essay by ossama elkaffash on the new play by evald flisar "take me into your hands"

8/2/2019 Essay by Ossama Elkaffash On the new play by Evald Flisar "Take me into your hands"

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Source: http://kaffasharticles.blogspot.com.au/?view=magazine#!http://kaffasharticles.blogspot.com/2011/08/v-behaviorurldefaultvml-o.html

Take me into your hand*

An essay about handling and handing

Prologue: The mystery of first encounters

When Evald first talked to me about " Take me into yourhands" we were heading towards a beautiful cozy

restaurant in Ljubljana. I listened carefully as usual and it

struck me immediately as a very playable play.

When I first got the soft copy I was dumbfounded. Here , is

a play about life and learning ... about love and

sacrifice...It is not a comedy neither it is a tragedy. I

immediately phoned Evald and asked if we can switch theroles making the male into a female and vise verse... He

replied : absolutely not.When I first told Magda Mounir our

friend and colleague about the play she just insisted that

she must play the role of the owner of the bookshop. So I

had a bit of a problem here...How can I resolve the

paradox of the author insisting on not to change and the

director of the theatre (for Magda is the director of the

theatre that is going to produce the play in Egypt inNovember this year) wants to change??

What can the poor Translator/Dramaturge do in such

situations?

What follows is what should be done if any situation like

that happens to another fellow Translator/Dramaturge and

how can He or She convince the writer to accept drastic

changes to his/her play!!! Not only did he accept but also


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asked me to write this essay about the transformation or

rather the transmutation of the play.

I- General remarks about Flisar s Theatre ...or The

Master of word-craft strikes again!

Evald Flisar is one of the most prominent contemporary

Slovenian playwrights and perhaps the most prolific

dramatic author of the Nineties (1). Flisar achieved thisstatus because of certain conceptual, thematic and

structural features we can find in his theatre. These

characteristics are considered by lots of critics to be

revolutionary and have overwhelming impact on the

Slovenian drama (2).

In my opinion they are the following:

1- On the conceptual level Flisar opts in his drama for the

classical acting (3). We can easily say that the role of

actors in his theatre surpasses and trumps the other

elements especially the visual elements. The concept of

the Theatrical (4) in his theatre is very classical where

actors are the pillars of the play and the text itself is the

main subject with no resort to the extravagant and the

spectacular. This does not mean that we can not make a

spectacle out of his plays. In my opinion we can easily do

that (5). This simply emphasizes the role of the

author/playwright and separates it from the role of the

director. In TMIYH, this is strikingly apparent. The play is a

stream of dialogue, acting would be like a tug of war

between 2 actors with no special visual effects.

Scenography would be minimalistic and mise en scene


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should be simple. The play is simply about the words and

acting.

2- On the thematic level the most recurring theme in

Flisarology is the study of the relationship between Male

and Female or what may be termed also the basic human

relationship. Evald Flisar is trying to explore this relation

from every possible aspect (6). For example, in Nora Nora

he tried to see the relationship of lovers and married

couples from all directions playing sometimes on the

theme of swinging!!! In the original version of TMIYH hetries to explore this theme from the point of view Father /

Daughter as well as from Teacher / student or Master /

apprentice. Needless to say that the lovers' side is also

tackled. So in reversing the roles I faced a very big

challenge. The question was: How to redefine the

characters using Arabic without disrupting the main

theme? And on another level can this reversal enhance

the other themes (7) of the play? Here I found the answer

in the concept of the importance of the word and classical

acting. So I tried to emphasize the role of the Master even

if he is a she!! Also I resorted to the platonic notion of the

human being where a person is both male and female (8).

3- One of the main structures used by Evald Flisar in histheatre is the mirror image (9). This is so clear in his Nora

Nora. In this play we have 2pairs representing the mirror

image of each other and this is depicted on the stage.

