William Sanders Scarborough & Volapük in the Black Press

William Sanders Scarborough (1852-1926) was one of the most outstanding of outstanding Black American intellectuals of the 19th and early 20th centuries, individual scholars who, because of the dire predicament of Black Americans, assumed all the roles a Black professional person could fill: writer, educator, professor, administrator, civil rights advocate and leader . . .Scarborough was born into slavery and rose to become a leading scholar of the Greek and Latin classics and president of Wilberforce University.

Scarborough was resurrected from the forgetfulness of history with the publication of two books, edited by Michele Valerie Ronnick: The Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough: An American Journey From Slavery to Scholarship (2005) and The Works of William Sanders Scarborough: Black Classicist and Race Leader (2006).

In 2010, in the course of preparing a lecture on the 100th anniversary of the Universal Esperanto Congress in Washington, DC, in addition to researching the mainstream American press for relevant articles, I decided to search the databases of the Black press for reports on Esperanto and the quest for an international language. Here are the articles on Volapük, now on my web site:

• Volapük in the Black Press, 1888 
• Volapuk (Chicago Defender, 1911)

Note that the two signed articles, from August 1888, were authored by Scarborough. Given that Esperanto saw the light of day only in 1887, 1888 was apparently too soon for the American philological community to compare it to Volapük. (I don't recall when Esperanto first captured attention of someone in the anglophone world. It did not take long.)

I found another reference to Volapük in Scarborough's Works. Here is the quote with the bibliographical information on the original publication. Note also that this article was written in the heat of the imperialist scramble to carve up Africa:

The influence of civilization is a mighty lever in shaping the destiny of language. Dialects crumble before it, and the diversity of tongues drifts toward unity. The language of the intelligent must supersede, wholly or in part, that of the unintelligent wherever they come in contact, either by displacing it or fashioning it after its own mold. As the weaker languages and dialects of Europe have disappeared before the light of intelligence, so will the languages and dialects of Africa drop out of existence, one by one, it may be, as the same influence shall quicken and permeate the people. One by one will the stronger swallow up the weak, until the speech of the dominant people shall prevail, jargon first, perhaps, extinction later. Doubtless many more dialects than now exist have passed away, some of them leaving not a relic behind to tell the story of their existence, while of others bare skeletons of speech may be found here and there, but hardly enough to indicate their linguistic relations. The forces that produced these changes are still at work, but in a greater degree; and, though we can make no definite statement as to the results growing out of the invasion of Africa by foreign languages, yet again we believe that the inflectional will survive the uninflectional languages of the world. No artificial language can stand the test of time. In fact, it will hardly gain a foothold, but like Volapük, will die in its infancy. 5 [footnote clarifying Volapük] 

SOURCE: Works, p. 242. Original source: "Function and future of foreign languages in Africa," Methodist Review 76, November-December 1894, pp. 890-899.

Jewish utopian nostalgia & Esperanto in fiction: 2 reviews

This seems to be a trend in Jewish novels for a number of years now. Looking backward, reflecting on dashed hopes and lost possibilities, ideals failed or betrayed: Jewish fiction is casting Esperanto in a utopian role.  Here are my two latest reviews:

• Is Emigration Good for Soviet Latvian Jews? David Bezmozgis, The Free World reviewed by R. Dumain 


• Amos Oz Mourning Jewish Utopia: Between Friends reviewed by R. Dumain

Witold Gombrowicz & Esperanto?

Mi komencas legi Witold Gombrowicz, en anglalingvaj tradukoj. Mi legis lian verkon Filozofio en 6 horoj kaj 15 minutoj kaj nun legas la unuan volumon de lia Taglibro.  Ekzistas pri li artikolo en Esperanto en Vikipedio:

http://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombrowicz

Mi ne povis trovi la ekziston de ajna traduko el lia verkaro en Esperanto. Nu?

Kaptis mian intereson la okupateco je Gombrowicz pri la problemo de provinceco, kiu por li estas pola provinceco. Mi ne konas polan kulturon, do jen nova temo miaflanke, kiun oni certe povas apliki al diversaj situacioj.

