मेघदूत: "नीचैर्गच्छत्युपरि दशा चक्रनेमिक्रमेण"

समर्थ शिष्या अक्का : "स्वामीच्या कृपाप्रसादे हे सर्व नश्वर आहे असे समजले. पण या नश्वरात तमाशा बहुत आहे."

G C Lichtenberg: “It is as if our languages were confounded: when we want a thought, they bring us a word; when we ask for a word, they give us a dash; and when we expect a dash, there comes a piece of bawdy.”

C. P. Cavafy: "I’d rather look at things than speak about them."

Martin Amis: “Gogol is funny, Tolstoy in his merciless clarity is funny, and Dostoyevsky, funnily enough, is very funny indeed; moreover, the final generation of Russian literature, before it was destroyed by Lenin and Stalin, remained emphatically comic — Bunin, Bely, Bulgakov, Zamyatin. The novel is comic because life is comic (until the inevitable tragedy of the fifth act);...”

सदानंद रेगे: "... पण तुकारामाची गाथा ज्या धुंदीनं आजपर्यंत वाचली जात होती ती धुंदी माझ्याकडे नाहीय. ती मला येऊच शकत नाही याचं कारण स्वभावतःच मी नास्तिक आहे."

".. त्यामुळं आपण त्या दारिद्र्याच्या अनुभवापलीकडे जाऊच शकत नाही. तुम्ही जर अलीकडची सगळी पुस्तके पाहिलीत...तर त्यांच्यामध्ये त्याच्याखेरीज दुसरं काही नाहीच आहे. म्हणजे माणसांच्या नात्यानात्यांतील जी सूक्ष्मता आहे ती क्वचित चितारलेली तुम्हाला दिसेल. कारण हा जो अनुभव आहे... आपले जे अनुभव आहेत ते ढोबळ प्रकारचे आहेत....."

Kenneth Goldsmith: "In 1969 the conceptual artist Douglas Huebler wrote, “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.”1 I’ve come to embrace Huebler’s ideas, though it might be retooled as “The world is full of texts, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.” It seems an appropriate response to a new condition in writing today: faced with an unprecedented amount of available text, the problem is not needing to write more of it; instead, we must learn to negotiate the vast quantity that exists. How I make my way through this thicket of information—how I manage it, how I parse it, how I organize and distribute it—is what distinguishes my writing from yours."

Tom Wolfe: "The first line of the doctors’ Hippocratic oath is ‘First, do no harm.’ And I think for the writers it would be: ‘First, entertain.’"

विलास सारंग: "… . . 1000 नंतर ज्या प्रकारची संस्कृती रुढ झाली , त्यामध्ये साधारणत्व विश्वात्मकता हे गुण प्राय: लुप्त झाले...आपली संस्कृती अकाली विश्वात्मक साधारणतेला मुकली आहे."

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

गुलाबपाण्याचा फवारा तोंडावर मारल्याप्रमाणे... S D Phadnis@95

आज जुलै २९ २०२०, शि द फडणीस ९५ वर्षांचे होत आहेत.

गोविंदराव टेंबे :
"... आणि सर्व मैफल गुलाबपाण्याचा फवारा तोंडावर मारल्याप्रमाणे पुन्हा ताजीतवानी , तरतरीत झाली;..."
('माझा संगीत व्यासंग')

आजवर अनेक वेळा त्यांच्यावर  ह्या ब्लॉगवर पोस्ट झाल्या , अनेक वेळा उल्लेख झाले.

त्यांचे घनिष्ट मित्र, त्यांच्या सारखेच  कोल्हापूरकर,  कै  वसंत सरवटे त्यांच्या मित्राबद्दल म्हणतात :

"... जरुर तेवढाच तपशील, चित्रातून म्हणायच आहे ते पाहिल्या बरोबर, बिनचूकपणे पाहणार्याच्या ध्यानात येईल अशी चित्रातील मांडणी आणि डोळ्यास आल्हाद देईल अशी रंगरचना... रंग हे फङणीसांच्या चित्रांच एक महत्वाचं अंग आहे हे त्यांची 'मोहिनी'वरील चित्रं पाहणार्याच्या सहज लक्षात येईल. आल्हाददायक रंगसंगती त्यांच्या चित्रांना स्वप्नमय, तरल स्वरुप देण्यास फार मोठी मदत करतात..."

मी काय चोमडे  बोलणार या पुढे!

लहानपणी आजूबाजूला जे जे सुंदर, हवेसे वाटत असे ते सगळे शि दंच्या चित्रासारखे वाटत असे. उदा: माझी आई खप सुंदर होती , ती शिदंच्या चित्रनायिकेसारखी भासे! हळूहळू समजत गेले की हे जग अतिशय दुःख, वेदना, हिंसा, हाव आणि पापांनी भरले आहे पण तरी शिदंच्या चित्रांनी तयार केलेली आशा कधी सुटली नाही , अगदी कोरोनाच्या काळात सुद्धा.

