By: Faranak Farid – Feminist School – February 3, 2010
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| Two Steps This Side of the Line by Ahmad Pouri |
Translation of poetry is like walking on a tightrope. You have to be enough of a poet to embody the original poet and enough of a translator not to disrupt the poet’s work. Sometimes, you become so immersed in this task that you tear through the fabric of time and rush to meet the poet, even if only in the realm of imagination! The border between dream and reality becomes blurred.
If you are realistic enough to break down life and dreamlike enough to weave it together, you’ve mastered the art. And if you can take your audience with you through this weaving and breaking, it’s a masterpiece! This is where many literary works falter! Borges says: “When I write, I try to remain faithful to the dream, not to the events. Of course, real events appear in my stories... but recounting the story exactly as it happened is not satisfying... I try only to convey the dream…” The boundary between dream and reality is so fine, yet the division between people who shy away from imagination in favor of logic and reality is profound.
The narrator, Ahmad, tells his wife, who worries he might go mad in this realm, “Don’t worry, darling... I’ve always kept the boundary between dream and reality. The key is for a person to pay attention to when they cross this line. I never do that.” But he does! Because he belongs to those few people who do not fit into the mold of daily life. Max Weber says, “One day, science and reason will become the iron cage of humanity.” He seeks to break that cage, tearing down the boundaries of time and traveling fifty years back. Why? To deliver a love letter to its rightful owner; to see his beloved poet, Anna Akhmatova! How? By embarking on a strange journey that eventually leads him to Tabriz. He says, “It feels like my real life is now, and my previous life was a dream.”
But in this twist of fate, the reader remains lost in the world of dreams and reality. The story doesn’t captivate them enough to make them feel immersed and awestruck. Reluctantly, the narrator takes the reader by the hand and guides them along. This disbelief leaves the reader dissatisfied.
Ahmad Pouri’s novel can be analyzed from three perspectives: the individual, history, and literature.
In his valuable essay in Theories of the Novel, Raymond Williams writes: “Contemporary novels are both a reflection of the crisis in our society and a means to illuminate its nature... A truly constructive effort in our time is the struggle to establish relationships without flaw, both on a personal and societal level... Reality is constantly created by the collective effort of humans, and art is one of the highest forms of this process.”
First, the novel focuses on the personal life of an individual in the modern world, particularly within the context of Iran. Ahmad and his wife have both been imprisoned. He entered into a political marriage, but after prison, both have distanced themselves from politics. He is a translator and a lover of literature. However, “...Giti’s love and concern for political and social issues never let her go. Giti is still a serious and concerned person about the world’s events.” At first, she says, “Giti is always alone. She has always left me alone. Maybe I’ve left her alone too.” These statements inevitably remind us of the “otherness” of the ruling system and the “loneliness” that modern humans find themselves trapped in, as well as the contradiction in her behavior and her name: Giti, which means “the world,” yet she is always alone; she is concerned about the world but does nothing to change it! She “bears most of the responsibilities of being a wife in this house... I could never understand how much she loves me. She never showed it. She acted very cold and formal. When love was discussed, she would seek philosophical and historical definitions of it.” The gap between man and woman is revealed through these sentences and the entire story. The woman acts in a masculine way, while Ahmad, as his wife describes him, is “absent-minded” and dreamy, a lover of imagination and literature. They are held together by a bond that is not love. Mutual respect fills the emotional void, allowing each to lead their own life, perhaps a reflection of many modern relationships.
They also have different approaches to literature. “She [Giti] loves poetry and literature but believes art and literature are for human relaxation.” She blames her husband for not paying enough attention to political and social matters. Ahmad counters, “Art, in itself, is the most political activity of humans...” It is through literature, which we might mistakenly consider disconnected from history and politics, that social issues can be more deeply examined. Ahmad Pouri uses the historical moment he is interested in and the impact of politics on literature to reflect this in the story.
