In the realm of contemporary poetry, diverse voices emerge from various corners of the globe, enhancing literature with their unique perspectives and distinctive styles. Today, we spotlight three remarkable poets who embody their respective nations: Mexico, China, and Greece.
Jeanette Tiburcio Marquez from Mexico
Jeanette Tiburcio Márquez stands as a prominent figure in Mexican poetry. Her oeuvre is marked by a profound sensitivity to human emotions and a close affinity with the culture and traditions of Mexico. Through her verses, Jeanette delves into themes of identity, love, and resistance, providing a compelling voice to the everyday experiences of her surroundings in support of the children and youth of the world.
Ma Yongbo of China
Ma Yongbo is a distinguished Chinese poet whose oeuvre encapsulates the cultural richness of his nation. With a remarkable talent for merging the traditional with the contemporary, Ma Yongbo explores themes that span nature and philosophy, infusing his poetry with both ancient wisdom and a modern outlook. His work encourages readers to contemplate their surroundings and their role within the world.
Eva Petropoulou Lianou of Greece
Eva Petropoulou Lianou is a Greek poet celebrated for her capacity to encapsulate the essence of Greek mythology and history within her writing. Her poetry is rich with vivid imagery and symbolism, guiding readers on a journey through time and space. Eva employs her work to delve into themes of hope, transformation, and the resilience of the human spirit, advocating for childhood, evoking values, and inspiring those who engage with her words.
It is not the peaks that fall, but the hearts that falter.
This day will pass too, no day lasts forever,
My dear, do not grieve, wipe away your tears.
Look, we have reached the spring,
Look, March has entered this world!
Look!…
Shamsiya Khudoynazarova Turumovna (February 15, 1973) was born in Uzbekistan. She studied at the Faculty of Journalism of Tashkent State University (1992-1998). She took first place in the competition of young republican poets (1999). Four collections of her poems have been published in Uzbekistan: “Leaf of the Heart” (1998), “Roads to You” (1998), “The Sky in My Chest” (2007), “Lovely Melodies” (2013). She wrote poetry in more than ten genres. She translated some Russian and Turkish poets into Uzbek, as well as a book by Yunus Emro. She lived as a political immigrant with her family for five years in Turkey and five years in Ukraine. Currently Shamsiya lives in Switzerland. She is married and the mother of five children, and has come back to writing and translation after ten years.
Ozod Sharafiddinov: The role of the writer in translation science and Uzbek criticism
Abstract: In Uzbek literature, many accomplished artists are recognized not only in Uzbekistan, but all over the world, and their works are studied as an important part of the scientific and literary world. Ozod Sharafiddinov is a scientist who made a great contribution to the development of Uzbek literature and the art of translation. His scientific and practical work in the fields of literary criticism, translation theory and artistic translation introduced a new approach to some important directions. This article analyzes the life and scientific activity of Ozod Sharafiddinov and his contribution to the fields of translation and literary criticism.
In modern literary studies, the development of literary text analysis methods, theory of translation and literary criticism is closely related to the scientific heritage of mature scientists. The scientific researches of Ozod Sharafiddinov, who formed a unique theoretical approach in Uzbek literary criticism, are of great importance not only in the national but also in the context of world literary studies. He was born on March 1, 1929 in the village of Okhunkainar near Kokan. After graduating from school in Tashkent, he graduated from the Faculty of Philology of the Central Asian State University, completed post-graduate studies in Moscow and received the degree of candidate of science. One of the most famous works of Ozod Sharafiddinov is “Time. Heart. Poetry” included the literary critical researches of the writer related to the problems of poetry in those times. The work also contains literary and critical articles written by the writer about Uzbek poetry and its situation, literary works are studied from the point of view of the laws of art. His research is based on the analysis of national ideals and literary laws.
Ozod Sharafiddinov’s ideas about the creative personality and his place in artistic works are interpreted in the work “Literary Etudes”. His works such as “First Miracle”, “Talent-People’s Property”, “Literature-People’s Property” and “In Search of Beauty” covered the important issues of Uzbek poetry, prose and criticism one by one.
