20.12.11

ELIT NEW YEAR PARTY

Let's gather money for

Mor Çatı Kadın Sığınağı Vakfı

We would like to invite you to our bake-sale party.


Date and Place: December 29th, Thursday from 17:40 till 20:00, in big video room (H-232)
 P.S. Please don't forget to bring food and second-hand goods for sale (such as books, DVDs, VCDs, etc.)





10.12.11

Charles Dickens Day at BİLKENT

Celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens

 
2012 is the bicentenary of Charles Dickens's birth, and around the world
his readers will be celebrating his life and work.  ELIT Department is
organizing a 200th birthday event, which, according to the tentative
schedule, will include a panel of papers, a round table discussion, a
dramatized reading of selected scenes from A Christmas Carol with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Don
Randall as Scrooge, and a film screening.  This will be an all-day event
and will take place on February 29, 2012, Wednesday.
We look forward to seeing all ELIT students and those who are interested in Dickens Day in February.
Please visit http://www.dickens2012.org/ to check out the details about the bicentenary.


9.12.11

BİLKENT ELIT DEPARTMENT IS GOING TO STAGE GARCIA LORCA’S BLOOD WEDDING








With the enthusiastic efforts of ELIT students a new play is on the way to meet the audience in spring semester. Erdi Mamikoğlu, Director of Ankara State Theatre directs the play with a surreal approach. Within two hours, the play will take the audience to the beginning of the twentieth century Spain to have a unique experience of feud, revenge, passion, grief and despair. A play is complete only with its audience, so we would like to welcome you all to our play. Please note that the performance will be in English.

2.12.11

Drama Translation and Theatrical Language: Some Clues About Shakespeare’s English by Prof Özdemir Nutku

Department of English Language and Literature proudly presents Professor Özdemir Nutku who is equipped with many qualifications as theatre director, actor, cultural historian, writer, poet, playwright, drama critic and translator.
Nutku has written 123 books including 51 compilations, 47 translations, 4 poetry, 18 plays and adaptations, 2 scenarios and 1 children’s book, some of which have not been printed but the majority of them have been published. He has also written more than 1.800 research essays, reviews, criticisms and articles in various newspapers and art and literature magazines. He has also staged over 100 plays,  as a theater director. He is the author of  The Wooden Horse Of Troy: Essays (2009), Glossary of Shakespeare and The Elizabethan Era (2007), Bertolt Brecht and the Epic Theatre (2007), History of Acting (2002), History of  World Drama (2000). He translated 19 Shakespearean plays such as All’s Well That Ends Well, Romeo and Juliet, Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Othello, Twelfth Night. He directed plays such as The Illustrated Ottoman History by Turgut Özakman, Zodiac of Marriage by Anton Chekhov, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, The Blood Wedding by F.Garcia Lorca, The Mansion of Fehmi Pasha by Turgut Özakman.
Recipient of numerous awards, Nutku was lately awarded the Turkish Language Association’s and Eskişehir Arts Association’s Lifelong Service Prize in 2008 and 2010. Nutku continues to teach as a retired professor in Dokuz Eylül University as the founder of Faculty of Performing Arts.
Nutku will present a lecture entitled “Oyun Çevirisi ve Sahne Dili: Shakespeare’in İngilizcesi Üzerine Bazı İpuçları.” The lecture will be in Turkish and will take place on 13 December 2011, Tuesday, in C-Block Amphitheatre at 17:40. Everyone interested in translation, theatre, art and literature is invited. Please note that refreshments will be served before the talk. For more information, you may contact elit@bilkent.edu.tr.

