publication and its Effects

The appearance of a book influences its reader and the way they understand it. I will examine the publication circumstances of the short fiction titled The Tribe. The story was written by Michael Mohammed Ahmad and it was published by Giramondo in 2014.

At first glance, the size of the book seems different from the average size for short novels. The book is cut almost in a square size. It looks innovative, but innovation is risky particularly when it does not make it more convenient and handier than those of conventional sizes. However, the size did not directly affect my understanding of the story, I had an impression of a children book at first, but after reading the story I wished if this would be the normal size of a short novel. Changing the size of the book would be more welcomed by readers if that also facilitated the use of the book. The current size of The Tribe is 15 by 17 centimetres, compared to a pocketbook of 10 by 15 centimetres, it is not that much more convenient to use.

The cover design is another primary feature of the book which a reader first encounters. The cover design is embedded in the Giramondo’s template for shorts, which includes the title and author’s name typed in capital Sans Serif font inside the inclined dark rectangle.  Other than that, the cover design is predominantly achieved through featuring a picture of the ancient Moorish stone carving, which covers the entirety of the page. This is a historical Muslim artwork from the glorious period of Islamic civilization in North Africa and Spain. Therefore, it may lead to an incorrect assumption that the book consists of some historical stories. The theme of the story is actually the modern daily life of an Arab diaspora in Australia and that suggests the cover design to depict some distinctive feature of the characters in the story or any influential element in their relationships. Rather than reflecting the theme of the story, the cover design is more relevant to the historical Islamic civilisation.  Therefore, the cover design seems bound to follow the tradition of a civilization which has prohibited the pictorial representation of human face throughout the history and that way it influences on our very first approach to the book.

A title is also an important feature of the book which affects the circumstances of its publication. The Tribe has an attractive title for the characters are from an Arab background, but their story is taking place in Sydney.  The title for this story consists of a projection of the characters' relationships under the tribal tradition facing a modern environment. This way, it may create some interesting juxtapositions of opposite conditions. Nevertheless, the narrative is not entirely reflecting upon the collective values of the tribe but the relationships of individuals from the perspective of the youngest member of the family called Bani. A book review by Angelo Loukakis suggests this story as an “individuation” and that begs the question in our mind whether the title is merely a humorous nostalgia of the situation that only exists in memories.

Following the size, cover design, and the title, the most distinctive feature of The Tribe seems to be the description on the back cover of the book. The description begins to complain about the effects of the mainstream media on the image of Arab-Australian Muslims. The description states that the presence of this community has been dominated by the stories of rape, violence, drug use, and terrorism. Lack of understanding the life and customs of Arab-Australians has created a misleading reputation with all its bad consequences. The description states that the wrong image in the media requires “a privileged introduction” of those Arabs which has been achieved by The Tribe. The main purpose of the description is to convince readers not to put down the book and it is done through advertising tools. This applies to consider the book as a new product in the market and inevitably emphasise some compelling keywords which are socially or politically relevant to the larger proportion of the population. Therefore, it has structured mainly to target mainstream Australian readers and the literary value and aesthetic importance have not been measured.

Another convincing feature in the publication of The Tribe is a beneficial reference from Les Murray. It is brought to complement the promotion of the book alongside the description. The impressive aphoristic style of the prominent analyst has printed at the bottom left of the back cover to provide further credentials. Although the citation does not directly mention the story of The Tribe, it encourages the culture of shorts.

The story is divided into three chapters. Each chapter begins with the recall of an incident when the narrator is in the certain age of seven, nine, and eleven years. All the chapters come under three specific titles. Each title has printed on the recto side of the folio following of which is a completely blank page. This separable chaptering, Serif font for text and the layout with a wide margin given to each page has made the story more readable.

The story has achieved good attention from critics and readers mostly because of its honesty in language and revealing some untold stories of Arab minority form their own perspective. However, what is more, relevant to my understanding of this story is not the circumstances of its publication but my own living experience. My understanding of this story is mostly because of the fact that I grew up in the same culture that has affected the publication of The Tribe to feature the picture of an ancient carved stone as its cover design.

National Allegory in Relations to the Novel 'This Earth of Mankind'

This essay discusses the question of whether the bildungsroman is an allegory of national consciousness. The topic seems to be very broad; therefore, this essay focuses on Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s novel This Earth of Mankind, in particular with the moment in which the protagonist's one of the very first reflections upon the second character seems strangely uncertain and full of contradictions. This essay posits that the allegorical functions of this novel are not merely limited to the colonialism era, but it also represents how perceptions about social life in the late 19^th century in Indonesia, regardless of its being a colonial third-world society, were largely shaped under the paradigm of traditional values. 

