Ενας μαθηματικος, ο Καζαντζακης, και το προβλημα των διγλωσσων

Μικρες βραδυνες καλοκαιρινες σκεψεις

Ξαναδιαβαζα σημερα το "Ο θειος Πετρος και η Εικασια του Γκολντμπαχ" του Αποστολου Δοξιαδη. Αν δεν το χετε διαβασει και σας αρεσουν τα μαθηματικα, οι ιστοριες με λιγο μυστηριο που μιλανε περι των ρομαντικων επιστημονων της αρχης του αιωνα (ξερετε, αυτοι που χρησιμοποιουσαν χαρτι και μελανι και που εστελναν χαρτινα γραμματα ο ενας στον αλλο), οι ιστοριες μανιωδους προσπαθειας ή οι coming of age stories, ριξτε του μια ματια.

Περασα λοιπον απο την σελιδα του και διαβασα λιγο την ιστορια του συγγραφεα. Ειναι ενδιαφερουσα γιατι εκτος των αλλων περιεργων ιδιοτητων του (ας πουμε οτι ξεκινησε στα 15 του, κατοπιν προσκλησεως, σπουδες σαν μαθηματικος στο Κολαμπια της ΝΥ), ειναι ενα ατομο που γραφει και δουλευει σε δυο γλωσσες. Σε ενα πολυ ωραιο κειμενακι του εξηγει την οδυσσεια του μεταξυ δυο γλωσσων. Παραθετω μερικα αποσπασματα:

The first serious book I read was – though perhaps I shouldn’t say this to an audience of non-Greeks*, who may get the wrong ideas – Nikos Kazantzakis’s The life and times of Alexis Zorbas (a.k.a., after the film, as ‘Zorba the Greek’). I have never re-read the book and do not trust a young teenager’s tastes to report on its quality to you. But I remember that this was an intense experience, reading it I definitely had a sense I had entered a fascinating, new terra incognita, a land where words really count, where they function as passageways to hidden treasure – mostly emotional.

Kazantzakis language has come under attack, even ridicule, by modern Greek writers and aesthetes. It is considered an artificial and uneasy amalgam of a rather extreme form of ‘demotic’, popular, often strongly idiomatic speech, with a heavy philosophical conceptual structure, a Nietzschean philosopher speaking in enigmatic, half-invented peasant tongues.

..........................οπως και να το κανουμε ο ανθρωπος ηταν μεγαλη μορφη...

[...]

If I wanted to re-read Kazantzakis today [...] I would probably read him in English. I find the going much easier, the linguistic excesses are dulled, and meaning is communicated more directly – which perhaps goes to show that I agree with a lot of the criticism, yes, indeed, Kazantzakis often carries innovation and idiosyncratic expression beyond the limits of reader-friendliness and to me this is a capital crime for an author. But had I read him in anything but the original language when I first did so, I do not think he would have had the same effect on me.

εδω ο ανθρωπος περιγραφει τελεια την σχεση μου με τα ελληνικα (να μην πω και με τα γερμανικα που ειναι η δευτερη γλωσσα μου μαλλον). Μου λενε κατι βαθια μεσα μου, αλλα αν θελω να διαβασω ενα βιβλιο ή μια μελετη προτιμω συνηθως τα αγγλικα!

To me, a native Greek speaker, a Greek raised in Greece, by Greeks, the word θάλασσα (thalassa) carries the whisper of soft waves gently caressing a rock, somewhere in the Aegean, at some irretrievable moment in my childhood. And the sea to me will always be thalassa, this sea I grew up with, this sea surrounding this island, this blue sea, this often οίνωπας πόντος (oenopas pontos) what Homers call the ‘wine-dark sea’ that has given philologists endless troubles, making them organize symposia and conferences to discuss the matter: ‘what does Homer mean “wine-dark sea”, the sea is blue and wine is read’, to the extent of searching for oceanographic indications that the sea was indeed red back in those times (something having to do with algae, I think) or that the wine was blue (some fungus no doubt).

ποσο δικιο εχει! πως γινεται να πεις την θαλασσα καλυτερα? θαλασσα! τελειο!

But to me, to a Greek, this is no puzzle. ‘Wine dark’ sounds just right. This is our sea and Homer’s too. We live in it. We know it. And, oh, I shouldn’t be calling it sea, or mer or mare or Meer or whatever. Look around you, look at the dark substance surrounding this beautiful island, this dominion of Prospero. It is not the sea. It is thalassa. And it is wine-dark, don’t you see it? In this sense, a writer is not so much born in a country as in a language. The language is his home. His salvation (the means of it, anyway). He is defined by it, and that is a useful thing. Like Archimedes, when he proposed to move the world with the mechanics of levers, a writer needs a πα στω (pa sto) a ‘where to stand’ in order to be able to perform his magic – whatever dose of magic it is his privilege to be able to perform. And this place, where he can stand, where he begins form, his axioms (the mathematician speaking again) is his or her language. His home.

ποιος ειπε οτι οι μαθηματικοι δεν μπορουν να σκεφτονται ποιητικα?

[greek] is a beautiful language, full of rich treasures and on top of that it is also my language, the language of my childhood and family and most of my friends. But it is also just another human language – I love it but don’t want to idealize it. It cannot do everything for me. Some things, I would rather write about in English, for reasons of content, subject-matter, period, time, theme, whatever – a writer is not an accountant, he does not have to account, thank God, for every creative penny spent.

αντιθετα με οτι πιστευουν διαφοροι ελληνοφανατικοι ετσι ειναι! και οσες γλωσσες και να μιλαει κανεις, μια ακομα εχει κατι να του προσφερει, ποσο μαλλον τα αγγλικα, μια υπερπλουσια γλωσσα.

και κλεινει:

I will never get Greek out of my life. It is my home. But as I can move, on occasion, from home to home without inner suffering, I want also to be able to move from my language. Again: it is my home and I love it for it. But I do not want it to become my prison.

δεν θα μπορουσα να το πω καλυτερα, γιαυτο το βουλωνω...

(ολες οι σημειωσεις και εμφασεις στο κειμενο ειναι δικες μου βεβαια)

*χεχε ποσο δικιο εχει. Οι περισσοτεροι ξενοι νομιζουν οτι ο Καζαντζακης μιλαει για γκρηκ σουβλακι, καμακι, παραλια...

ΥΓ ενα περιεργο πραγμα, οσο κιαν το παιζουμε ελευθερα και ανεξαρτητα ατομα, ολο και ταυτιζομαστε με καποιους δικους μας. Συμπτωση που ο Καβαφης ανφερεται συνεχως στους Αρχαιους, ο Σεφερης στην Ελενη, ο αφοβος Καζαντζακης στον συμπατριωτη του Γκρεκο, ο πολιτης του κοσμου Δοξιαδης στον Καζαντζακη και στον Αρχιμηδη? Ποσο βαρος κουβαλανε αληθεια οι Ελληνες με ολη αυτην την κληρονομια (ειτε ειναι αληθινη ειτε τεχνητη)?