24.11.11

The Influence of "The Waste Land" on the Poetry of Yeats, Owen and Rupert Brooke



The twentieth century has seen a great deal of advance and change. There were technoogical developments, such as the beginnings of the electricity, development in transportation and communication. Speed gained importance, man went to moon and people accepted all these changes with a rather blaze attitude. As a result of this blaze approach to life and to changes brought by the theories of some of the scientists is criticized by the artists. Yet, The First World War took its rightful place among the reasons which brought down the traditional values, life style and in relation with these a change in traditional literature. This war brought a sense of littleness, almost a sense of nothingness to human life. Most people lost their belief in technology, development and dignity of man and consequently, this approach showed a sort of detrition in the sensitivity of man.
The aim of the modernist poets is to stimulate the reader and to open their eyes to realities. In other words, they want to take off the blinkers that people have on their eyes. In their poems they try to show unpleasant things, cruelties of war and damages of technology. This can only be conveyed by the use of everyday language. These poets want to wake people up, to make them look at themselves and what is happening in the world. However, they do not make any judgments, whereas they leave the decision to the reader. For that purpose they use images. The important thing about their use of imagery is that they avoid using stock images. Therefore use of personal images become popular which is rather shocking for the reader. A best example can be given from Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”: “The evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized upon a table.”1
This is not a typical, not even a poetical image. The idea is that, natural world is turned to be unnatural by man. Ill health and illness color the poem, as the poem is about a socially unhealthy society. Therefore it can be said that modern imagery is rather puzzling and too personal. It reflects part of the revolt of the twentieth century poets.
After this short introduction to the aim of the twentieth century poets, the changes brought by developments in technology and the First World War, in the rest of the essay the influence of Eliot’s metaphorical “Waste Land” on the poetry of Yeats and Eliot as well as on Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke who are the representative poets of the First World War will be discussed.
Eliot’s early poems tend to reflect social problems and social discontent which followed the First World War. They show the barrenness and the purposelessness of life after the Great War. The accumulative effect of the imagery is very important in his poetry. For instance, even in a long poem such as “The Waste Land” an image is introduced, ten lines later another image occupies the scene, or there is the continuation of the same image. Therefore the impact of the poem depends on the accumulative effect of the images whic are interrelated.
In “The Waste Land” he talks about the waste, the cultureless state of Europe after the First World War. In this poem, Eliot complains about the loss of civilization, culture and spiritual belief, in which the materialism of man and general lack of culture are taken as the main subjects. Europe is presented in a state of desolation and stagnation after the war. The techniques of stream of consciousness, fragmentation and association are used which serve as tools in conveying modern western individual’s search for his identity and for reality as a result of moral disturbance. In this context Tiresias’ consciousness symbolized the consciousness of the whole Europe.
In the opening part which is called “The Burial of the Dead”, April is called “ the cruelest month”. April, which in fact is the symbol of spring and resurraction in life and in nature is used as an image which reveals modern man’s spiritual inactivity in this poem. Therefore, this symbolic landscape and this image of waste, frustrated and desolate land and stands for the modern waste land. Europe has been reduced to a waste land on which nothing has grown: “What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow/Out of this strong rubbish?”2 Although the persona is conscious of the lack of fertility, sexlessness and futility around him there is nothing that he can do. This state of desolation and futility is brought to the other countries of Europe by the use of other languages apart from English. Eliot makes use of German, French and Latin which implies that the themes of lack of fertility, desolation and futility are universal. Moreover, the myth of Triston and Isolde’s secret love is introduced which is rather significant as both Yeats and Eliot make use of myths in their poetry.
Then, a rather lively and comic tone of a figure Madame Sosostris emerges the scene. Actually this illiterate fortune-teller is used to show poor morality of modern life and modern people, as she is ironically taken as the wisest and most famous woman in Europe: “Madame Sosostris, a famous clairvoyante / Had a bad cold, nevertheless / Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe.”3 At the same time, Madame Sosostris reflects people’s desire to know about their future which is out of control.