Kvankam la elirpunkto malsamas, mi pensas pri eseo de pola Esperantisto:

"Letero el ekster la (E-) kulturo" de Radosław Nowakowski

Ĉu estas koincido, ke ankaŭ Nowakowski estas polo? Li deziras liberiĝi el la katenoj de kulturo. Gombrowicz volis liberigi propran denaskan kulturon el provinceco. La temoj ŝajnas iom apartaj, sed mi supozas ke ekzistas rilato.

Esperanto mem servas diversajn funkciojn. Unu ideologio emfazas la konservadon de naciaj kulturoj. Sed efektive Esperanto ankaŭ servis kiel eskapilo el la sufoko de lokaj cirkonstancoj, aparte en orienta Eŭrope sed ankaŭ aliloke.

Mi komencis blogi pri Gombrowicz anglalingve:

Witold Gombrowicz confronts (Polish) provincialism

Witold Gombrowicz: Philosophy in 6 1/4 hours (1)

Blake couplet in Esperanto / Versoj de William Blake & Bob Dylan

I haven't had much time for Esperanto lately, but the notion of translating this couplet popped into my head:

How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?

      -- William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 7

My Esperanto translation:

Kiu scius, se ĉiu bird’ tranĉante ĉielvojon
ĝuas ene vastan mondon kiun via sensokvino kaŝas?

I did it!

In 1987, I used the coinage "ĉielvojo" to translate (on this blog) the ending of a Bob Dylan song:

 Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
“How good, how good does it feel to be free?”
And I answer them most mysteriously
“Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?”

       -- Bob Dylan, "Ballad in Plain D"

Me:

Amikoj ripetas en la karcer':
"Kiel bone, kiel bone ja sentus' liber'."
Sed mi respondas kun multa mister':
"Ĉu birdojn ne ĉenas ĉielvojo?"

KONISI Gaku: Vage tra la Dimensioj

Konisi Gaku - Vikipedio / Gaku Konishi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Konisi, Gaku. Vage tra la dimensioj: sciencaj fikcietoj. Osaka: Japana Esperanta Librokooperativo, 1976. 77 p.

Enhavo:
La tradukmaŝino  [p. 3]
La subtera elizeo  [8]
Sonĝoramo  [19]
La kosmo-elmigrado  [30]
La kosmoŝipo “edeno n-ro 5“  [39]
La epoko de amaskonsumado  [50]
La skandalo Prociono  [62]
Glosoj  [76]
Postparolo  [77]

Mi legis ĉi tiun novelaron dum la 1970aj jaroj. Pro aktuala intereso pri sciencfikcio en Esperanto mi ĵus relegis ĉi tiujn sciencfikciajn rakontojn.  Plejparte Konisi kombinas sciencfikcion kaj satiron, kun surprizajn kulminojn. Ĉi tiel rimarkindas "La subtera elizeo", "Sonĝoramo", "La epoko de amaskonsumado".

"La subtera elizeo": Oni celas forigi "kadukuloj"n (maljunulojn) al apartaj gruploĝejoj, sed mankas spaco surtera, do oni konstruas subterajn loĝejojn. Atendas surprizo pri la eventuala sorto de la kadukuloj, kaj ankaŭ surprizo pri la sorto de la surtera mondo.

"Sonĝoramo": Mezaĝulo, longtempa dungato en elektroteknika kompanio, ne kontentas pri sia pozicio en la kompanio kaj siaj rilatoj kun junaj kolegoj. Konkurado inter firmaoj instigas inventadon. Do la Speciala Esplora Laboratorio de la firmao okupas sin pri "Plano Sonĝo", al kiu la malkontentulo, kiu rakontas la rakonton, estas enregistrata. En la nova posteno li restas malfeliĉa, ĝis la direktoro elektas lin provi la eksperimentan sonĝo-aparaton. Post la eksperimenta provo, lia situacio ege pliboniĝas dum tuta jaro . . . ŝajne.

