Karinthy et al on the Literature Map

I found an unusual web site:

Literature Map - The Tourist Map of Literature

You type in an author, and if it is in the database, the site yields a map of other authors you might like.

So I typed in some of my favorite Hungarian authors, most of whom are not in the database, and then a few of my favorite Eastern European dystopian authors.

Frigyes Karinthy yields Franz Kafka, J. M. Coetzee, Ivan Goncharov , George Orwell, John Williams.

Dezsõ Kosztolányi: Thomas Mann, Viktor Pelevin, Chekhov, Anais Nin, Italo Calvino, Kurt Vonnegut, et al, and without the accent marks: Franz Kafka, Georges Perec.

Miklos Banffy: Heinrich Heine, Shakespeare, Descartes, Goethe, Willa Cather, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Harper Lee, Per Pettersen.

Istvan Örkeny yields Joseph Heller, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, John Edward Williams, Samuel Beckett.

Karel Čapek with the accent, gives me Vaclav Havel and George Orwell; without the accent, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, George Harrison, and farther away, a whole bunch of writers.

How could Yevgeny Zamyatin possibly give me Margaret Mitchell or Henry Kissinger? Along with real writers.

Voyage to Kazohinia: A Diametric Dystopia (2)

"The ABC of the Diametric Model, Twenty Years On" by Christopher Badcock, Psychology Today, July 5, 2017

As I pointed out in a recent post, what is today known as the diametric model of the mind and mental illness was stunningly anticipated by Sándor Szathmári (1897–1974) in his novel, Voyage to Kazohinia, first published in Hungarian in 1941. To the best of my knowledge, this is the earliest anticipation of the idea that autism and psychosis might be opposites—despite the author seemingly knowing nothing of autism or of the work of Hans Asperger, who was about to publish his first account of Autistichen Psychopathen im Kindesalter in wartime Austria.

Voyage to Kazohinia: A Diametric Dystopia

"Voyage to Kazohinia: A Diametric Dystopia" by Christopher Badcock, Psychology Today, May 6, 2017

"The diametric model of mental illness was anticipated in a novel of 1941."

Badcock summarizes the schema of Szathmári's novel. He notes that Gulliver proves incapable of recognizing the similarity between his Britain and the irrational Behins. Later Badcock notes that the behins are tangled up by their own mental constructs, unable to engage objective reality.

"But by now many readers of these posts will already have noticed that to present-day eyes the Hins look very much as if they collectively suffer from high functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD); while the Behins are afflicted with diametrically opposite psychotic spectrum disorder (PSD). This remarkable book, in other words, prefigured the diametric model of mental illness by a full fifty years. In Szathmári’s words, the Hin and Behin represented “Two worlds, which could never perceive each other simply because the other was not a separate entity but the reverse of itself…” Like mentalistic versus mechanistic cognition, these were “opposite worldviews,” the former the “positive” of the other “negative.”"

Badcock finds the translation somewhat wanting, but also regrets that this "masterpiece" so relevant to psychological understanding and today's world has been overlooked.

"But its author deserves full credit, not only for writing one of the most brilliant satires of modern times, but also for implicitly understanding the diametrically opposite nature of autism and psychosis, mentalistic and mechanistic cognition—not to mention the threat to sanity and civilization of hyper-mentalism."

Badcock was informed of this novel by one Simone Hickman. Perhaps it is possible to learn more about her?

This is a unique and remarkable tribute. I am not familiar with Badcock's work or the concepts he uses, but if he recognizes a psychological dualism here, he, or we in any case, should recognize that this mirrors an ideological and rock-bottom societal dualism patterned in the modern world.