The description of Londo comes as another shock for the reader which is dead and “unreal”. Londoners n more hear the bells of St. Mary Church and their conversations are consisted of trivial things. Eliot mentions lack of innocent love, spiritual joy and affection in the next two parts. The contemporary concept of love which is rather sterile which lacks affection and trust is conveyed through love between a middle aged couple. This new concept of love consists of lust and physical desires which break down the tenderly love of innocent people. Faced with such scenes, Tiresias becomes confused and unable to comprehend this immoral world. The title of the fourth part “Death by Water” is the symbol of resurrection. The final part contains thre words in the ancient Sanskrit language which summarize Eliot’s view of life. These words embody Eliot’s advice to the next generations and can be taken as evidence to his belief in religion and morality. Eliot sees religion as the only alternative to man’s dilemma in sterile wasteland. Therefore the poem ends with hope.
When we take Wilfred Owen who is one of the First World War poets we see that in his short poem “Futility” he creates a pitiful feeling by reflecting the pain, weariness and degradation of human beings caused by war. Althogh the imagery he uses in this poem is one of farming and agriculture this imagery serves his purpose of showing the destructive effect of war on people. In this respect a parallel can be between Eliot’s purpose in his long poem “Waste Land” and Owen’s “Futility.” Both of them deal with the theme of futility, the format without mentioning the name of this word explicitly, whereas the latter taking it as a title. Owen’s poem portrays the physical and emotional distortion of the modern war, in which he questions evolution. The long process of evolution is reduced to nothing in a minute by the war and the poet feels pity. In Eliot’s “Waste Land” too this idea of futility colors the poem. However, with ironic and sometimes comic touches Eliot conveys the idea of meaninglessness and aimlessness in a more subtle way. Referencs to previous works, all sort of allusions to myths and use of word from different languages serve the same aim. Sterility, futility and lack of fertility are common to both poems.
The disappearance of old values and morals and the awareness of the sterile wasteland around the people make the hearts of people hollow. As a result some try to find security in old values, some turn totally away from God, while others occupy themselves creating something which can bring comfort to them. However, it is not easy to leave the old patriotic view of warfare so suddenly. Rupert Brooke, for instance in his poem “The Soldies” expresses the mood of patriotism. The poem tals abour the virtue of fighting and dying for one’s country. Therefore “The Soldier” is traditional both in its sonnet form and its idealistic mood. Nevertheless, the poem sometimes stresses ugliness and futility of war. Young lives are wasted foolishly and the soldiers die without understanding why they die. Therefore, patriotism absolutely vanishes especially with the poets of the First World War. Such a conclusion ca be driven from that point: the war poets who emphasize the cruelty of war more or less trace the example of Eliot’s “Waste Land”, as Eliot too dwells upon the destruction of people.
Eliot starts his poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” with an extraordinary image which indicates the unhealthy state of the society. There is something basically wrong with the society which is etherized and which needs medical treatment. The general uselessness and waste of time is mentioned in the poem which in fact is also seen in “The Waste Land”. Time goes fast and people do nothing. Worse than that culture is being degraded, people pretend to be cultured, but indeed they do not say anything intellectual. Instead they waste time with talking and doing trivial things. At this point a parallel can be drawn to “The Waste Land” which also emphasizes the waste culture and morality of the modern world. Again in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” Eliot makes use of references to the previous works. Moreover, the same idea of people who do not have control over their future exists in this poem too. People who are part of the sick society which is etherized upon the table who do not have control over their lives. They suffer from inactivity. The last stanza of the poem embodies the desire to escape from it all, whereas it can be said that “The Waste Land” carries some sort of a hope humanity in the end.
In “Saling to Byzantium” Yeats tries to find a recompance for the age. Not the body but the soul should matter for man, according to Yeats. In order to emphasize this point he chooses Byzantium as a representative of the abstract art. Byzantium is taken as a “holy city”, the reason is that it does not stand for the physical representation but it is a singing school for the soul. An effort is seen to get away from the physical aspects of the body, in relation to which Yeats wants to get away from Ireland where all the emphasis is put upon the physical and sail to Byzantium. An obvious relation can be found between this poem and “The Waste Land” by Eliot as in the latter culturelessness or rather alienation to culture, aimlessness, people’s indifference to spiritual things are emphasized. In “The Waste Land”, Eliot through Tiresias complains about the significance that people gave to the material things. Gradually people move away from spiritual joy and affection.
Finally it can be said that life has lost its value after the war. Especially Europe has become a wasteland, materialism gained importance and the modernist poets as well as the three poets of the First World War take the decadence in the society as a subject matter. Meanwhile, Eliot’s metaphorical “Waste Land” becomes a model for the mdernist poets like Yeats. Moreover its influence can be traced in the poetry of First World War poets the examples of which are given above. 