ऑडेन (W H Auden) यांची प्रसिद्ध कविता आहे:
“…though one cannot always
Remember exactly why one has been happy,
There is no forgetting that one was” (Good-Bye to the Mezzogiorno )

मला मात्र आठवते कधी कधी मी का आनंदी असायचो.... एक कारण म्हणजे, मी नुकतेच शिदंचे चित्र पहिले होते आणि गुलाबपाण्याचा फवारा माझ्या तोंडावर  कोणीतरी मारल्याप्रमाणे मला वाटत होते !



1954, कृतज्ञता: शि द फडणीस यांच्या कलाकार्याचे कॉपीराईट होल्डर्स

Monday, July 27, 2020

पूर्वेच्या देवा तुझे....Charlie Brown's Sky Lights Up With Alfred E. Neuman

पूर्वेच्या देवा तुझे सूर्यदेव नाव
प्रभातीच येशी सारा जागवीत गाव....

(गीत: गंगाधर महाम्बरे , आवाज: रामदास कामत , संगीत- वीणा चिटको)







Artist: Charles M. Schulz, May 1973

Friday, July 24, 2020

Runners by Kafka and Kon Ichikawa




Kon Ichikawa’s excellent documentary  Tokyo Olympiad (1964) 

courtesy: The Guardian and Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo


Runner 1907-1908, followed by Three Runners 1912-1913  by Franz Kafka

२०२० ऑलिम्पिक पुढे गेले पण त्याच्या आठवणीत ही पोस्ट इथेच राहिली....

Monday, July 20, 2020

दुर्दम्य आशा..... Escape Plan and Exit Strategy

जगातील सर्वोत्तम कार्टून हे समजले जाते:



























Artist: Shel Silverstein,  Playboy, 1950's

दोन कैदी तुरुंगांत जखडून ठेवले आहेत आणि एक कैदी दुसऱ्याला म्हणतोय : "Now, here' my plan...."

दुर्दम्य आशेचा हा उदगार आहे.  

अलीकडे The Spectator मध्ये हे कार्टून पहिले












Artist: Robert Thompson

Friday, July 17, 2020

My "Still Life"....Another Lockdown July 2020

A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, etc.)



Tea, bread, butter, jam

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

(प्रशियन, कोबाल्ट, अल्ट्रामरीन) निळासांवळा..... Starry Night Over the Rhône

ही पोस्ट वाचण्याच्या आधी "ग्रीकांचा नीळांधळेपणा आणि (प्रशियन) निळासांवळा.... GA and Prabhakar Gorey's Prussian Blu" ही फेब्रुवारी ३ २०२०ची पोस्ट पहा.


कलाकार : प्रभाकर गोरे

"Georg Brandt, born on this day in 1694, holds the distinction of being the first named person to isolate a new metal since ancient times. The Greeks and Romans knew about gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and lead, but in terms of metals, that was it. They didn’t know about cobalt, the metal that Brandt discovered and that helped change painting forever...
.... Painters innovated with this glut of new blues. Take Starry Night Over the Rhône, for example: Van Gogh used all three of the new colors—Prussian blue, cobalt and ultramarine—to capture the nighttime hues of the Rhône river..."

(smithsonianmag.com , जून २६ २०१७)


Friday, July 10, 2020

"दिवस तुडवत अंधाराकडे" का "दिवस तुडवत रात्रीकडे"... Will It Work on Marathi Stage?

जीएंनी अनुवादित केलेले "दिवस तुडवत अंधाराकडे" हे युजीन ओनील यांचे १९५६ सालचे नाटक (Long Day's Journey into Night) ऑक्टोबर २०१९ मध्ये विकत आणून सुद्धा मी अजून वाचले नाही.

मला उत्सुकता आहे ह्या मराठी रूपांतराचे रंगभूमी वरती किती प्रयोग झालेत ह्याची.

विकिपीडिया मध्ये पाहू शकता ओनिल ह्यांच्या नाटकाची किती productions झालीत ह्याची https://en.wikipedia.org/w…/Long_Day%27s_Journey_into_Night…

अनेक उत्तम आणि गाजलेल्या सिनेकलावंतांनी त्यात भाग घेतले आहेत.

त्यातील एक म्हणजे माझ्या फार आवडत्या जेसिका लांज (Jessica Lange ) ज्यांनी मेरीची भूमिका केली होती.