Although this structure is as old as drama itself as some

historian might claim (10), yet the Flisarian use of it is

innovative and unique in a sense. In TMIYH we can see

that the 2 characters are somehow the mirror image of

each other. Together they represent most of the


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Straussian anthropological dualities (11). We have

old/young, wise / nave, responsible / irresponsible in

short CULTURE VS NATURE. This mirror image structure

enabled me as translator/dramaturge to reverse the roles

and rearrange the genders in the Arabic version. In the

oriental mythology (12), the woman is seen as the womb

of culture and the reservoir of traditions (13). This is an

idea that has its effect on all the other cultures and is

present in TMIYH (14).

II- Analyzing Take me into your hands

This play is the 6th play of Evald s that I translated into

Arabic (15). & I read all the others. For me the main

prominent feature that is present in all of them is the

strong dialogue.

1- Swift words or visual trickery?

In many of modern plays we find the author almost always

opting for some kind of visual extravagances or overusing

body movements. This kind of theatrical is not Evald s cup

of tea. He believes as I explained before in the word as the

main base for the Theatrical. His dialogue compels the

translator to work hard in order to get into the heart of the

meaning. As I noted earlier this feature distinguishes the

notion of the Theatrical in Evald s world and in my opinion

it emanates from Flisar s understanding of the theatre as

a game of words manufactured by a crafty master and

executed by well trained artisans. Sculpturing the words

into a play is a craft that Evald Flisar has improved to

almost perfection so that his dialogue resembles a game


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of Table Tennis between 2 Chinese grandmasters. You can

not see the ball but you certainly know it is there.

Let us contemplate this Dialogue from TMIYH (16):

IZTOK: I have three grown-up sons. They send me

Christmas cards. I may have grandchildren, but I

have not been informed.

MAJA: Does that hurt?

The first lines of Iztok establishes his sarcasm and his

loneliness , the reply of Maja is 3 words but gives themirror image of the character of Iztok. The dialogue is

swift , informative , funny and revealing . That is what I

call strong dialogue.

2- New/Old... Theme/ Model

One of the beloved themes of Evald Flisar that features in

almost all of his work(17) is the theme of the journey. In

his collections of short stories "Tales of wandering" (18),

the journey was very evident. It was the model as well as

the main theme of the stories. In his play the 11th

planet(19) the journey was the theme rather than the

model. We can see in his very famous work the sorcerer sapprentice that the journey is a model while the main

theme was the relationship Master - apprentice which is a

mystical and sofi theme that is strongly present in TMIYH.

This theme is also the model upon which the play is

structured. These themes / Models i.e. The Journey and

Master / Apprentice are widely exploited in modern

literature and one of the Masters that exploited and

explored them to the brim is the looney Argentinian


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grandmaster Jorge Luis Borges(20). This not only answers

the question : Why the quotations from JLB? But also leads

us to reconsider this textualizations as pointing the finger

towards the Borgesian opinion about books and human

knowledge in general (21)? In TMIYH the owner of the

bookshop ( he in the Slovene version / she in the Arabic

version) has an ambivalent attitude towards the books

and knowlede in general and is also a Borges fan...They

share the same opinion . An opinion that is expressed by

Zaid. This ambivalence can be elucidated by looking

through the mirror of Sofi tradition in Islam " we prey for

you to protect us against the unbenificial knowledge" (22).This tradition also takes us also to the model /theme the

Journey . There is uncountable number of stories about the

journey of the scholar towards the truth . In TMIYH this is

the journey of the main protagonist towards accepting the

inevitable truth , Death. In TMIYH the theme/model are

intertwined that creates lots of referential points and lots

of points of articulations. Using Zaid s (23) as starting

point of reference and also as the first point of ofarticulation in the play , we can easily assume that the

theme here is knowledge is not neutral but it has useful as

well as harmful effects . This is not only in the way of

using knowledge but also in the way it is presented &

perceived. Why we need knowledge? is a question that is

usually avoided but bravely addressed in TMIYH.