1 M. H. Abrams, et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1979. p. 2259.
2 Ibid p. 2268.
3 Ibid p. 2268.




2.11.11

FURTHER FILM REVIEW SUGGESTIONS FOR INKPOT


1. Peter Pan
2. Thor
3. Hercules
4. Ella Enchanted
5. Eragon
6. The Fisher King
7. Clash of the Titans
8. The Chronicles of Narnia
9. Harry Potter



What Has Coetzee Got to Say about Ecology


2003 Nobel Laureate in Literature J.M. Coetzee was born in South Africa in 1940. He  began writing fiction in 1969. His first book, Dusklands, was published in South Africa in 1974. In the Heart of the Country (1977) won South Africa's then principal literary award, the CNA Prize, and was published in Britain and the USA. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980) received international notice. His reputation was confirmed by Life & Times of Michael K (1983), which won Britain's Booker Prize. It was followed by Foe (1986), Age of Iron (1990), The Master of Petersburg (1994), and Disgrace (1999), which again won the Booker Prize.
Coetzee also wrote two fictionalized memoirs, Boyhood (1997) and Youth (2002). The Lives of Animals (1999) is a fictionalized lecture, later absorbed into Elizabeth Costello (2003). White Writing (1988) is a set of essays on South African literature and culture. Doubling the Point (1992) consists of essays and interviews with David Attwell. Giving Offense (1996) is a study of literary censorship. Stranger Shores (2001) collects his later literary essays. He has been a collegiate since 1968, taught in Australia and the States, became Distinguished Professor of Literature at the University of Capetown in 2000.
As part of the Cultures Civilizations and Ideas Colloquium Series Assoc. Prof. Dr. Donald Randall, a distinguished faculty member of the Faculty of Humanities and Letters, Department of English Language and Literature Department, presents a talk entitled, Eco-Postcolonialism: the case of J. M. Coetzee, on November 2nd, Wednesday. The talk will take place in G-160, at 17:10.
Dr Randall will focus most closely on Disgrace (1999) and Elizabeth Costello (2002), in his talk. He is going to argue that Coetzee greatly extends the bounds of ethical concern, reconceiving the community of fellowship and responsibility not in exclusively human terms, but as a community of
sentient beings.  Coetzee, a key author in the field of postcolonial
literary and cultural studies thus places outside the realm of debate the old questions
pertaining to the human community and its responsibilities, questions which, in the
era of Euro-imperialism, were all too typically skewed by notions of human
hierarchy, or by the assertion that members of certain ethnic or racial groups were
somehow less than human or not fully human. Greater justice in the workings of human
collectives, Coetzee suggests, can only be achieved through a richer, more
intimately engaged relationship with the living world.
This is going to be another inspiring, “not-to-be-missed” talk by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Donald Randall. All those interested are welcome.

28.10.11

Good Day

It is not simply a nationalistic belief, but the whole world acknowledges Atatürk as a military genius, a charismatic leader, also a comprehensive reformer. Atatürk saw the necessity  for the Republic of Turkey to be modernized in order to progress towards the level of contemporary civilizations and to be an active member of the culturally developed communities. He introduced reforms which he considered of vital importance for the salvation and survival of his people between 1924-1938. These reforms were enthusiastically welcomed by the Turkish people. To prepare the appropriate ground for the series of actions to be taken,  in 1923 October 29th  Republic of Turkey with capital at Ankara proclaimed. Today, it is time to remember the beginnings of this dream that came true and work more than ever for better future. Turkey deserves far better standarts. It is not a far-fatched case to think about merrier times for Turkey. As the saying goes, it is in our hands. Happy October 29th!