The allegorical function of this novel goes beyond colonialism. From the early pages of the novel, Minke's very first acquaintance with Nyai Ontosoroh is significantly blended with contradictory values in Minke’s perception. Minke finds Ontosoroh a very pleasant woman who is never angry, and so, highly resembles the Mother. However, Minke cannot equalise Ontosoroh to the Mother, because “[s]he is just a nyai, living in sin, giving birth to illegitimate children, low in moral character, selling honor to live easily and in luxury. And I couldn’t say she was ignorant. Her Dutch was fluent and polite. Her attitude toward her daughter was refined and wise and open, not like that of Native mothers. She behaved just like an educated European woman” (32). For Minke, Ontosoroh has gathered some opposite characteristics. On the one hand, she is unethical, dishonourable, and sinful; and on the other hand, she is calm, wise, polite, and utterly good behaviour. This is a full-fledged paradox. The way in which this paradox affects Minke’s development may suggest some allegorical qualities in the process of nation becoming, such as the confrontation of customs and post-modern life. Nevertheless, such allegorical function inevitably reflects further on historical backgrounds such as ethnicity and traditional beliefs. In any allegorical representation of national consciousness, the traditional roots are major determinants and matter to a greater extent. For instance, the woman who has sacrificed the native pride for a prosperous life has predominantly been condemned by the Javanese traditions and not by the rules of Dutch colonialism. Therefore, the bildungsroman has some allegorical functions of national consciousness, but more significantly it should be traced back deep into the history of Indonesia and to the values of local traditions. Despite the fact that a significant proportion of the novel reflects upon life in a colonised society, its allegorical aspect is not necessarily restricted to the colonial era.  

The story is mainly narrated from Minke’s individual perspective, but the narrator himself is part of a society in transition which leads his Bildung to be relevantly complex but meanwhile utterly unique.  It is bounded by the specific era of the late 19^th century and has occurred in the particular society of Indonesia colonised by the Dutch empire. As Bakhtin explains, the becoming of a character in a realistic novel is not a “private affair [because] [h]e emerges along with the world” (23, italics in original). Likewise, Minke’s uncertainty about Ontosoroh at the beginning of the novel and his awakening experience of being separated from Annelies at the end vividly illustrate the reality in which his character has been developed.  Therefore, it can easily suggest various allegorical qualities about the development of the Indonesian nation under the Dutch colonialism. Its allegory may correspond to the fact that the native intellectuals are equally punished like the other indigenous if their interests come to oppose colonial interests and rules. Nevertheless, what seems more important about Minke’s becoming is that its uniqueness and the narrative’s limitation to specific time and situation does not allow its allegorical functions to correspond the overall process in which the national consciousness is being developed. For example, Minke comments that Ontosoroh has ‘illegitimate children’ but later he suffers from being forcefully separated from Annelies, who has been one of those illegitimate children. This transition in the individual story suggests us to correspond it to a larger transformation such as the national consciousness.  Nevertheless, national consciousness itself is a transitional process, and in a tumultuous era of colonialism, it is always subject to change because of the past historical inherent and the contemporary socio-political burdens.

The uniqueness of Minke’s Bildung suggests that the history and the socio-political characteristics of Indonesia, which have provided the overall landscape for the plot of the novel, are entirely inapplicable to any other part of the third-world countries including those of colonised societies. While the individual story and the plot are significantly restricted to Indonesian society under the Dutch colonialism in the late 19^th century, its allegorical functions may correlate to some human collective desire such as liberty, passion, and fairness throughout the history. The praise of knowledge and education is firm and does not change throughout the novel. Minke reflects upon Ontosoroh as ‘I couldn’t say she was ignorant. Her Dutch was fluent’. It is an obvious connection not only to universal values but to a primordial element of national consciousness in the modern history of Indonesia.  This brings us to Fredric Jameson’s speculative thesis on “National Allegory” where he asserts “the story of the private individual destiny is always an allegory of the embattled situation of the public third-world culture and society” (1986, 69; italics in original). Various scholars have objected to this essay. Aijaz Ahmad, one of the Marxist comrades of Jameson contends that the third-world is a polemical term which does not have a singular formation with unitary sphere of ideology (nationalism) and cultural production (the national allegory) (3-4-22). Nevertheless, it seems possible to suggests a further clarification on Jameson’s claim that the story of individual may allegorise the collective situation of any society where the plot has been set on and not necessarily and merely of third-world societies.

In conclusion, Mike’s becoming over the course of the novel allegorically reflects upon the Indonesian national consciousness to some extent, but its allegorical function is rooted back in history and is not necessarily limited to the colonial era. 

Reference

Ahmad, Aijaz. “Jameson's Rhetoric of Otherness and the "National Allegory" Journal of Duke University Press, vol. 17, pp. 3-25.

Bakhtin, Mikhail. M. “The Bildungsroman and its Significance in the History of Realism (Toward a Historical Typology of the Novel), in, Speech Genres & Other Late Essays, Translated by Vern McGee. University of Texas Press, Austin, 1986. Print.

Jameson, Fredric. “Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism” Journal of Duke University Press, vol. 15, pp. 65-88.