Another point of articulation between the play and sofitradition is the view of Death. Actually our perception of

death and our knowledge of death is the hidden hand

behind the scene and the driving motor of the journey in

TMIYH. We can see this through another story from the

Islam sofi tradition(24). In this story a mystic was asked

what does he hates the most? He answered I hate the

truth!!! People were preblexed but then another scholar

explained that the guy means he hates Death which is the


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ultimate truth. In this story the relationship between

knowledge / journey/ life / death is well illustrated and

elucidated. The words of the wiseman contained

concealed knowledge that could not be seen by the

commons. His words represent in a way the essence of the

knowledge of life as a journey towards the eternal truth ...

death. TMIYH is like a modern version of this sofi fable.

Both characters are exchanging knowledge and are

learning from each other . By teaching each other they

attend a higher level of knowledge... knowledge about

life , love and above all their selves!!! All the modern

psychology , psychoanalysis , psychotherapy, and all theother techniques concerned with human psyche are

adamant in their assertion of the importance of self

knowledge(25). In a way we can see TMIYH as a journey

towards this aim & by doing so it is fulfilling another

classical function of theatre ... Catharsis. Because of this

level of interpretation of the play I relied upon a very rich

heritage of mystical knowledge and sofism in Islam , a

heritage that extends along more than 1400years up toour modern times.Actually my choice of the Arabic poet

Mahmoud Hassan Ismail (26) depended mainly upon this

tradition. I would say the choice was formal as well as

thematic. Formal , in the sense that I was searching for a

poet with the same inclinations as JLB and also thematic

with poems that pertain to the poems chosen by Evald.

The 2 quotations from JLB represent in my opinion 2 main

points of articulations in the play (27). The first point is apoem about the nature of poetry , in translation I chose a

poem by MHI called "poetry" (28) . Here , the concept of

textualization has reached its perfection. A text within the

original text where the former articulates with the later

without touching it or dameging it, rather enhances the

meaning. Juxtaposing the translated poem chosen by the

master with the psudopoem written by the apprentice

gives us the duality of true vs false( a mirror image) . The


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theme of the play is enhanced here as well as the model.

Nevertheless this is not all. The poem is full of emotions

and feelings and as MHI is famous of being a romantic and

mystical poet of the generation of early 20th century of

Arab poets , this strengthen the duality Intuition vs Reason

which is also a theme in the play.Also, I think the world of

imagery used by MHI is very close to the mysticomagical

world of JLB and this again is another reason for using MHI

as an Arabic surogate. In summary I think this point of

articulation in the play denotes the main theme "the

mirror image of the characters" and connotes the main

model "the journey of the sofi".

The 2nd point of articulation in relation to JLB is the poem

at the end of the play. Here we reach the end of the

journey and see the eternal transformation through which

the human being achieve another level of

consiousness(29). In the drama of TMIYH this is attained

by the magical solution of "acceptance" or in sofi terms

(QOBUL). By accepting Death the shop owner acceptsdestiny and LIFE as well. HE/SHE accepts that life is

eternal and death is the truth and hence achieve another

level of knowledge and reach another level of

consciousness. All these meanings are expressed by the

poem of JLB, and we can find them in the poem of MHI

which has the mystical title "prayer" or Salah in

Arabic(30). The poet is calling for a mysterious love to

come and approach him. Who is this one? Can thismysterious one be the angle of death? Can it be

providence? The resemblance between the 2 poems is

striking. More important on the structural level both JLB &

MHI used images of mobility (31) and transformations that

will lead us again to the model theme of the Journey.

Here , the journey is not spatial but rather chronological.

This journey is depicted in the play in the transformations

of the characters but not in a spatial movement. The place


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is always the same but the time changes. In fact Time is in

a hurry to rescue space!!!!

Here on the mythological level we have an inverted Greek

cosmology. Where instead of Gaia (Earth) is preparing for

the doom of Chronos (Time) (32), we have in the play

Chronos saving Gaia.

Here , we can mention 2 important features in the play

that relate to the theme/ model of the journey and the

theme / model of the Master/ apprentice.

1- Both characters suffered from some minor illness ( coldin case of apprentice and sprain in the case of the

master). The illness here is not only purification for the

soul but on a very formal level it is the traveler s illness.