Franz Kafka, datrevene

". . . Mi estas tiel soleca, kiel . . . kiel Franz Kafka." -- Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka naskiĝis la 3-an de julio 1883 en Prago. Ĉi-datrevene afiŝis Antonio De Salvo:

Franz Kafka – Esperanto-vivo

. . . pri la vivo kaj verkaro kaj tradukoj (en Esperanto) de Kafka. Oni interalie trovos ligojn al tradukoj, ekz. tiuj de Vilhelmo LUTERMAN:

Franco KAFKO (Franz Kafka): Rakontaro

Kaj ne forgesu la krokodilan retejon de esperantista poeto Mauro Nervi:

The Kafka Project by Mauro Nervi

Robert Zend (1929-1985): my podcast (continued)

I recently blogged about my podcast on Robert Zend, Hungarian-Canadian writer and Esperantist:

5/26/17 Robert Zend: Between Budapest & Toronto, Between Zero & One, Between Dream & Reality

As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, "An Overview of Zend in 50 minutes"--an announcement of my podcast --now headlines The Robert Zend Website's audio page as a result of the family's enthusiastic response. This now links back to my blog post "Robert Zend: Between Budapest & Toronto, Between Zero & One, Between Dream & Reality," to the podcast itself (sound file, 51 min.), and to my web site, The Autodidact Project.

And now, the home page of The Robert Zend Website features my podcast:

And click below to take in a fifty-minute podcast on Robert Zend, a great overview of his works, themes and influences: Robert Zend:Between Budapest & Toronto, Between Zero & One, Between Dream & Reality by Ralph Dumain, May 26 2017

Sándor Szathmári: 120-a datreveno / 120th birthday

Antaŭ 120 jaroj, la 19-an de junio 1897, naskiĝis Sándor Szathmári, hungara esperantisto, kiu meritas atenton kiel verkisto de mal/utopioj en rango kun Karinthy, Čapek, Zamjatin, Huxley, kaj Orwell.

Przemysław Wierzbowski kreis la jenan bildon, uzante foto-portreton de Szathmári fare de Eifert János, fama hungara fotisto.

120 years ago, 19 June 1897, the Hungarian Esperantist Sándor Szathmári was born, who as a writer of dystopia and utopia belongs in the ranks of Karinthy, Čapek, Zamyatin, Huxley, and Orwell.

Jack Wilson: tradukoj el anglalingva beletro

Jack Wilson, 2006

Hazarde, esplorante la temon de James Joyce kaj Esperanto, mi trovis la jenan blogon:

Esperanto translations by Jack Wilson

Mi tuj aldonis liajn tradukojn de Joyce kaj Borges al miaj tiutemaj bibliografioj:

• “Eveline” [el Dublinanoj] de James Joyce
• “Araby” [el Dublinanoj] de James Joyce
• “La vidinto” [The Witness] de Jorge Luis Borges

Wilson tradukis verkojn de Saki, Wallace Stevens, Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, kelkajn kanzonojn ... Mi ankoraŭ ne legis do ne taksas la tradukojn, sed mi ŝatas la gamon de elektitaj aŭtoroj. Aparte interesas min:

• La Komploto Kontraŭ La Giganto [The Plot Against the Giant] de Wallace Stevens
• La Ruĝa Ĉarumo [The Red Wheelbarrow] de William Carlos Williams
• Ĉi Tiu Estas Nur Diri [This is Just to Say] de William Carlos Williams

Ĉiuj ĉi aperis ĉi-bloge en 2009. Rimarku alian blogon de Wilson (ĝis 2013): Kriko About Words. Jen afiŝaro pri Esperanto:

• Kriko About Words: Search results for esperanto

Wilson kreis plurajn blogojn. El 2012:

• Links to Jack Wilson Sites and Blogs

Jen anglalingva artikolo de la 27a de junio 2006:

• Esperanto - A Language For Everyone - How it Can Benefit You, How it Can Benefit the World

Jack Wilson estas, aŭ estis, artisto, verkisto, poeto, muzikisto, komponisto, kiu loĝas/loĝis en Tempe Arizona (Usono). Ĉi tiu estas nomo nova je mi. Ĉu li ankoraŭ vivas post 2013 mi ne scias.