Toer, Pramoedya, A. This Earth of Mankind, Penguin books.1996. Print.

Comparing Two Versions of the Same Story

This essay compares two different versions of the same story written by Raymond Carver. It focuses on the story “Where is Everyone?” and the edited version titled “Mr. Coffee and Mr. Fixit”. Highlighting some changes in editing, this essay evaluates the subsequent differences in the meaning of the story.  While the vast deletion and some precise paraphrasing has affected the story to be more straightforward, the title amendment and removing some vital episodes suggest inappropriate changes. The title in the original version is more provocative and alarming. The title is not merely inquiring about others, but it also denotes the loneliness of the protagonist.  The question mark in “Where is Everyone?” suggests rhetoric and qualifies the title with persuasion. The original version of the story complains the absence of others and leads the story to start with a coherent and distinctive tone. In the edited version the title consists of two male names “Mr. Coffee and Mr. Fixit”, by which the protagonist refers to Ross in a contemptuous way. Although these names correspond to some details in the story such as Ross’s working background, in comparison with the original title, it is less provocative.

These pejorative names of Ross subordinated to a fraction of the story and, therefore, it does not self-evidently associate to the overall theme of the story.  Furthermore, the title of the original story comes from the text, where the narrator says, “I don’t know where everyone is at home” (19). In the edited version the whole paragraph has been deleted. Therefore, it seems that changing the title is an inevitable choice rather than a deliberate decision or a successful action in favour of the story. 

The original story is thirteen pages which has been truncated by the editor to only three pages. In addition to deleting many details of the story, the editor has also removed some significant episodes from the original text. The episodes which are deleted include the narrator’s calling to his mother and to the woman “six hundred miles away” (19). More importantly, the fictional family from an Italian novel is also removed in the edited story. Before the narrator became an alcoholic, he used to read that novel, in which the father of the imaginary family, right before the moment of his death, stands up and slaps his son on the face. Another episode which is removed in the edited version is about Mike, the narrator's son, who once "locked his mother out of the house" (14), because she had spent the whole night out with Ross. These two last episodes are narrated one after another in the original version of the story, and respectively indicate the relationships between the father and his son, and the son with his mother. The recollection of reading the Italian novel signifies that the protagonist is not happy with his own children and from long ago he has been contemplating their punishment because the children “take advantage of this crumbling situation” (13). The second episode involves the status of children in an alcoholic and broken family, which seems closely related to the subject of the story. The first episode indirectly discloses the grudge of the alcoholic father, while the second episode indirectly alerts about the son and the situation of all younger members of the family. Therefore, the extensive deletion by the editor has made the story lose the very relevant incidents that would have otherwise contributed to further compilation of the story.

In the edited version, various duplicated and supplementary details have been deleted, also many sentences are paraphrased.  The rewriting and avoidance of repetition have changed the story to be more straightforward and easily readable. One of many examples of the cases of preventing repetition is where the narrator explains about his mother. In the original story, the narrator says, “[m]y mother is sixty-five and lonely” (11), while in the edited story, the extra detail of ‘and lonely’ has been deleted because the following sentence adequately explains the status of the mother, “[s]he belongs to a singles club” (11). Likewise, the editor has also removed those extra details which are not in favour of the development of the story. “[T]he TV was going on the other side of the room” (11) has shortened to “the TV was going”.  While the deletion of repetitions and unnecessary details, has contributed to shortening the story, the paraphrasing and changing some sentences into the more active and direct voice, has provided the story with the tangible tone. For instance, instead of “her mother had gone bail for him” (12), in the original story, the edited version states “my wife went bail” (18).  In addition to rewriting sentences and removing unnecessary details, the edited version has benefited from some precise summarising as well. In the longer version of the story, the narrator ridicules his wife’s words as she says that Ross “collected antique cars” (18). The narrator comments upon those cars as “[o]ld 1950s and 1960s, dented cars with torn seat covers. They were junkers, that's all” (12), but in the edited story, those details are summarised to “two busted Plymouths in the yard” (18).

There are some other changes by the editor which seem not to have a significant effect on the author’s work in either way. For example, some characters are given different names, such as the name of the wife has changed from Cynthia to Myrna, and the name of the daughter Katy has replaced by Melody. The most vivid difference is the rather ending of the story in the edited version. In the edited story, the narrator suggests his wife hug each other as she returns home and cooks him supper, (20) while in the longer story the narrator has been abandoned in the midst of ‘cold 'light and shoutings’. In the edited version the narrator and his wife are getting together. Nevertheless, the substantial deletions have driven the short story towards more minimalism, but it does not seem that the main character has very much affected.

Reference

Carver, Raymond. "Where is Everyone?" TriQuarterly, vol. 48, 1980, pp. 203. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/docview/1311924475?accountid=36155.

Carver, Raymond. What We Talk about When We Talk about Love. 2009.