Sickness of a psychosomatic nature that accompany the

journey. Both illnesses can also be seen as rituals of

initiations and preparations for the transformation. As if by

heating the body , the psyche is cooked and is prepared

for another level of consiousness.

2- the ultimate solution for all the problems of the space

was there all the time. The solution was a bond between

Time and knowledge (33). It was collectors items of rare

editions of old books. Here we can dwell upon the choice

of the items in this magical wand of Flisar. They are 5

books. These books are: 1- en attendant Godot , 2-Ulysses

3- Les Fleures du Mal 4- leaves of grass 5- the bible .Actually there were 4 books and only one page of the 1st

book ever printed : the bible of Gutenberg. The waiting for

Godot by Samuel Beckett is clearly a play about the

journey and the waiting for the traveller . It is also about

hope & the unknown as well as despair and the status

quo, as we can see very pertinent theme to TMIYH.

Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It is the

ultimate journey novel. It is also a milestone in history of


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new. The climax of the play comes from within the theme

and the structure in a very elaborate way.

3- The old vs. the New an anthropological duality?

Evald Flisar dealt with the theme of the old vs. the new or

the Old vs. Youth in lots of his works. In his novel "the

monster of loneliness" or "My father s dream" he deals

exclusively with this theme. In his "Hamlet & I" this themeis strongly present. Flisar s treatment of this duality is not

the one we find in mythology (36). He is not praising the

wisdom and foresight of the old nor is he debasing the

foolishness of the youth. He is taking a more balanced and

rather realistic position. For, first he is analyzing the

duality then reconsiders it again. In other words he

deconstructs the anthropological duality in an artistic way

then reconstructs it in a dramatic way. This process has acertain similarity with what is called in Sufi terminology

Takhlia Thoma Tahlia, or purification then sweetening. In

TMIYH the old master is skeptical, sarcastic and in a way

nihilistic. His fears have turned into follies. His old wisdom

and lore is fading leaving bitterness and horror. He can

not accept the truth and because of that he is doubting

everything he had believed in. But this is one side of his-

story! For in him the flame of hope is still burning underthe dust of doubts. He has the urge to teach or in another

word to transfer his knowledge; and because of that he is

searching for the worthy apprentice. But, this is not all. For

his- story has lots of facets. In him there is still alive the

longing for knowledge as a true master never stops

learning, he has this eternal need and unquenchable thirst

to know and search for the unknown. Sometimes, this

unknown is called the truth, others may call it Nirvana.


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Still others may name it enlightenment or we may simply

say he wants to know himself. Deconstructing the myths

(37) is a job that Flisar excelled in. in TMIYH the myth he

deconstructed is that of the wisdom of the old. He

reconstructs the golden cup on another level which is the

level of self consciousness. This is achieved in a painful

yet amicable way through deconstructing another myth

that is the myth of the irresponsible youth or the prodigal

son. They are twin myths or rather mirror image ones. For

by entrusting himself to his disciple and by trusting her

intuition , the protagonist/ father figure transcends his

pains and sufferings & accepts life by accepting death indoing so he also accepts her wisdom. In the Arabic version

with gender changes, the idea is still valid. The key action

here is handling the situation through "the book" i.e. the

knowledge transmitted through the book written by the

owner of the bookshop to the son/apprentice and retaking

it from him. Here I leaned upon a very old Egyptian myth

(38) of the mother that gives her son the power/the

knowledge & he in turn hands it over to her as a sin ofacceptance. This myth represented a corner stone in the

coronation ritual of the new pharaoh and some historians

of theatre consider it a rudimentary form of the theatrical

(39).

By accepting the deconstruction of the 2 myths and

integrating the old one in the process of reconstruction I

was able to handle the transformation of the play with itsrichness of levels. I was also able to hand over the

responsibility of translation/ transformation into Arabic to

the actors in Egypt.

But that is another part of the story.