"La epoko de amaskonsumado": Dio en la Ĉiela Regno enuiĝas, respegulanta la apation de homoj surteraj pri Dio. Anĝelino Aŭrora proponas viziton al Tero. Dio trovas teranojn tute sorbataj en konsumerismo, kun konstanta ŝanĝado kaj novigo de varoj. Dio lernas multon el ĉi tiu sperto kaj decidas modernigi la Ĉielan Regnon.  Aŭrora aperigas sin en la teraj amaskomunikiloj, kaj anoncas en la nomo de Dio:

Ekde la nuna momento vi estos liberigitaj de la kateno, ke vi portados unu korpon ĝis la morto. Dio kaj Kompanio, speciale fondita tiucele, proponos al vi diversajn normajn modelojn de novepoka homfiguro, el inter vi elektos por vi la plej ŝatindan. [. . . .]

La dia entrepreno sukcesas; la homoj adaptiĝas al la nova etapo de konsumerismo. Sed Dio lacas pro la neceso rapide krei novajn korpfigurojn.  Aŭrora elpensas genian novan ideon, kiu solvas la problemon. Finfine . . . legu mem.

Evidente, mi ne estas sola en mia gusto. En Trezoro: la Esperanta novelarto 1887-1986, Vol. 2, redaktita de Reto Rossetti & Henri Vatré (Budapest: Hungara Esperanto-Asocio, 1989; p. 575 - 593) troveblas "La subtera elizeo" kaj "La epoko de amaskonsumado".

Jean-Pierre Brisset & logophilia

Brisset no doubt returned to Port Royal and to the General Grammar before Saussure. In fact, the title of his principal linguistic work acknowledges the debt: The Logical Grammar. It is as if Brisset had successfully blended Grammar and Logic in order to finally create that portmanteau science which others before him had dreamed of, beginning with Leibniz and his project of a universal characteristic. Yet, in the first phase of his research, he restricts himself to monoglossia, and at no point becomes involved in inventing his own Esperanto. Like all the other logophiles, Brisset will only be able to find universality in what already exists. In spite of his ‘logical’ requirement, his work remains essentially founded upon an insurmountable empiricism, and attached to a research which remains flush with a chaos of the language that he is only concerned with ordering.

SOURCE: Pierssens, Michel. The Power of Babel: A Study of Logophilia, translated by Carl R. Lovitt (London; Boston; Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980), p. 65.

Louis Wolfson & logophilia (no Esperanto)

[. . .] Wolfson, like Brisset and Roussel, has no thought of producing a new language, for which he would set codes, and which would compensate for the insufficiencies of each language which has not provided signified and signifying series totally isomorphous to those of English. By studying an increasing number of languages, Wolfson, like the poet according to Mallarmé, strives to ‘remunerate the deficiencies of languages’. This is an interminable undertaking that a personal Esperanto could have greatly simplified, had the rationality of an economic calculation been able to find a place in that which recognizes only the law of desire, whose despotism cannot be repelled. Like Mallarmé, Saussure, and Roussel, Wolfson comes face to face with something like a transcendence, an enigmatic being which effects the collusion of a desire and a form. This elusive phantom, some aspect of which escapes from every grasp, whether it be that of science, literature, or whatever, is the sign. The absolute horizon of pleasure and suffering, of being and knowledge. Wolfson cannot tolerate the idea of splitting the sign, and isolating the signifier from the signified. The technique of universal translatability which he institutes from one language to all the others seeks only to preserve the integrity of the meaning, on condition that it be free to migrate, to circulate among all languages without coming up against the frontiers of a system which would arrest its flux, on condition that it be able to reterritorialize or expatriate itself at will. This promotes an incessant motility agitating from within the paradoxical content of a membrane, which makes languages a coalescence of sounds and meanings struggling against chance. The French in which Wolfson finally tells his story constitutes a makeshift solution, the stasis of a respite in the depths of a temporary refuge to which he episodically manages to withdraw. In no sense is it a metalanguage with which the manipulator would put an end to the manipulations which affect him. There is no more a place in Wolfson’s adventure for a metalanguage, than there is for any Esperanto—thereby verifying Lacan’s formula. Language remains for him an empirical continuum; the territory cannot be divided so as to permit the emergence of a mastery, nor is there any possibility of a reprieve in which the subject would no longer be in question, in which the interrogation which continually calls him into question would lose its impact. In other words, for Wolfson, there is no science.

SOURCE: Pierssens, Michel. The Power of Babel: A Study of Logophilia, translated by Carl R. Lovitt (London; Boston; Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980), p. 60.