जेसिका लांज नाटकाबद्दल लिहतात:

"...Our set was more dreamlike than what O’Neill describes in the stage directions. It had a ghostly feel, more memory than reality. As the light moved east to west across the stage during the course of the long day, the fog seemed to seep through the walls. The foghorn a constant reminder of old sorrows . . . a plaintive, haunting refrain.
“Why is it fog makes everything sound so sad and lost, I wonder?”
Memorizing lines proved difficult at first. I found I would oft en lose track of where I was in the play. I came to understand it was due to the circular nature of the play, which is structured like a piece of music where the composer creates a melody and then repeats it again and again in altered forms. Theme and variations. The cycles of punishment and forgiveness, recriminations and excuses. A tragic score of love and hate.
It is linear only in the passage of time, morning to night, and the effects of the morphine increasing steadily as the day wears on....".

हे सगळे विलक्षण आहे. प्रकाशाचे खेळ, धुके (आज २०२० साली महाराष्ट्रात कुठे आणि किती धुके पडते), नाटकाची वर्तुळाकार- एखाद्या संगीताच्या तुकड्यासारखी रचना, शिक्षा-क्षमा-आरोप प्रत्यारोप- कारणे यांचे रहाटगाडगे....

... पण नाटकाची खरी मजा पाहण्यात आहे , वाचण्यात नाही.
courtesy: FX

श्रीमती लांज नाटकाच्या शेवटा बद्दल सांगतात
"... Mary’s curtain speech is one the great moments in the theater for an actress. The simple truth that speaks to the quiet tragedy of her life.
“Then in the spring something happened to me. Yes, I remember. I fell in love with James Tyrone and was so happy for a time.”
The four actors onstage, absolutely still, all lost in Mary’s sad dream. You could hear a pin drop in the audience. It is a sublime moment to play. Unforgettable...."

हे ते कर्टन स्पीच :

MARY

Staring dreamily before her. Her face looks extraordinarily youthful and innocent. The shyly eager, trusting smile is on her lips as she talks aloud to herself.
I had a talk with Mother Elizabeth. She is so sweet and good. A saint on earth. I love her dearly. It may be sinful of me but I love her better than my own mother. Because she always understands, even before you say a word. Her kind blue eyes look right into your heart. You can’t keep any secrets from her. You couldn’t deceive her, even if you were mean enough to want to.
She gives a little rebellious toss of her head—with girlish pique.
All the same, I don’t think she was so understanding this time. I told her I wanted to be a nun. I explained how sure I was of my vocation, that I had prayed to the Blessed Virgin to make me sure, and to find me worthy. I told Mother I had had a true vision when I was praying in the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, on the little island in the lake. I said I knew, as surely as I knew I was kneeling there, that the Blessed Virgin had smiled and blessed me with her consent. But Mother Elizabeth told me I must be more sure than that, even, that I must prove it wasn’t simply my imagination. She said, if I was so sure, then I wouldn’t mind putting myself to a test by going home after I graduated, and living as other girls lived, going out to parties and dances and enjoying myself; and then if after a year or two I still felt sure, I could come back to see her and we would talk it over again.
She tosses her head—indignantly.
I never dreamed Holy Mother would give me such advice! I was really shocked. I said, of course, I would do anything she suggested, but I knew it was simply a waste of time. After I left her, I felt all mixed up, so I went to the shrine and prayed to the Blessed Virgin and found peace again because I knew she heard my prayer and would always love me and see no harm ever came to me so long as I never lost my faith in her.
She pauses and a look of growing uneasiness comes over her face. She passes a hand over her forehead as if brushing cobwebs from her brain— vaguely.
That was in the winter of senior year. Then in the spring something happened to me. Yes, I remember. I fell in love with James Tyrone and was so happy for a time.
She stares before her in a sad dream. Tyrone stirs in his chair. Edmund and Jamie remain motionless.
CURTAIN
Tao House
September 20, 1940


(download करून मोठे करून वाचा. मी वाचले. स्पष्ट आहे. )

कृतज्ञता: जी. ए.  कुलकर्णी यांच्या साहित्याचे कॉपीराईट होल्डर्स
 
हा आहे जीएंनी केलेला त्या स्पीचचा अनुवाद... चांगला आहे. 

पण ते इंग्लिश आणि मराठी मला दोन्ही अगदी फ्लॅट वाटले  आणि मराठीत या नाटकाचे किती उत्साहाने स्वागत होईल याबद्दल मी साशंक आहे. 

अनेक उल्लेख ईसाई  धर्माच्या प्रभावाखालील संस्कृतीतील आहेत  (Mother, sinful, Blessed Virgin, the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes वगैरे). जीए कॉन्व्हेंट, नन  चा उल्लेख करतात जो माझ्याकडील नाटकात नाहीच आहे.  जी ए तर  Blessed Virgin ला ब्लेस्ड व्हर्जिन च ठेवतात. 