III- Revisiting the problems of translations...The


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family line that is more likely in Egypt and add to that it

exploits certain elements of the political situation after the

January Revolution(49). This will add spices to the play. I

also watered a lot of the sexual innuendos of the young

female because of cultural reasons as it is not appropriate

in Arabic culture to have a sexually open young male

addressing and older female. Also in reversing the sexes I

thought it is more suitable to see the young protagonist as

more attracted to the wisdom of his mentor rather than to

her bodily charms. For the poetry written by the young

apprentice I made it as silly as possible not only to

enhance the juxtaposition but also to remind the audienceof the silly son writers of today in Egypt thus enhancing

the comedy. The rudeness of the old man was trimmed

but not his sarcasm, I know that here I am accepting

certain gender related stereotypes (50) but this enabled

me to redefine the character as a cultural figure in the

modern Arabic culture. I think this justifies my choice to a

certain extent.

The handling of the play and arabicizing it was a big

challenge but handing the product to the publisher,

theatre and above all to Evald was even bigger.

2- The Handing over... Occident vs. Orient

Trust is the key word in this process of finalizing the script,

handing it over to the actors and the board of the theatre

as well as to the author.

Trust here has lots of meaning and many levels. On the

personal level, trust is the base of the relationship that

allowed the handover of the play first to me then back toEvald. I see this level also as the base of the relationship


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between the characters in TMIYH whither in the Slovene or

the Arabic version. In TMIYH we can interpret the

relationship as trust building. Through acceptance,

rejection, denial and then acceptance again the trust is

established. The pulling and tugging happened all the way

and ended by mutual acceptance and trust. This is the

same process that happened between me and Evald.

Through work and mutual projects we reached this kind of

trust that enables the person to hand over whatever

he/she thinks precious to the other without fears or

doubts. That is because one knows that the other is

worthy of trust. This feeling of trust combined with thefeeling of knowing someone who is worthy of trust has its

Sufi dimension in the relationship Master / apprentice as

well as in a relationship between 2 Sufis. This can be

illustrated by lots of tales of almost all the faiths (51).

They all elucidate how some one can see the capabilities

of another person, even if this other is not aware of that.

Trust in the capabilities is another level of trust. It is trustin yourself as well as trusting the other. This level of trust

merits some detailing in the story of the handing over.

Music as an art form represents the pure form of artistic

expression (52). Perception of music relies totally upon the

feelings. In trying to translate the Arabic play into a

performance I was advised by Magda Mounir (53) the

actress who will play the shop owner in the Egyptian

production of TMIYH to use life music played by a luteplayer. This idea transcended the whole concept of the

performance and gave it a universal dimension. Not only

because lute is a common instrument in both the oriental

as well as the occidental music(54) but also because

through music and songs we can observe the growth and

development of the relationship between the characters.

Needless to say it will add to the entertainment of the

audience. The concept of the music as a narrative tool


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gives the idea of trust in the capabilities a broader

perspective. Here intuition replaces logic and trust

becomes as pure as music itself.

This transfers the idea of trust to trust in humanity itself.

Trust that sees no borders and rejects the notion of

conflicts of civilizations. I think we utterly need this kind of

trust in this time of hatred and war and decline of all kind

of values. I think also that this trust can be found in the

making of TMIYH into an Arabic play to be performed in a

theatre festival in La Paz capital of Bolivia.

For isn't it beautiful to have an Arabic theatre companyperforming in a Latin American country a play written by a

European author?

Isn't that the essence of the good side of the concept of

globalization? A side that we must see and encourage.

* The latest play by Evald Flisar. Translated into Arabic by

Ossama Elkaffash

Ossama Elkaffash

Zagreb 4th /8/2011


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Footnotes:

1- Ravinjak , Vili Deconstructing the myth of romantic

love, Tristan & Iseult, Goldhawk Press, London, 1994 page

91

2- ibid page 91

3- The late Dr Saleh Saad the Egyptian director & scholar

described theatre of Evald Flisar as "a theatre that revives

the role of the actor on stage" - Theatre Magazine, Cairo

May 2005.

Interview about his direction of Nora Nora.

2005--- .

