Sunday Reading: Rivers and Tides

 

Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time is the most spiritually literate documentary you will see this year. It won the Golden Gate Award Grand Prize for Best Documentary at the 2003 San Francisco International Film Festival. The DVD includes a gallery of images so you can see again the sculptures that caught your eye; and filmography of German director, cinematographer, and editor Thomas Riedelsheimer; and a brief biography of Andy Goldsworthy which lists his books. This extraordinary documentary will enchant you in many ways with its startling images, its exotic music by Fred Frith, and its ability to stimulate your inner artist, who will likely begin dreaming up creative projects to do with all the materials at hand around your own place.

 

"Art for me is a form of nourishment," Goldsworthy says, and we see what he means as he begins to assemble his earthwork arrangements. Arriving for a new commission in Nova Scotia, he has only a little time to familiarize himself with the seaside terrain. Still, he establishes a camaraderie with the natural world: "I've shook hands with the place," he declares as he begins to work on an icicle sculpture that fits perfectly with the chilly and desolate milieu. Goldsworthy respects the processes of life and death reflected in nature. As the sun illuminates the finished sculpture, he notes, "The very thing that brought it to life, will bring about its death." This is only one of the many spiritual insights emerging from his art

 

 

Goldsworthy is also a practitioner of what Albert Schweitzer called "reverence for life." He salutes the individuality of stones and muses over the memories they carry of the things they have seen and the changes they have experienced. He relishes the particularity of place and the deep resonances that a certain milieu can have with our souls. And last but not least, Goldsworthy is a connoisseur of mystery. He is not frightened of death or the destruction of things. He accepts that everything is ephemeral and subject to the ravages of time. Day by day, he plunges into new marvels and stays with the present moment which is unrepeatable and precious. Just like this extraordinary documentary.

Thinking Activity- 'Orientalism' byEdward Said

 

                 What is Orientalism:

                                 As per Said's words. Orientalism is not imagined it is a material thing and genuine theory. Orientalism has revolutionized the study of the Middle East and also useful to studies post-colonialism and other disciplines like History, Anthropology, Political science, and Cultural studies.

 

·                                    Tries  to give the real history :

 

        When we read the introduction at that time we find that he felt dislike about the representation of Arab and from that he got inspired to write real history. Because Arabs were represented as rigid people. But by giving the example of the Arab-Israeli war of 1973 he has tried to prove his point. And another thing is how the outer person's notion remains wrong about his own land that he tries to convince by giving the references of Ang and Gerome.

 

·                                     Predictable :

 

      In this context, we can say that how western countries see the middle east. They have already been conceived their mindset by describing the east as a terrorist group.

 

·                                   Imperialism and policy

Edward Said explained vivid objectives & policies of America, Europe, and France country in front of their Community. He added that the French didn't give rights of citizens like Spaniard invaded the new world but its opposite side Nepolian invaded Egypt for the survey of Egypt while Europe created a new world looking through policy.

Movie Screening: To The Lighthouse

 

To The Lighthouse

To lighthouses in the twentieth century, which are external indicators of internal realities, stimulating different experiences and sensations, are representative of the modern novel. The Lighthouse is a masterpiece by Virginia Woolf that has a significant place in modern times and radically replaces the traditional novel. Helps the lighthouse understand the aspect of reality and the reality of the wolf. In the novel, a basic vision of reality based on private experience, the flow of consciousness, thoughts, and feelings. Moreover, the reality is one of the most important issues in modern literature and in previous literature. Virginia Woolf thinks she should properly create a kind of new novel for a new period because she wants to get rid of both the traditional narrative and the general style in the previous literature.

That sounds like an excellent representation of all the characters. Somehow it gives images of the author’s biography. We think he wrote this novel to his parents. We find her to have all the facilities but for basic women's rights, she tries to portray the real situation of 'patriarchal' society. Through female characters, he wants to show that a woman should know the dangers of gilded cages. When we look at the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay at that time we feel the complexity of the human relationship, which is still present in society today. The main difference between the couple is their approach to life. Expression of their desires. Virginia Woolf used this technique to prove that women also can write and paint better than men. So, she used the stream of consciousness technique 3rd person narrative to move from one to another character's mind. With the help of this technique, the narrator shows us the inner flow of thoughts walking in the mind of the character for instance the(James' thought). So, we can come to know about the inner and outer relationship of characters with each other.

v                             The novel is both a tribute and a critique of Mrs. Ramsay. Throughout the novel, it stays in the center. Here the author shows her as an “ideal” woman. Who is always engaged in the fulfillment of another? He tries to make his daughters like him. "They have to keep the windows open and keep the doors closed." And we think Prudies because of childbirth. So for the most part it remains secondary to men. Which raises the question of freedom. Mostly Lily argues with him. But even after his death, he remains present in every matter. Which brings his character to life.

v                                       In the present novel, Woolf used two myths one is the Pagan myth in which, Woolf connected Mrs. Ramsay with Rhea who had similar numbers of children like Mrs. Ramsay and also a well-nurtured woman and with Demeter an important characteristic of Mrs. Ramsay in her Demeter aspect is her complete femininity as Demeter was worshiped more by men than women like Ramsay who respected more men than women and also Demeter was known as the maker of the earth fruitful while Mrs. Ramsay also a maker of a Fruitful family. Another myth is the myth of Oedipus. We can see the aspect of the myth between Mrs. Ramsay and James, James hates his father because he does not want his mother to love his father.