ते किती प्रभावीपणे मराठी/ भारतीय  संस्कृतीत आणले जाऊ शकतात? १९६०-७० च्या दशकात मराठीत रूपांतरित ग्रीक नाटकांचे अनुभव काय आहेत?

आणखी एक: पुस्तकाचे शीर्षक  "दिवस तुडवत रात्रीकडे" हेच योग्य आहे.... "दिवस तुडवत अंधाराकडे"  मुळे उगाचच मनावर काळिमा पसरतो. आणि घरात तर वीज आहे ना?

Monday, July 06, 2020

बोलणारा मुखपृष्ठांवरील दी प्लेग...Stunning Exhibition of the Covers of The Plague

"... Symbolic reminders of death and the fleetingness of earthly pleasures used in art for thousands of years. In the novel, the plague serves as this reminder. It forces people to realize their life may be over at any moment. Skulls are the most used symbol. Picasso’s Still Life with Steer’s Skull from 1942 depicts the skull of a bull, an animal representing life at its most vital. Another popular symbol is the grim reaper and its scythe. Others use an animal’s carcass—a standard of Dutch still life painting. The solutions range from representational to abstract and use painting, illustration, and photography...."

देव ऑर्फियसला:
"... क्षणभंगुरतेने माणसाने विषण्ण का व्हावे हेच मला समजत नाही. अरे, तो तर तुमच्या आयुष्याचा बोधस्वर आहे. अमर, चिरंतन असले शब्द तुम्ही बिनदिक्कत वापरता. पण तुमच्या बाबतीत तसले  सगळे शब्द वायफळ आवाज आहेत... "  
(पृष्ठ १२, 'ऑर्फियस', 'पिंगळावेळ', १९७७

अल्बर्ट क्यामु यांचे 'दी प्लेग' हे १९४७ सालचे पुस्तक २०२० सालच्या जुलै मध्ये , पुन्हा एकदा, बेस्ट सेलर झाले आहे. पुरेशा प्रति छापता येत नाहीयेत इतकी मागणी पुस्तकाला आहे!
त्याच्या मुखपृष्ठाच्या ७० वर्षांच्या प्रवासावर थक्क करून टाकणारा Dylan Mulvaney यांचा Literary Hub मधील   लेख नुकताच वाचला.

त्यात  मुखपृष्ठांचे खालील प्रकारे वर्गीकरण करण्यात आले आहे.

१) The City: Geographical, emotional, and mental isolation
२) The Rat: Disease, resistance, and persistence
३)  The Plague: Absurd human suffering
४)  The Plague Doctor: Resistance to suffering

आणि
५) Memento Mori: Mortality

सर्व मुखपृष्ठे यात बसतात. या पाच वर्गातून प्रत्येकी एक मुखपृष्ठ घेऊन मी खालील कोलाज तयार केले ..... 


Thursday, July 02, 2020

अन् कोसळला भुईवर होऊन खाक... होऊन खंक...The Lament for Icarus

"...
याची कुंडली निघाली दरोबस्त दगलबाज.
नजर केले तिनं  त्याला मेणचटलेले पांचट पंख.
हेच पंख फुलवीत निघाला हा सूर्यबिंब गिळायला
अन् कोसळला भुईवर होऊन खाक... होऊन खंक
..."
(इकारस, सदानंद रेगे, 'निवडक सदानंद रेगे', १९९६- २०१३, पृष्ठ २६)

Robin Waterfield, 'The Greek Myths: Stories of the Greek Gods and Heroes Vividly Retold', 2011:
"…Within his cell, Daedalus fashioned for himself and his son strong wings. Great eagle feathers covered a light wooden frame, which could be strapped to the arms. The feathers were coated with wax, both to glue them to the frame and to make them strong enough to bear the weight of a human being. When all was ready, the two of them, man and boy, perched on the window ledge of their lofty prison and launched themselves into the air.

Daedalus’ latest invention was astounding: human beings could fly! As they began to flap and glide their easy way toward Sicily, Daedalus warned Icarus to steer a middle course. “The peril stands equal, my son,” he said. “If you fly too low, the hungry waves may lick up and drown you; but if you fly too high, the sun may melt the wax which binds your wings together. Fly not too high, my son!”

Again and again the anxious father had to warn his son about the danger, and every time Icarus obeyed at first, but soon began to experiment, as teenagers will, with the limits of his father’s marvelous invention. He swooped and soared to his heart’s delight, and Daedalus was pleased to see that the wings were sturdy enough to stand this much stress. But in such hazardous ventures, one mistake is all that is needed. Icarus rose too high in the sky, preparing for a joyous dive. The wax melted, the feathers fell off, and the boy plummeted headlong to his death in the sea.”

"The Lament for Icarus", 1898 by Herbert James Draper (1863- 1920)