{"id":110601,"date":"2021-01-10T18:50:28","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T01:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110601"},"modified":"2021-01-10T18:50:28","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T01:50:28","slug":"t-s-eliot-a-response-to-kumar-davids-dislike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/01\/10\/t-s-eliot-a-response-to-kumar-davids-dislike\/","title":{"rendered":"T. S. Eliot : A response to Kumar David\u2019s \u201cdislike\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D.\u00a0 Mahindapala<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

I like\nreading Prof. Kumar David\u2019s (KD) column in the Sunday Island<\/em>, even\nthough the contents lean heavily towards Marxist mantras which have passed its\nused-by-date long before the fall of the Berlin Wall. What grabbed my \nattention was last Sunday\u2019s (2\/1\/21) column which was a foray into English\nliterature. As a bibliophile I agree whole-heartedly with his love of \nclassics and even with some of his likes and dislikes. For instance, one can\u2019t\nexpect everyone  to enjoy James Joyce\u2019s Finnegans Wake,<\/em> let alone \nread it. If I remember correct, Regi Siriwardena took great pride in reading it\nthough Prof. E. F. C. Ludowyk, the Grand Master of English Lit at Peradeniya,\ndid not like the text.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KD\u2019s column\nindicates that he has very strong  likes and dislikes, vibrating sometimes\nwith visceral hate. He says he loathes\u201d the Bagavad Gita. <\/em>A modest word\nlike dislike\u201d, disagree\u201d, I can understand. But loathe\u201d? Isn\u2019t that a bit\ntoo harsh a word for a priggish moralist like KD? In any case, how can one\nloathe\u201d the  Gita \u2013 <\/em>one of the  world\u2019s greatest spiritual\nsongs that debates the profound moral issue faced by man in the battlefield :\nto kill or not to kill. I can understand Prabhakaran loathing it. But\nKD???  Incredible!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The central\nissue in the Gita<\/em> is to define the moral duty of man. Finding that,\nparticularly in times of crises, causes mind-bending agonies. It is the same\nquestion posed by Shakespeare in Hamlet<\/em> : to  be or not to be.\nArjuna and Hamlet are both morally disturbed individuals standing confused in the\nmiddle of a rotten state, not knowing what form their action should take to\nmeet the challenges facing them. Arjuna agonising over the duty facing him \u2013\nthe duty of  killing \u2013 asks Krishna how can he kill his kith and kin.\nHamlet too is agonising over a similar issue. He has to clean  up the\nrotten, the incestuous, the chaotic state which means eliminating  his\nkith and  kin in power, with killing  if necessary. It is a duty cast\nupon him by his father\u2019s ghost who seeks revenge. He is tortured and paralysed\nby his own doubts and questions. Should he allow the rotten status quo to\ncontinue, or should he take up the sword and go into action wherever it may\nlead? What is his moral duty? That is the question.   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KD, however,\ndoes not give any reason for loathing the Gita<\/em>. It sounded somewhat like\na personal reaction as if he was  a Jew reacting  to the sight of a\nMuslim, or vice versa in the Middle East. If he doesn\u2019t like the text, may I\nrequest him to read the introduction to  the version edited by the Indian\nphilosopher S. Radhakrishna, who was also the President of India later. He\nilluminates it  with his brilliant intellect so lucidly that in the end\nyou will remember his introduction better  than the Gita<\/em>. His\nthought-provoking insights are memorable. For instance, he surveys the\nreligious field broadly and points  out  that neither Jesus nor\nBuddha gave answers to questions  about some of the core issues that had\nbaffled philosophers, religious leaders, scientists etc., down the ages. Buddha\ndiscouraged those went  in search of the origins and the ends of  the\nuniverse  or life. He dismissed them as irrelevant to the existential\ncrises faced by man in  his cycle in samsara. Jesus too, he points \nout, was silent when Pontius Pilate asked: What is truth? If KD doesn\u2019t want to\nread the text I am sure he would enjoy Radhakrishna\u2019s introduction.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I come to\nhis literary criticism of T. S. Eliot. I concede that he is entitled to his\ntastes and I must respect his choices. But when he came to Eliot he went beyond\nexpressing  his dislike\u201d. He accused Eliot of being pretentious\u201d. \nIt amounts to a value judgement. He is putting  down Eliot as an\nostentatious show-off, exhibitionist, with  his verbal fireworks. It is\ncriticism which is open for criticism. Here KD steps into an area which, I\nthink, is not his domain. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither in\nhis personal life nor in writing the poetic masterpieces of the 20th<\/sup>\ncentury did Eliot show any signs of pretentiousness.\u201d He became a very\nfastidious Englishman, with a bowler hat an umbrella, after he abandoned\nthe  loud  and brash  American culture into which he was born,\nno doubt. He was very Catholic in his literary tastes, though he  did not\ngo that far in his religion. He ended up in the Anglican High Church which was\nthe nearest to the Catholic church. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I value Eliot\nas the most intellectual of all English poets. No other poet has gone down the\npath of giving the emotional equivalent of thought, of deep philosophical\nthought, as Eliot. He could fill hard, recondite thoughts with feelings and\nlead you to meaning  and understanding  his vision and his\nmeditations. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I am\ngetting  far ahead of the issue at hand. I have to first deal with KD\ndismissing entire body of Eliot\u2019s work as  pretentious\u201d. He \ndoes  this  by taking the last words in Eliot\u2019s Naming of  a\nCat<\/em>, a poem that plays with words which eventually became a musical\nsensation  after Andrew Lloyd Webber took those words and gave it a\nlyrical lift that entertained millions. But KD dismisses it somewhat\nsuperciliously in one line which goes like this : I also dislike Eliot,\nwho  is pretentious: his ineffable, effable, effanineffable, deep and\ninscrutable singular\u201d game. Period.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here Eliot is\ndeliberately playing with words. There is no pretentiousness here. Only a master\nof the language could play with words the way Eliot  did in Cats<\/em>.\nBesides, what was the necessity for the acknowledged poet of the century to be\npretentious? Whom was he going to impress? He wrote like all great writers to\ngive meaning to the mysteries of life. Eliot was not the kind  of poet who\nwould use words to be  pretentious\u201d.  Eliot played with these words\nas if he was playing with a kitten: lightly, gently, fondly and delicately. To\nget a feel of the words let\u2019s view the full poem before going any further. Here\nit is: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Naming Of\nCats <\/strong>by T. S. Eliot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
\nIt isn\u2019t just one of your holiday games;
\nYou may think at first I\u2019m as mad as a hatter
\nWhen I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
\nFirst of all, there\u2019s the name that the family use daily,
\nSuch as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
\nSuch as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey\u2013
\nAll of them sensible everyday names.