Let's Fill the Inkpot


It is time to start working for Inkpot. Thanks to your votes the results of the poll posted in the blog reveal the most popular topic for the Second  ELIT Undergraduate Symposium as “Gender and Identity.” Theme of the ELIT journal will be “Legends and Myths in Literature and History” in the first issue. This topic was the second most voted in the poll.

Suggested topics list for the first issue is below. You may come up with your own choice for topic.

Please inform Ülkem Önal (ELIT IV) about your topic preference no later than November 4, Friday.

Suggested Topics:
 

A. Legends and Myths in Films and Series

1. Beowulf
2. King Arthur
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Merlin and the Book of Beasts
5. Game of Thrones
6. Merlin
7. Camelot
8. Dracula
9. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
10. Troy
11. Alexander the Great
12. Oedipus Rex
13. Other suggestions

B. Legends and Myth in Prose and Poetry
1. Leda and the Swan by Yeats
2. The Love Song of  J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot
3. Trojan Women by Euripides
4. Gilgamesh
5. Iliad
6. Aeneid
7. Other suggestions

C. Translation(Turkish to English)
Sample: Çok Bilen Çok Yanılır - Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem

D. Legends and Myth in Art*Illustration Analysis
Sample:
“The Horrors of War” by Rubenis
Link: http://services.flikie.com/view/v3/android/wallpapers/33570786


27.10.11

Can You Hear Me?

October 24th was sad, solemn and uneasy for people in Van. For those who simply heard about the earthquake there was nothing to do but to think hard for an effective step to be taken for the victims there.  In the morning an announcement was made about the collaboration of Bilkent High School and Turkish Red Crescent Society to collect necessary items and send them to Van.  Faculty of Humanities and Letters, English Language and Literature Department students were sensitive to the matter and responded to this call for help quite immediately. By noon plastic bags full of necessary items, bottles of water, toys, woolen shawls, pieces of clothes were brought to the department. Apart from being familiar with the aspects of culture, literature, worldview and philosophy of world-famous European, British and American authors students develop their notion of becoming world citizens at ELIT. Unfortunately, mostly at times of need the outcome of this life-long learning process is seen and felt dearly. Heartfelt thanks go to those who contribute to the ongoing campaigns, who try to amend the awkward and tragic situation of the ones who suffer due to the latest natural disaster.

23.10.11

Tears and Dust in Van, Turkey
Van is hit by eartquake on October 23rd, Sunday. Peace and calm of a weekend day is disturbed by the sudden natural disaster. People are in shock and pain. It is time to get together for those who are in need. Turkish Red Crescent Society announced the urgent need for the victims as blankets, baby food and water  in plastic bottles. Those who want to provide the people in Van with these items can bring them to G-216B and/or to G-216A. You may contact Gül Kurtuluş and/or Eda Pembe.  

22.10.11

Turkish Poet and Translator Nazmi Ağıl at Bilkent



Who is a Translator?: Transmitter or Creator
The department of English Language and Literature hosted Turkish translator and poet Assistant Professor Nazmi Ağıl on Thursday, October 20. A roomful of wide variety of audience from social scientists, scholars, engineers  to students, those who share an interest in literature and translation came together to listen to Ağıl’s speech “Gelse Otursa Meclise Bir İngiliz Ozan.”
Nazmi Ağıl is the translator of many literary works such as William Wordsworth’s Prelude, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, Aharon Appelfeld’s Iron Tracks and Badenheim 1939, and Theodore Roethke’s Open House. His speech was about his experience as a translator while translating the three distinguished figures of English literature: Geoffrey Chaucer, Alexander Pope and William Wordsworth, all of whom belong to different periods and show different characteristics in their works.
In his speech, Ağıl stressed that his translation style changes according to the literary works he translates. He was in favor of free translation rather than depending on the original text imprudently while translating Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. He confessed that he became Chaucer eventually, when he finished translating Canterbury Tales. However, he was strictly loyal to the text while translating The Rape of the Lock  by Alexander Pope and Prelude by William Wordsworth since the works do not allow the translator to be apart from reality and solemnity.
Another emphasis in the speech was about the richness of Turkish. Idioms and proverbs are the irrevocable cornerstones of Turkish language. Ağıl stated that he benefits from the affluence of Turkish in his translations, adds sentences of his own or subtracts from the original text  to provide the rhyme and rhythm and to make the text more Turkish.
Ağıl’s another assertion was to bring the endnotes and footnotes into the text as if they were vital parts of the original text. In this way, the reader’s fluency and concentration would not be disturbed and the reading would be effective.
Ağıl also did not forget to give advises about the translation process. He said that knowing Turkish and English both very well is essential for the translation to be perfect. The attendants were inspired and had new perceptions towards translation.

