Harvest
of Gems : Manifesto
Principles of Beat translation
1.) Harvest and the English language.
All direct translations from English into the target language
WILL FAIL. The translator must create a new work in his native
language. It must be an acoustical mutation. It must be a new
WORD COLLAGE. The English language is an accoustical mutation
in its own right. Most languages are. But let's look at English.
This is the language Harvest of Gems was written in. It is basically
a combnation of French and German sounds. This sonic combination
gives English certain unusual properties. A unique language
is thus created. An absorbing combination of earth and air sounds.
The French lifts the English while the German grounds it. Very
unusual.
The ultimate result of this strange mix is a language that is
absolutely plastic. It's like rubber that can be bent into many
different shapes. Hence the POWER of the English language. Now
take a closer look at Harvest of Gems. You will detect the influence
of Jack Kerouac, one of the great American Beat writers. Kerouac
was the father of the hippies in the U.S. and he used a cool
and hip language.
This jazz English was stolen completely from American Black
English! The rythms of Africa can be felt indirectly within
the modern English slang of Jack Kerouac. Now if you look closely
at the Swyambu chapter of Harvest of Gems. Kerouac's style is
abandoned because the intellectual ideas become simply too heavy
for this particular linguistic scaffold. James Joyce comes to
the rescue. James Joyce was a linguistic revolutionary and a
cultural terrorist. He wanted to destroy the old in language
and create a new accoustical rythm. Joyce did this in ways that
are still not fully understood. Joyce begins to break into a
dream language that is normally hidden to most people and the
reader starts to see multiple parts of the collective unconscious.
Joyce attempts to echo this perception in novel ways. Something
Kerouac failed to do.
To hear Joyce and Kerouac go to www.askjeeves.com
and type in Kerouac. Go to the site: Kerouac speaks. Both Kerouac
and Joyce can be heard on this site.
2.)
Black and White Stress
What happens when Systems theory and Tantric Buddhism get fused?
You get the theory of Black and White Stress. The human mind
cannot handle complexity very well. It's tolerance is low. So
when the enviornment becomes too complex most minds have a tendency
to clampdown on complexity. This clampdown ranges from the authoritarian
to homicidal. It's the path of least resistence: Black Stress.
Some minds embrace complexity and space-out. These minds range
between anarchistic and suicidal extremes. The world's best
artists and philosophers fall prey to this danger. Kerouac is
a good example. It's a complete loss of identity. Fascists,
Communists, Multinational Capitalists, and religious fanatics
go for the Black solution. It's a rather narrow identity and
it feels safe, but it isn't. If the enviornment changes this
loss of flexibility can be fatal. The political and cultural
system can collapse overnight. 1989-1991 in Eastern Europe is
a good example of this process. What is fascinating about macro
aspects of this theory is the existence of psychic vortices
in major crossroads of the planet.
Central Europe, The Middle East, Nepal, Sotheast asia, Korea,
and central America are fusion zones for many cultures and races.
The complexity reaches White Stress levels and then becomes
beaten down by the forces of Black Stress. This STRESS FLIP
from Black to White and then back to Black is perpetual. Most
of History's wars have occured in these Stress flip zones. Political
solutions are hard
to find here.
There is no escape even in death. This is White Stress at its
most intense. Total identity loss. The mind can't handle this.
It seeks a new body and cages itself. reincarnation is simply
another manifestation of Black Stress. Is there a solution?
Yes, for individuals. The Buddah said get to NO STRESS with
meditation. No more mind, but this is harder than it sounds.
On the way to this stress-free state, the Black and White Stress
simply becomes more subtle as meditation takes the practioner
to subtler and subtler states. The clampdown and space-out become
more dangerous and harder to see. A teacher is needed. When
Gross and Subtle B&W Stress converge a fusion of humns and
demons emerges. The Nazis are a superb examplwof this sort of
conversion. As more cultures fuse into a global and digital
melting pot in the 21st century the challenges of B&W stress
on subtler levels will become more and more acute. Strange cultural
and political mutations will pop out of the psychic vortices
with good and bad
reprucussions. The cyber-age is not a paradise nor is it a living
hell. The spiritual path is the only way out of this vicious
cycle. It transcends the entire range of both Gross and Subtle.
What about the collective? How can it be saved? Individuals
can become free if they follow the Buddhist map of release,
but what of the collective? That is the role of saints. They
are masters of B&W Stress. They handle the collective mess.
They come in all walks of life. All genders and all societies
and all cultures.
3.)
Beat Translation
Most
language fusion creates a richer and more flexible form of communication.
English and French
evolved out of Latin. Hindi out of Sanskrit. This new flexibility
allows cultures to echo complex and
drastic changes in the enviornment. Beat English is the latest
example of this continuing linguistic
phenomena. Rap English too. Beat English was pre-MTV and it
was mainly for the masses. Could Beat Hindi be far behind? Beat
French? Beat Russian? Beat Chinese, beat Japanese? Beat German?
The Joycean-Beat heritage created the seeds of of a new English
mutation equivalent to the
Norman-Anglo fusion in England during the 1000-1200's. It has
just begun. Beat translation must follow this new linguistic
spirit. It allows regional languages to breathe and evolve and
to mutate to their own local beat while embracing a global conciousness
that encourages SELECTIVE BORROWING frm other competing cultures
in a friendly spirit of cooperation. Unity is maintained aswell
as diversity as distinct cultures retain their freedom to locally
evolve while maintaining a global awareness. New
combinations of souns, symbolism, meaning, and word order begin
to create greater shades of meaning necessary towards the reflection
of more complex local and global enviornments. Beat translation
is basically populist. It's for the global masses. It's a dynamic
process that creates new civilizations. It's a new word collage
that creates a discontinuity, a gap where perception can then
mutate and generate a new linguistic flow. This flow sometimes
creates a new civilization. This is the way karma operates.
Here are some final words for the translators:
l.) There should be close communication between author and translator.
The author must help the translator FEEL the text as he felt
it during its creation. But not get in the way of the translator
expressing these feelings in his new and native translation
work.
2.) There can be no direct translation. It's always a NEW WORK.
3.) The new translated work should convey the same thoughts
and emotions that arise in the original text, but with slang
and idioms of the target language.
4.) A native-like grasp of both languages is useful, but not
critical.
5.) Translators cannot edit their own work. A seperate editor
should examine both the original and newly translated text in
the name of objectivity. But he or she should understand that
the translation is basically a new linguistic experiment. A
possibly useful accoustical and cultural mutation.
6.)
A translator is a reader. He or she will filter the original
through her cultural lens and create a NEW WORK. The spirit
and feeling of the new work should remain as much as possible,
but it will be essentially a new work peculiar to the expressions
of the target language. BE YOU within the framework of the original.
GOOD
LUCK!
Michael Arthur Finberg
2.)
Black and White Stress.
3.) Beat translation
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