The first period is the years of Soviet, and the second is the years after independence. In his books “Independence Devotees”, “Sardaftar satrlar”, “On the Paths of Spiritual Perfection”, the writer analyzed with a new look and a new approach the work of his great ancestors, such as Abdurauf Fitrat, Abdulkhamid Chulpan, Osman Nasir, Oybek, Abdulla Kahhar, Gafur Ghulam. Especially, the writer’s research on the works of Chulpan deserve special recognition. For example, in the work “Understanding Chulpan”, the writer analyzes the complex path of the new Uzbek criticism in the 20th century, and sheds light on the work of many critics from the point of view of Chulpan’s work. The place of Uzbek literature in the world and its scientific and spiritual roots are studied and the book “The Happiness of Realizing Creativity” is considered as the peak of creativity of Ozod Sharafiddinov. At this point, it is necessary to pay special attention to the legacy of the writer in the field of translation.
Because the writer introduced the concept of criticism to the art of translation. “Confession” by Leo Tolstoy, “The Chemist” by P. Coelho, “Stop the plane, I’m falling!” by A. Sevela, which are loved by world readers as masterpieces of world literature His works were translated into Uzbek by Ozod Sharafiddinov and reached the hands of Uzbek book lovers. Of course, all the writer’s creative works, artistic and scientific works, as well as translations, played a special role in raising the thinking of our people and enriching our national literature.
Literary criticism: an in-depth analysis of a literary text. Ozod Sharafiddinov saw literary criticism not only as a means of evaluating the work, but also as a method of studying the internal system of the text and interpreting it in a socio-philosophical context. His research covers a number of areas. For example, in the structuralism of the artistic text, the system of literary images and their dynamics, the compositional structure of the work and its aesthetic impact are analyzed. The direction of ideological-aesthetic harmony is very important and includes the analysis of the national and universal significance of the work, the evaluation of the personality of the writer and his creative principles. Each work has its own language, style, nature, and the study of the influence of language and style on the content of the text is a special direction in the analysis of the work.
According to Ozod Sharafiddinov’s theory, literary criticism is not only a means of looking for the shortcomings of a work, but also a means of revealing its artistic-aesthetic, philosophical and social essence. Scientist emphasized how important it is to maintain the balance between the originality and the translation. O. Sharafiddinov developed fundamental scientific approaches in the development of the Uzbek translation school. He analyzed the problems encountered in the translation process and their solutions. According to his theory, translation theory should rely on several important factors.
Faithfulness to the original and maintaining the harmony of national thinking, realizing the importance of the translator’s role in re-creating the text are among these. In fact, the work of translators is very important not only in literature, but also in the world community and international friendship. Because cultural codes are transformed in the process of translation. International communication is ensured through artistic translation. Based on the scientific views of the writer, in today’s translation practice, the combination of faithfulness to the original and national thinking is seen as an important methodological principle. Today’s scientific researches show that Sharafiddinov’s approaches play an extremely important role in the development of modern literary criticism and translation theory. Based on his scientific concepts, new trends such as deep research of semiotic and linguistic foundations of translation and enrichment of literary criticism with philosophical thinking entered the literature.
Summary. The scientific legacy of Ozod Sharafiddinov left an indelible mark on the development of Uzbek literary studies and translation theory. He discovered literary criticism as not just a tool for evaluating a work, but a scientific approach that reveals its inner essence. Despite the fact that the artistic works he analyzed reflected the socio-cultural environment of his time, he also gave a guide to modern literary processes by studying their internal structures.
According to the writer, every created artistic work should be considered as a part of the spiritual heritage of humanity, different peoples and different destinies, along with being a product of the thinking of its time. The writer’s creativity and love for translation praised the fact that the translator is not only a technical creator who translates the text into another language, but also a creative person who creates a bridge between two cultures.
After all, the process of translation is not a simple change of language, but an art of keeping the balance of meaning and aesthetic harmony. By further developing the fields of literary criticism and translation theory, researchers following in the footsteps of Ozod Sharafiddinov not only contribute to the recognition of Uzbek literature on a global scale, but also serve to expand the boundaries of scientific thinking. His scientific legacy does not lose its relevance no matter how fast time passes, but on the contrary, it creates a solid ground for new research.