4- The concept of the theatrical has been always anillusive concept. It is defined linguistically as: Of, relating

to, or suitable for dramatic performance or the theater.

(the free dictionary by farlax

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/theatricality) . American

professors of drama and performing arts Thomas

Postlewait & Tracy Davis defined it as "a sign empty of

meanings and a meaning of all signs" (in the book edited

by them :Theatricallity. Cambridge University press 2003)


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-31-3-2009

Also Shafiq , Sobhy "the history of the pharaonic theatre"

http://egyptartsacademy.kenanaonline.com/topics/58246/posts/218803

-. .

11- The main theory of cultural anthropology of

C.L.Strauss is based upon the idea of duality of Culture /

Nature . This is well expressed in his major work "mythologique".

12- see Joseph Campell , The Masks of God vol.1 primitive

mythology page 139 and after.

LONDON : SECKER & WARBURG : 1960

13- The myth of Isis the mother goddess in Pharaonic

Mythology is a good example here. Seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis

14- see Joseph Campell , The Masks of God vol.4 creative

mythology page 42 and after Penguin compass.

15- I translated into Arabic the following works of Evald

Flisar

1- Tales of wandering 2004

2- Nora Nora 2005

3- The eleventh planet 2005

4- Tomorrow 2006

5- Anthology of slovene short stories ( 2 stories)

2007


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6- My Father s dreams 2007

7- Antigone Now 2010

8- Take me into your hand 2011

16- Page 6 in the soft copy of Take me into your hand. The

dialogue goes as follows:

IZTOK: I have three grown-up sons. They send me

Christmas cards. I may have grandchildren, but I

have not been informed.

MAJA: Does that hurt?

IZTOK: Not as much as my back. Which hurts all the

time?

MAJA: What do you appreciate in a woman?

IZTOK: Cleverness. Tolerance. Imagination.

MAJA: Are you happy?

17- See S.S. Nash, introduction in collected plays of Evald

Flisar, page 13. Texture press. New York

18- " " 2004

19- "" 2005

20- Jorge Luis Borges has used the theme of the journey

almost in all his writtings whither prose or poetry. The

Theme of the teaching and learnin or Master/ apprentice is

also utilised by him as for example in his short story

repentenance (el repentimiento in spanish) from his short

story collection ElAlif.


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21- In his introduction to his famous short story collection

The gardin of forking paths ("El Jardn de senderos que

se bifurcan" Spanish title 1941 ) Borges expressed utter

dispise to books. See ficciones prologo pagina 6.

22- This is a prayer of the prophet Mohamed. See

http://tabalkhater.barzan.ws/pages/p004.html

23- Gabriel Zaid wrote "The human race publishes a book

every thirty seconds" and he further argued that most

poeple are intersted in writing books not readin them. See

So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age

of Abundance.

24- http://geeska.mountada.biz/t103-topic

25- Socrates guiding rule " Know Thyself" is probably one

of the most used quotations and also can be seen as the

mantra of all kinds of psychological therapies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself#By_Plato

26- Mahmoud Hassan Ismail 1910-1977 a very important

Arab poet from Egypt. Has 14 collections of poetry. He is

considered to be one of the pillars of the romantic

movements.

http://www.adab.com/modules.php?

name=Sh3er&doWhat=ssd&shid=520

http://www.marefa.org/index.php/%D9%85%D8%AD

%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AF_%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86_

%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A

%D9%84

http://medhatfoda.jeeran.com/m3th/adb

%203th/3tha4.htm

http://www.arabicnadwah.com/articles/ismael-shusha.htm


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27- The point of articulation is a medical concept where 2

bones are joined together with a joint.

http://books.google.hr/books?id=YyOCem-

151sC&pg=PA367&lpg=PA367&dq=point+of+articulation

+

+in+medicine&source=bl&ots=CcP8x2Gq4i&sig=Qpa3EE

C_Qt-

G3NE_XXBtpGVQOOQ&hl=hr&ei=10M8TuXkNo7BswbdlfEp

&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved

=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=point%20of

%20articulation%20%20in%20medicine&f=false

It is also used in phonetics the location at which two

speech organs approach or come together in producing a

speech sound, as in the contact of the tongue and the

teeth to form a dental sound. Also called place of

articulation.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/point+of+articulati

on

I use the concept to denote the point in a text where

another text is used or refered to.