\nThere are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
\nSome for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
\nSuch as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter\u2013
\nBut all of them sensible everyday names.
\nBut I tell you, a cat needs a name that\u2019s particular,
\nA name that\u2019s peculiar, and more dignified,
\nElse how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
\nOr spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
\nOf names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
\nSuch as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
\nSuch as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
\nNames that never belong to more than one cat.
\nBut above and beyond there\u2019s still one name left over,
\nAnd that is the name that you never will guess;
\nThe name that no human research can discover\u2013
\nBut THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
\nWhen you notice a cat in profound meditation,
\nThe reason, I tell you, is always the same:
\nHis mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
\nOf the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
\nHis ineffable effable
\nEffanineffable
\nDeep and inscrutable singular Name.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing\nthat strikes in this poem  is its whimsicality. The title is whimsical.\nThe theme is  whimsical. And the words are whimsical to suit the title and\nthe theme. But to KD all of it is pretentious\u201d. Millions  who enjoyed the\ntheme and the words in the musical Cats<\/em> did not think so. The best of\ncritics of either the musical or  the text did not think so. Those who had\nviewed the words in its context did not think so. What can poor  Eliot do\nif KD does not know how to put his words in context?  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take, for instance, the following lines:<\/strong>
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in rapt contemplation<\/em>
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of<\/em>
his name: <\/em>
His ineffable effable <\/em>
Effanineffable<\/em>
Deep and inscrutable\u00a0 singular Name.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cat lovers (I\u2019m\none of them) can relate to the cat in profound meditation\u201d  and <\/strong>His mind is\nengaged in rapt contemplation.\u201d <\/em>In all seriousness, I tried\nto understand  his thinking from different angles. Though I tried I failed\nto see any pretentiousness\u201d in these playful lines.  The staccato beat of\nthe names \u2013 Plato, Admetus, Electra \u2013 alone suggests that he was playing with\nwords which goes with the whimsicality of the poem. <\/strong>The musicality in the\nsyllabic rhythms was captured in several dramatic and cinematic versions,\nstarting from Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1981. It was not meant to be serious poem\nlike The Waste Land<\/em> where he took the stentorian tone. In  it he\nwas looking  down  upon humanity and asking: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the roots that\nclutch, what branches grow  out of this stony rubbish?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What he saw from his\nOlympian heights was<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,<\/em>
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, <\/em>
And dry stone no sound of water.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the Dante of the 20th<\/sup>\ncentury guiding humanity through the modern purgatory. He was dissecting their\nsouls and exposing the diseased, worm-eaten core. To him the 20th<\/sup>\ncentury was the arid waste land. Even the grim scene he paints of the modern\nmetropolis is awesome.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unreal City,<\/em>
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,<\/em>
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,<\/em>
I had not thought death had undone so many<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A version of these are\nlines found in Dante\u2019s text. Eliot borrowed  it and made it is his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I<\/strong>t is clear that in\nthis  poem he is using words playfully, as if he  was playing\nchild-like games in his mind. Those who saw the adaptation in the movie CATS\nwill realise  how the rhythmic words  tripped off the tongues\nfluidly. The words were made  to play around with sound. Eliot was toying\nwith each word and name of cats. Eliot touched a chord in me when he spoke of\nthe cat\u2019s meditative\u201d thoughts. I have been fascinated by the mysterious,\nmeditative moods of cats. They are such soothing, calming, relaxing pets to\nhave around. When they leap like a feather into bed and sleep, snoring, next to\nyou the whole world seems to be at rest. The soothing sound of peace comes down\nwith each gentle snore. My wife and I still cry for Bubby\u201d (I wonder what\nEliot would think of that name?) we lost in Melbourne a few years ago. Parting\nwas so unbearable that I am determined never to adopt a cat. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think\nI\u2019ve said enough about Eliot and cats. I shall now await KD\u2019s response to\nunderstand why Eliot is pretentious\u201d according to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D.\u00a0 Mahindapala I like reading Prof. Kumar David\u2019s (KD) column in the Sunday Island, even though the contents lean heavily towards Marxist mantras which have passed its used-by-date long before the fall of the Berlin Wall. What grabbed my  attention was last Sunday\u2019s (2\/1\/21) column which was a foray into English literature. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}