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Bookworm
Bookworm
2:54 AM
0
Q: Is 'narrative' an important aspect in literature? Why?

KikiI am kind of lost to answer this question these 3 days and completely cannot answer this. If you know the answer, please help me. Also, please let me know if there is an explanation from the expert. Thanks in advance!

meaning
 
user61230
3:22 AM
@Randal'Thor I'm unsure how to verbalize what I'm thinking, and I'm not sure how to compress it into a one minute review. I'm not sure it'd do it much justice if I did.
 
user61230
What it did best was very difficult to do: convey cultural context through setting and narrative. It felt very Western-oriented in some places, in that it assumed the reader knew very little about Kenyan culture, and felt very African-oriented in others. But I attribute those latter places largely to the ideas being difficult to express and communicate.
 
user61230
That ultimately just means those places which stuck out as unexplained and unexamined are more worth thinking about, because they're intrinsically not Western-centric.
 
user61230
It left with me a very strong impression that, at least in Kenya, though an implicit thesis says worldwide, when the British entered and suppressed culture, that suppression was multifaceted. First, there's the obvious active suppression of the culture. But more subtly, second, the new culture starts to become a touchstone by which they understood their own culture.
 
user61230
And in a low-grade sense, it seems like this induced a lot of stress on the society - that there was an emergent conflict between which culture should be used as a basis of understanding. And that ultimately, those cultures became intertwined, because to push back against the British invading culture was to frame yourself within it.
 
user61230
It's an uncomfortable point, because it suggests that while active cultural destruction does occur, the stronger cultural destruction occurs simply as a byproduct of invasiveness.
 
user61230
3:28 AM
That seems, to me, to be a major point. And the book does an incredible job of conveying it.
 
user61230
I'm reluctant to make a structural or prosaic analysis of the text, because the mode of storytelling is grounded in one much different than ours. It was, at points, clumsy and inelegant. But it didn't conform to the way I expected description to occur, in many ways. So I'm not sure what I'd normally pick up on as "clumsy" writing is really such in this book.
 
user61230
If the purpose of the text is to convey its message, and it does it in a unique and effective, but normally criticized way, can it really be criticized for it?
 
user61230
So I'll absolutely defend the way it's written as well, with the caveat that I don't know enough to think about the words and text. It was clearly well-enough done to deliver its many points to me.
 
user61230
I'm also accepting at face value a number of things which I might normally question. This being the only piece of Kenyan literature I've read is contraindicated for useful analysis, except in limited areas.
 
user61230
It is even possible that I've missed the point entirely, though I don't consider it particularly likely.
 
user61230
3:40 AM
I will say that the characters are unique, with powerful internal conflicts, that feel sculpted to match both the story and its message.
 
Bookworm
Bookworm
10:07 AM
0
Q: Slaughterhouse 5: What is the purpose of aliens and time travels in the novel?

user2343I think it must have something to do with the subject of free will and how war can mess up one's head. What do you think?

poetry inspiration history-of-literature
 
 
2 hours later…
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
11:53 AM
@Zyera Thanks for this! It sounds really interesting.
I've now got hold of the book, though who knows how much of it I'll be able to read before the end of the month (or the year, for that matter).
 
Gallifreyan
Gallifreyan
Spider sloth, spider sloth. (Photo: @SlothCon)
Tweeted by NaturelsWeird on June 6, 2017 at 2:19 PM
#InternationalSlothDay
 
 
3 hours later…
New Topic Challenge Suggestion
New Topic Challenge Suggestion
2:38 PM
0
A: Suggest your Lit.SE reading challenges here!

HamletMary Gaitskill Mary Gaitskill is a fantastic author. She writes about topics such as sexual assault and gender relationships. It's hard for me to describe her writing, but here's a review: What Men Talk About When They Talk About Mary Gaitskill. This would be a topic challenge that would invol...

 
Gallifreyan
Gallifreyan
Interesting suggestion, @Hamlet.
 
Hamlet
Hamlet
3:24 PM
I mean, people should read Gaitskill regardless of whether she's chosen as the topic challenge.
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
Roll up, roll up, get your Research Assistant badges now!
 
Gallifreyan
Gallifreyan
4:17 PM
@Randal'Thor Someone should write an excerpt for the robinson-cursoe tag, just for fun.
An easter egg for future Stack Lit-ters
stack litters
Hm.
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
@Gallifreyan Wouldn't be much of an easter egg if it only lasts a day.
I'm pretty sure the system deletes zero-use tags even if they have wikis.
 
Gallifreyan
Gallifreyan
@Randal'Thor It'd come back if the tag is ever re-created
 
Bookworm
Bookworm
0
Q: Is there a term/example for the danger in translating an idiomatic term by a loanword which exists in the language from which one is translating?

guestWhat is a technical term, used by professional translators, and are there 'notorious' instructive examples for the following danger when translating a text: I have to translate a text T from language L_1 to language L_2. More precisely, I have to translate a transcript of a discussion. I have n...

terminology translation
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
So I've now read the first two chapters of A Grain of Wheat, and I have a couple of questions, but I'm not sure if they're good/on-topic ones.
One of them might be better suited to History than here.
 
Gallifreyan
Gallifreyan
Writing tag excepts is pretty hard, it turns out
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
4:49 PM
OK, posted one. I suspect @Zyera will be able to do at least a partial answer. (Also, meaning or translation?)
 
Bookworm
Bookworm
0
Q: Meanings of the Kenyan dialect words used in "A Grain of Wheat"?

Rand al'ThorI've started reading A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (available here), and it contains quite a few of what I assume are Kenyan dialect words. Not enough to make it unreadable for me - most of them are roughly guessable from context - but I feel like knowing their precise meanings might incr...

meaning ngugi-wa-thiongo a-grain-of-wheat
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
@Randal'Thor yup
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
@Bookworm It would be nice to have a translation expert on this site. Not sure if we do atm (or if such would tend to be attracted to a site about Literature ...)
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
5:10 PM
@Bookworm hmm, are questions like that appropriate for here or should they go to ELU?
 
user15026
@Mithrandir Good question.
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
If I recall correctly, I think I sent some over to ELU in the past.
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
I'd say a question seeking a word of literature terminology could work either here or on ELU.
There's a similar previous question by the same user which has been well-received here, though not answered yet.
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
@Mithrandir Maybe ...
The question is essentially, "Does this line in the book reflect the way this historical event was actually viewed by Kenyans?"
Which could be rewritten as "Did Kenyans view this historical event in this way?" and be a question for History.
But I suppose as a question on Lit, it could also potentially be answered by "no, this choice of phrasing actually indicates something else".
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
5:19 PM
I'd say go ahead.
I haven't gotten the book, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to :/
 
user61230
5:41 PM
I can take a crack at this, sure.
 

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