28- The poem is in the complete works of MHI volume 1

page 294

General authority for book- Cairo 2004

2942004

The first 2 verses can be translated as follows


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Poetry if heard by the Jinn , they will pray with their souls

If the its whisper enters in a pub the drunk will pray and

the cups will say halliloja

29- The other level of consciousness is well documented

whither in near death cases and their testimonies or in

other experiences using drugs or even rituals. Carlos

castaneda in his book The teachings of Don Juan and Carl

Rogers in his book a way of being has spoken extensively

about it.

30- The poem "prayer" is written 1938 from his collectionof poetry " the king"

http://www.adab.com/modules.php?

name=Sh3er&doWhat=shqas&qid=77471&r=&rc=0


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It can be translated as follows

Come as a prayer ..

Come as a prayer soften by Asceticism of a monk in

his cell

Come as god s providence for us given to the being

throuh revelations

Come thirsty like wounds while the cup of love is

mourning and poetry is a broken flute

You are an ingenious tune in my mouth and I am in

god s gardens a nightingale!

31- MHI has used the image of a moving spirit and he is

adressing another one

In his poem JLB has used the image of some that hasalready left and is now in the center of the labyrinth while

he is also adressing another one

The writings left behind by those whomYour fears

implore wont save you;You are not the others and

you see yourselfNow at the center of the labyrinth

woven32- in the Theogony of Hesiod , lines 147- 206

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm

33- One definition of book is the total available knowledge

and experience that can be brought to bear on a task or

problem. Here it is clearly the vector of knowledge in time.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/book

34- Les Fleurs du Mal was first translated into Arabic by afriend of MHI and a great romantic poet Dr. Ibrahim Nagui.


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IN & MHI were member in the same poetry society . Apollo

group.

http://medhatfoda.jeeran.com/m3th/adb

%203th/3tha4.htm

35- Miller, James E., Jr. Walt Whitman. New York: Twayne

Publishers, Inc. 1962.

36- There is lots of legends about the wisdom of the old,

like for example the legend of the golden cup on the

mountain.

See http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0981.html

37- Ravinjak , Vili op.cit. page92

38- The famous myth of Isis , Osiris and their son Horus

http://www.egyptianmyths.net/mythisis.htm

--

http://www.philae.nu/philae/IsisOsiris.html

39- For more about the history of performing art and

theatre in Pharaonic Egypt see

http://kenanaonline.com/users/Arabmedia/topics/64383/po

sts/109617

also

1817-- 2000

40- see Elkaffash , Ossama The art of translation and

concept building in

Concept building an epistomological study & practical


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examples

127-

-1998

41- see Elkaffash , Ossama lingustic arts in Concepts of

beauty ' an Islamic episteme

57--

-1996

42- see

http://kaffasharticles.blogspot.com/2006/03/translation-

from-slovene-to-arabic.html

Op. Cit.

43- see --2009-

http://el-kalema.com/AR/index.php?

page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&produ

ct_id=299&category_id=38&manufacturer_id=0&option=c

om_virtuemart&Itemid=48&vmcchk=1&Itemid=48

Also

http://kaffasharticles.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post.html

44- The 3rd language is an idea proposed by the Egyptian

writer Tawfiq Alhakim (1898-1987) as a solution for the

duality of the Arabic lanuage. See also

--

2005


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54- Lute can refer generally to any plucked string

instrument with neck and a deep round back, or more

specifically to an instrument from the family of European

lutes.

The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oudboth

descend from a common ancestor via diverging

evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of

instrumental music from the medieval to the late baroque

eras and was probably the most important instrument for

secular music in the renaissance.

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute/lute.html

essay by ossama elkaffash on the new play by evald flisar "take me into your hands"

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