K K Srivastava
05-04-2010, 07:32 AM
An Armless Hand Writes
Author: K.K.Srivastava
Publisher: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi[/B]
An Intellectually Challenging Work
"‘An Armless Hand Writes’ contains a whole host of life impressions offered with deep wisdom and truth and with the look on the essential things - touching and thought provoking. All on a high linguistic level. I think the author wants to carry forward justice, to disseminate truth, to faithfully record history … to expose darkness and corruption to purify society from new angle and to promote the advancement of human civilization."
Prof Kurt F. Svatek, Noble prize nominee for literature from Austria, in Poetcrit.
While I began reviewing this book, I must confess (having read Srivastava's first book, Ineluctable Stillness) that An Armless Hand Writes is an improved
collection, conceptually as well as intellectually. In his 20 page long, complex and oftentimes intriguing preface, Srivastava narrates his vision of poetry that
he feels must deal with things beyond beauty, love and truth and rightly writes, "The are so many odds poets are pitted against and what confuses them further
is their lack of realization of these oddities." Writers live with and within oddities and explain these oddities in their writings. I agree. When Bernard M.
Jackson the brilliant scholar/poet/reviewer from U.K. called Ineluctable Stillness "intellectually challenging" and went in his admiring review to an
extent of comparing some of its longer poems with T.S. Eliot's The Waste land, there was muted response from Indian poets but the second book did stimulate
some poets in India including the celebrated Jayanta Mahapatra who described the poems "deep and moving" though the book has it's own share of criticism.
Tribune on Sunday despite noticing both "erudition" and "credence" in the book described it as mere "cold philosophy." Bernard Jackson's pontification that
some "wonderful works" would be expected of Srivastava in future came to fruition with the second book which despite it's complexity and being somewhat
nebulous (nebulousness also adds to richness of literature), throws ample light on what in the field of literature is referred to as "quarrels within self and this
quarrel within self is not merely the self each one of us has but the self that Carl Jung refers to as representing "collective unconsciousness' of human
beings. Srivastava has handled this overall human, cosmopolitan self both past as well as present with much elan. Incidentally, it is worthwhile to mention
here that the influence of the works of Freud, Jung, Spinoza, Bergson, Yeats and Bradley is clearly writ large in this book. For example, he exhibits
Spinoza's 'interlocking of ideas" and Bradley' "impalpable abstraction" in his longer poems "Oppressiveness of Nothingness" and "An Unfinished Journey"
where he wades through different ideas as they influence history and human conflicts and existence.
Psychological realism and image that emerge from extremely interior spaces go into making of most of Srivastava's poems. For example, these lines from "Oppressiveness of Nothingness" combines in a sense psychological realism with facts of modern life.
"On that dilapidated debris lies a zombie.
That meaningless figure once ruled us, for long
He ruled us more intellectually than
morally.
His shadows were in collusion,
his eyelashes never dwindled.
He never talked to us,
he never felt one with us.
Still we loved him,
for we loved interacting with zombies."
In this 39 part very long poem, Srivastava makes ample use of Eric Fromm's usage of the word "Zombie" and described it's relevance to modern social values destabilizing us slowly. Similarly in "An Unfinished Journey" he is particularly good while reminding us of human behaviour in lonely, cloistered environment and it's embedment in an enormous historical framework and in between laments and ridicules people—
"Our skulls have paradise of their own where we at times sit together feeling the cruel, icy paws of twists and turns of irremediable errors."
Again,
"We have not stopped hating others who matter not for us and for those who really matter we simply don't exist."
And then look at these lines,
"The lips that sing a song tonight
are the lips
that kissed me years back,
that sipped me years back,
that drank mine years back,
that sabotaged me years back,
that warmed me years back'.
But the lips that sing tonight
are not her lips,
these are not the lips which
drew solace for me,
in my moments of solitude,
in my moments of ignominies,
in my moments of torments.
Where are those lips?
Ask, Homar.
I ask Homar.
Homar gives me unowned lips.
I need owned lips."
On first reading of these lines some readers will be drawn towards what they may see as lewdness in poetry but the true beauty and meaning of these lines
can be appreciated only when one is acquainted with certain descriptions in Homar's work Odyssey. In fact these lines are a true commentary on sycophancy
and flattery (owned versus unowned lips) an order of the day.
Apart from haunting qualities (the influence of Kafka's Diaries so writ large in the poems) in these poems, artistic subtlety, richness of style, technical control
over language, sophisticated imageries, profound insights are some of the other highlights of his poems. His vision emanates from his knowledge of history,
philosophy, literature and moral dilemma. He fondly uses the style of "dedoublement" Ezra Pound, Eliot and Hulme used in their longer poems. He
confronts himself with his own persona and fluctuating from "I" to "You" and again to "We" in some poems successfully establishes this technique of
dedoublement.
"Matterless thoughts, full of forms,
knowledge without wisdom,
wisdom without knowledge,
moves themselves in equal measure."
Or
"You exist at one moment
and cease the next,
recoiling from moments and moments,
reconciliation gets uprooted."