Interview: For the sake of this interview I’m going to refer to you as Mrs. Reynolds.
Melba: Oh, fine. Whatever.
Interview: You’ll settle for that?
Melba: Get on with it. Please.
Interview: Tell me about what happened yesterday.
Melba: That’s it? Are you serious?
Interview: Everything you can remember.
Melba: It was a beautiful day, I guess.
Interviewer: The weather?
Melba: You know I hate this season.
Interviewer: You hate all the seasons, these days. You only notice in the summer.
Melba: Still, the content was beautiful. I woke up at—
Interviewer: I’m more interested in how it ended.
Melba: In sleep, naturally.
Interviewer: And before that?
Melba: Michael barbequed. The meat came out perfectly, not too well-done. There were some fireflies in the garden.
Interviewer: I don’t care about the animals eaten or alive. Those are trivial, incidental. The details distract from the underlying truth.
Melba: I thought you wanted to know everything. Can’t you filter what you decide is important?
Interviewer: Try to focus on the subtleties. What no one but you had empirical access to.
Melba: Such as?
Interviewer: I think you know what you’re not mentioning.
Melba: I woke up. I went to work—
Interviewer: Tried to ignore it. Won’t work, won’t work.
Melba: What?
Interviewer: Boredom boredom crushing boredom. You notice your heart pumping. You’re aware when your lungs release. These things are supposed to be autonomic, but your brain sends the wrong signal. Boredom. Pump. Boredom. Breathe.
Melba: No, I like my job. It took me years to get here.
Interviewer: Not there. Not any one place. In the lining between. Underneath the perfect meat, boredom is a seasoning.
Melba: I love my children. So I love my life. I can’t be bored when I’m filled with love, I can’t. I love my children.
Interviewer: As you love your husband, Michael Reynolds?
Melba: Yes.
Interviewer: He’s someone you protect and fight for. You feel no vaginal passion and fill this gaping hole with any object you can touch. You look at fireflies and try to make them exciting. You watch your children chase them, and you watch yourself watching them. How idyllic, how artful, you force yourself to think. How lucky I must therefore be, as if life were math and you had the winning numbers.
Melba: Happiness isn’t simple, of course. But neither is its absence. There’s no vacuum.
Interviewer: I’m not suggesting you’re completely unhappy, Mrs. Reynolds.
Melba: Melba.
Interviewer: Merely less so than perhaps you should be.
Melba: What, then, should I be? Who should I be?
Interviewer: Someone who remembers when her last orgasm was. (Pause) My god, you do remember, don’t you? And you count the expanding days.
Melba: There’s always a blank spot.
Interview: Yours will grow until it consumes you, for you know you’re aging and pretend that all progress is good. You’re not quite jealous of yourself at 18, not yet. You remember her pain too clearly.
Melba: I always ache after the orgasm. All consensual sex leaves me sore, broken. My constitution wasn’t built to sustain the rush. The subsequent crash is too frequent, too immediate, to justify the high. And it always comes in that order: First good, then bad, with the latter more intense. It never goes in the other order, things never get better. The initial pleasure is invalidated by the overwhelming sharpness. And then: Despair sets in.
Interviewer: That sounds very clinical. Good for you that you’ve articulated your emptiness in a way that makes sense to you. How cleverly you’ve talked yourself out of what you choose to miss. You still miss it, though. You’re not a robot.
Melba: No. I’m definitely not a robot.
Interviewer: Still, you abstain from both peak and valley, turn your life into a flatline. Who gave you the authority to take that away from yourself? To will yourself, if not happy, then old?
Melba: Dread.
Interviewer: Dread is not an authority. It is a liar, even when proves itself right. How is that working out for you, by the way? Are you living without dread, now that you’ve essentially defined yourself by it? (pause)When was the last time you had enjoyable sex?
Melba: I took my children to the park. That is what sex is for.