As Ahmad embarks on the journey to deliver the letter, he uncovers forgotten truths. His passion for literature leads him to uncover truths buried in the darkness of history. The study of Anna’s poetry and the political circumstances affecting literature spark a historical reflection. In this endeavor, he finds himself in his homeland, Azerbaijan! It seems that in order to reach the past, one must first find their own past, and to fulfill a heartfelt desire, one must take a leap into their past.
It’s as if to reach a historical period, one must truly return to the past and live in it! So much has been left unsaid or distorted that one is forced to break the lock of time and language. This is what modern historians rightfully refer to as the “illusory objectivity of history.”
The examination of the events of Azerbaijan takes up almost half of the book. The journey to the past begins with Ahmad’s birthplace: “This was Tabriz. The Tabriz I didn’t know.” A Tabriz that has been hidden from us or neglected in our understanding. Azerbaijan, whose history has been distorted so that we all believe in its rescue by the Shah! “...We read that the army of Tehran came to Tabriz and restored order. They said: ‘Order and tranquility? ... Blood was spilled, and... from every two or three families, at least one is mourning a loved one, or... there was murder and plundering. They killed everyone who had once applauded Peşaveri...’” One of the members of the organization whom Ahmad meets in London says, “What lives were sacrificed! What men and women bled to death! No one knows about this.” What will be built on this ignorance? What a hollow foundation it will be! History is distorted so that the future can be built upon its warped foundation, preparing the grounds for future missteps. The narrator takes us through a period in which we witness the aftermath of the year-long Democratic Party of Azerbaijan’s rule and its suppression, seeing what happened to the people and activists of that era. Ahmad Pouri knows that introducing history into novels creates a more real, lasting, and impactful history. Perhaps this is why some historians turn to novels to find a more impartial history. History must become fluid, like literature, and perhaps literature can create a space for the fluidity of history. To learn how to immerse oneself in time and place, just a few steps beyond or across the line.
The most significant impact of this section of the novel is that it doesn’t let us rest easy. It casts doubt in our minds! Perhaps future analyses will prove something completely different from what we are sure of now, or perhaps it will reveal what we should have done but didn’t, requiring a fifty- or sixty-year backward glance to make amends! According to modern historians, “When we ascribe meaning to our actions, we can never be completely neutral... and by accepting that no single discourse leads us to an absolute truth about ourselves or the world, we can begin to interpret the world around us or a text.” This skepticism and fluidity could be the foundation of democracy.
The author attempts to provide a platform for multiple perspectives and weighs historical and political issues in dialogue between characters. The reader appreciates his effort, but also detects his views, especially his thoughts on literature. He does not see literature as separate from politics, but the way it should enter politics is a topic of discussion for him. The narrator, considering the world’s situation and the political condition of the Soviet Union, which gave rise to a partisan and political form of art, defends Anna Akhmatova, who did not sacrifice her poetry to ideology. “I wonder why a poet like Akhmatova had to endure so much suffering.” Tanya, one of the characters who takes Ahmad to see Anna, responds, “Until you’re here, you can’t judge such things. You only expect good poetry from a poet. Here, people expect the poet to write about their hopes and goals…” Ahmad is pleased that “Anna writes poetry for herself.”
In this novel, love holds such a significant place that it needs no promotion. It is implicitly part of the story. It’s not present, but it is felt: in the love for literature, in the pursuit of truth from the dark corners of history, in a love letter that is carried through the world to its destination, and in the poetry of Anna!
In place of a familiar message:
This cold, dry wind
Brings you the taste and smell of smoke
And poems I wrote by hand.
Sources:
- Two Steps Beyond the Line, Ahmad Pouri, Cheshmeh Publishing, 4th edition, Spring 2009
- The Art of Poetry, Jorge Luis Borges, Niloufar Publications, First Edition, Spring 2002
- Theories of the Novel, David Lodge, translated by Hossein Payandeh, Niloufar Publications, First Edition, 2007
- Introduction to Literary Theory and Methods, Charles Bressler, translated by Mostafa Abedinifard, First Edition, 2007
The link to the original text in Persian on the Feminist School website.