These lines from the poem Phenomena deal with philosophical aspects of our existence where the relationship between thoughts and forms, wisdom and knowledge, void and full is described beautifully.
Sex and beauty too play important role in some of his poems. A clue to his views on man-woman relationship can be had from the preface to the book. In
another moving poem "Cicada and Harlot", he expresses how after having sexual intercourse with a harlot a man realizes how he has lost everything—
"The hazy warmth of her lips,
Too engaging, too enchanting,
I, lost, on the borders of my desires.
Elements seek reconciliation,
As we hug each other,
I, sinking deep, down.....and down."
Or as in ‘Thy Face, Great Anarch’, where the poet, in an unbuttoned burst of erotic fervour, talks of his old beloved—
"Thy face,
layers or beauty! freshly fallen snow,
freezing the apostles and
the prophets alike."
Similarly, ‘An Evening in a Tavern’ is an amalgamation of various thoughts that come to his mind while he spent a night in a tavern.
"I saw my beloved retreating far-off,
enchanting me with what she never promised me.
I penned my name and then hers
side by side
on that old banyan tree,
that I expected would live for yet another
1000 years."
His very first poem, "I", depicts the conditions of those unable to reconcile to their self
"I am I.
A farrago of heap,
Gargantuan,
Of myself.'
"My arrogance,
groovy,
deranges me so pathetically,
I live continually,
Amid my life alone,
flickering occasionally,
calmed down by the fury within."
This poem reminds us of Walt Whitman's Song of Myself.
Allusions to literature, philosophy, moral dilemma and western mythology, (though explained in footnotes) explains why his poetry is difficult and places excessive demands on readers intellectual skills. Since there are many allusions in poems some (explained in footnotes), I feel the more his poems are read, the more meanings one will arrive at. Oftentimes it appears his emotions get recollected in tranquillity but through a furious method or vice versa. A sense of something larger and uncertain seems to be hanging all over in his poems. Moments seem to be fleeting leaving indelible impact on readers. For understanding his poetry, apart from patience and intelligence, a good deal of acquaintance with literature and history is mandatory to come to grips with deep nuances contained in his verse. He displays in his preface (prose) the craftsmanship of Joseph Conrad, and in his poems he shares the vision of the likes of Sylvia Plath and treats the demonic doings of history through memory the way Czeslaw Milosz had done.
PS: This review of the book An Armless Hand Writes was written by Mr P.K.Majumder, a Kolkota based writer and poet. For the first time it appeared in ejournal www.museindia.com
Author: K.K.Srivastava
Publisher: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi[/B]
An Intellectually Challenging Work
"‘An Armless Hand Writes’ contains a whole host of life impressions offered with deep wisdom and truth and with the look on the essential things - touching and thought provoking. All on a high linguistic level. I think the author wants to carry forward justice, to disseminate truth, to faithfully record history … to expose darkness and corruption to purify society from new angle and to promote the advancement of human civilization."
Prof Kurt F. Svatek, Noble prize nominee for literature from Austria, in Poetcrit.
While I began reviewing this book, I must confess (having read Srivastava's first book, Ineluctable Stillness) that An Armless Hand Writes is an improved
collection, conceptually as well as intellectually. In his 20 page long, complex and oftentimes intriguing preface, Srivastava narrates his vision of poetry that
he feels must deal with things beyond beauty, love and truth and rightly writes, "The are so many odds poets are pitted against and what confuses them further
is their lack of realization of these oddities." Writers live with and within oddities and explain these oddities in their writings. I agree. When Bernard M.
Jackson the brilliant scholar/poet/reviewer from U.K. called Ineluctable Stillness "intellectually challenging" and went in his admiring review to an
extent of comparing some of its longer poems with T.S. Eliot's The Waste land, there was muted response from Indian poets but the second book did stimulate
some poets in India including the celebrated Jayanta Mahapatra who described the poems "deep and moving" though the book has it's own share of criticism.
Tribune on Sunday despite noticing both "erudition" and "credence" in the book described it as mere "cold philosophy." Bernard Jackson's pontification that
some "wonderful works" would be expected of Srivastava in future came to fruition with the second book which despite it's complexity and being somewhat
nebulous (nebulousness also adds to richness of literature), throws ample light on what in the field of literature is referred to as "quarrels within self and this
quarrel within self is not merely the self each one of us has but the self that Carl Jung refers to as representing "collective unconsciousness' of human
beings. Srivastava has handled this overall human, cosmopolitan self both past as well as present with much elan. Incidentally, it is worthwhile to mention
here that the influence of the works of Freud, Jung, Spinoza, Bergson, Yeats and Bradley is clearly writ large in this book. For example, he exhibits
Spinoza's 'interlocking of ideas" and Bradley' "impalpable abstraction" in his longer poems "Oppressiveness of Nothingness" and "An Unfinished Journey"
where he wades through different ideas as they influence history and human conflicts and existence.