Interviewer: Not for you? Is pleasure so shallow just because it touches skin?
Melba: For the children, I submitted. As often as it took.
Interview: And every day since is a “lovely” ordeal.
Melba: You should see them, illuminated by the setting sun, following fireflies off of my porch.
Interview: Well, sure. You have to notice the little buzzing things, enjoy each slowly dying second. This is what unhappy optimists do. They pretend the sacrifice is worth it.
Melba: What—what is the point of this interview?
Interviewer: I am conducting research and contrasting you to your alternate.
Melba: Who never married Michael Reynolds?
Interviewer: Correct.
Melba: Which one? There must be an infinite number of scenarios, literally infinite, where I don’t marry Michael. Am I to compete with all of them?
Interviewer: No, although you’re right that forks beget forks, I’m only observing two possibilities. This man or that man, zero or one. I’m judging you against Mrs. Robert Kane.
Melba: (pause)Bobby.
Interviewer: Do you remember that Christmas party when he came back into your life? Or potentially did?
Melba: Daily. But I’m sure I think of everything daily.
Interviewer: Don’t lie to your sub-consciousness. It never works.
Melba: I had already moved in with Michael when Bobby and I…reconnected. By chance at that party. I never would hurt him by pursuing other men.
Interviewer: Why not? There’s no such thing as being pre-married. In order for marriage to mean anything, you can’t give it away too early. But you thought you were more committed to a very specific universe than was the actual case. You were wrong. Cosmically, fundamentally. Atomically.
Melba: You can’t possibly know that. Not as an absolute.
Interviewer: At the rate you’re going you’ll wind up as lonely and sexually frustrated as you were when you were 18, only this time you’ll have no hope to look to. The thing you’ll most consistently dream of is the sound of your husband’s breathing, never knowing if you’re awake or not. Your good dreams will be the cruelest of false positives. That you’re lying next to another human will do nothing but make your loneliness OBSCENE.
All this because you could never recover from the hurt Bobby accidentally threw at you at 18. You could never give real love a second chance, for fear it would leave again. As if Bobby hadn’t grown up at all. So you settled for the plastic that would never decay. When did beauty become so frightening? Around the same time you confused orgasms with torture? You just want life boring so you’ll be less afraid of death. How morbid. You let death win.
I see Mrs. Kane, the one who chose more wisely. I’m sorry to invalidate everything you’ve worked for, but that’s the point—Her smile is less forced. Thus she’s the one I choose to let life breathe into, to close the gap between potential and forever.
Melba: I love my children. Michael’s children.
Interviewer: Take as long as you need to mourn them. But back they go, no harm done.
Melba: How can you say that? You’re not the one who has to go back to the age of 29, and break up with a man you genuinely love. God, I have to look him in the eye. I have to watch his face.
Interviewer: No doubt this will hurt. But its prevention isn’t worth a lifetime of mediocre fulfillment, which won’t hurt so much as itch in a place you can’t reach. That would be too high an avoidance cost. Tears, though, tears are cathartic, cleansing. How healthful to the body to relieve its inner conflict. (He hands her a tissue)
Melba: (She accepts it but does not take it to her face)Why would you give me this near-complete contentment only to take it away? Do my modest joys come to nothing, for being modest?
Interviewer: I care too much about you to settle for the beta version. Not when I’ve seen you in more perfect light.
Melba: Oh, Michael. My sweet Michael.
Interview: You will miss him. But you miss Bobby more now, a truth which denying fails to fix. Cognizance is better. Dissonance is a waste of your brain.
Melba: This doesn’t feel like change, it feels like death. This Melba Hazelton, this Mrs. Reynolds, is dying. I’m dying.
Interviewer: Oh, Darling. (pause) You are.
Alaina Hammond is a poet, playwright, fiction writer, and visual artist. Her poems, short stories, paintings, drawings and photographs have been published both online and in print. @alainaheidelberger on Instagram. Playwright’s note: Between One and Zero was originally produced at Manhattan Theatre Source, in June 2009. It starred Eliza Lay as Melba and Seth Lombardi as Interviewer.