Psychological realism and image that emerge from extremely interior spaces go into making of most of Srivastava's poems. For example, these lines from "Oppressiveness of Nothingness" combines in a sense psychological realism with facts of modern life.
"On that dilapidated debris lies a zombie.
That meaningless figure once ruled us, for long
He ruled us more intellectually than
morally.
His shadows were in collusion,
his eyelashes never dwindled.
He never talked to us,
he never felt one with us.
Still we loved him,
for we loved interacting with zombies."
In this 39 part very long poem, Srivastava makes ample use of Eric Fromm's usage of the word "Zombie" and described it's relevance to modern social values destabilizing us slowly. Similarly in "An Unfinished Journey" he is particularly good while reminding us of human behaviour in lonely, cloistered environment and it's embedment in an enormous historical framework and in between laments and ridicules people—
"Our skulls have paradise of their own where we at times sit together feeling the cruel, icy paws of twists and turns of irremediable errors."
Again,
"We have not stopped hating others who matter not for us and for those who really matter we simply don't exist."
And then look at these lines,
"The lips that sing a song tonight
are the lips
that kissed me years back,
that sipped me years back,
that drank mine years back,
that sabotaged me years back,
that warmed me years back'.
But the lips that sing tonight
are not her lips,
these are not the lips which
drew solace for me,
in my moments of solitude,
in my moments of ignominies,
in my moments of torments.
Where are those lips?
Ask, Homar.
I ask Homar.
Homar gives me unowned lips.
I need owned lips."
On first reading of these lines some readers will be drawn towards what they may see as lewdness in poetry but the true beauty and meaning of these lines
can be appreciated only when one is acquainted with certain descriptions in Homar's work Odyssey. In fact these lines are a true commentary on sycophancy
and flattery (owned versus unowned lips) an order of the day.
Apart from haunting qualities (the influence of Kafka's Diaries so writ large in the poems) in these poems, artistic subtlety, richness of style, technical control
over language, sophisticated imageries, profound insights are some of the other highlights of his poems. His vision emanates from his knowledge of history,
philosophy, literature and moral dilemma. He fondly uses the style of "dedoublement" Ezra Pound, Eliot and Hulme used in their longer poems. He
confronts himself with his own persona and fluctuating from "I" to "You" and again to "We" in some poems successfully establishes this technique of
dedoublement.
"Matterless thoughts, full of forms,
knowledge without wisdom,
wisdom without knowledge,
moves themselves in equal measure."
Or
"You exist at one moment
and cease the next,
recoiling from moments and moments,
reconciliation gets uprooted."
These lines from the poem Phenomena deal with philosophical aspects of our existence where the relationship between thoughts and forms, wisdom and knowledge, void and full is described beautifully.
Sex and beauty too play important role in some of his poems. A clue to his views on man-woman relationship can be had from the preface to the book. In
another moving poem "Cicada and Harlot", he expresses how after having sexual intercourse with a harlot a man realizes how he has lost everything—
"The hazy warmth of her lips,
Too engaging, too enchanting,
I, lost, on the borders of my desires.
Elements seek reconciliation,
As we hug each other,
I, sinking deep, down.....and down."
Or as in ‘Thy Face, Great Anarch’, where the poet, in an unbuttoned burst of erotic fervour, talks of his old beloved—
"Thy face,
layers or beauty! freshly fallen snow,
freezing the apostles and
the prophets alike."
Similarly, ‘An Evening in a Tavern’ is an amalgamation of various thoughts that come to his mind while he spent a night in a tavern.
"I saw my beloved retreating far-off,
enchanting me with what she never promised me.
I penned my name and then hers
side by side
on that old banyan tree,
that I expected would live for yet another
1000 years."
His very first poem, "I", depicts the conditions of those unable to reconcile to their self
"I am I.
A farrago of heap,
Gargantuan,
Of myself.'
"My arrogance,
groovy,
deranges me so pathetically,
I live continually,
Amid my life alone,
flickering occasionally,
calmed down by the fury within."
This poem reminds us of Walt Whitman's Song of Myself.
Allusions to literature, philosophy, moral dilemma and western mythology, (though explained in footnotes) explains why his poetry is difficult and places excessive demands on readers intellectual skills. Since there are many allusions in poems some (explained in footnotes), I feel the more his poems are read, the more meanings one will arrive at. Oftentimes it appears his emotions get recollected in tranquillity but through a furious method or vice versa. A sense of something larger and uncertain seems to be hanging all over in his poems. Moments seem to be fleeting leaving indelible impact on readers. For understanding his poetry, apart from patience and intelligence, a good deal of acquaintance with literature and history is mandatory to come to grips with deep nuances contained in his verse. He displays in his preface (prose) the craftsmanship of Joseph Conrad, and in his poems he shares the vision of the likes of Sylvia Plath and treats the demonic doings of history through memory the way Czeslaw Milosz had done.
PS: This review of the book An Armless Hand Writes was written by Mr P.K.Majumder, a Kolkota based writer and poet. For the first time it appeared in ejournal www.museindia.com