(Ülkem Önal, ELIT IV)

17.10.11

Distinguished Turkish Translator and Poet Nazmi Ağıl at Bilkent

            We Host Nazmi Ağıl at Bilkent

The Department of English Language and Literature is
proud to present Turkish translator and poet Nazmi Ağıl. He is the translator of many world-famous authors’ and poets’ works such as: William Wordsworth’s Prelude, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, Aharon Appelfeld’s Iron Tracks and Badenheim 1939, and Theodore Roethke’s Open House. He is also known as a poet who has been publishing his poetry since 1998. Gökçe Yazı (1998), Boşanma Dosyası (1998), Beni Böyle Değiştiren (2000), Aşk Küçücük, Kırılgan (2002), Kokarca Aramak (2005) and Babalar ve Oğullar: Umut’un Defteri (2008) are his published poetry books. He won Yunus Nadi Poetry Prize with Boşanma Dosyası in 1998. He is working as Assistant Professor at the Department of English Language and Comparative Literature at Koç University. Nazmi Ağıl is going to present a lecture entitled “Gelse Otursa Meclise Bir İngiliz Ozan” about the journey that the translator goes through while translating the works of each new poet. This lecture will reveal hints about his own experience as a translator. It  will be in Turkish and will take place on Thursday, October 20, 5.40 p.m. in G-160. Everyone interested in translation, poetry, and literature is invited.



7.10.11

A Sketch on Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

Atwood's novel begins with three quotations: One taken from the Old Testament, the other from Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal and the last from a Sufi proverb, and the novel does not disappoint the expectations about these three quotations as the effects of them can be traced throughout the text. In its literary, sociological, psychological, philosophical and feminist context, the novel boldly demonstrates the present situation of society, written as if in future, but told in the past tense. This deliberate shift in time is also sustained by the three quotations. The reason is, the novel carries out the religious theme of Rachel and Jacob, which exemplifies the first quotation taken from Genesis 30:1-3; on the other hand Atwood offers a proposal by creating an imaginative government representing the future situation of the western world, and finally the universality of the Sufi proverb is exemplified through the restrictions imposed on the people of Gilead, who form a miserable community from the very top to the bottom. Atwood presents Gileadians as the victims of the totalitarian regime which claims to offer a new life to everybody regardless of sex, whereas which reduces them to objects. In a state of discomfort and despair the idea of individual responsibility is brought to minimum level.
Nonetheless, instead of a "modest proposal" Atwwod illustrates the vanity and the absurdity of the norms of a society which is given the name "Republic of Gilead" with a highly ironic and satirical outlook. Therefore, the novel turns out to be an allegory of the world we live in. Though handled with a serio-comic tone, the novel can be defined as a speculative fiction which sheds light on political, social, economic as well as psychological problems. As a result, regardless of any categorization the novel becomes a mixture of science-fiction, fairy-tale, gothic novel and political fiction.
The novel centers on a new system created by the Gileadians towards the end of the twentieth century and the process of living this new life is handled with irony. Atwood does not create a new language while conveying the attributes of this new system, but expands the possibilities of language and uses it for her purpose of reflecting the mral decadence of this society. Offred's function as a handmaid together with the other handmaids in the novel exemplifies the quotation taken from Genesis 30:1-3. Without taking into consideration the fact that the handmaids are also individuals, the system reduces them to fertility machines. The Commander resembles "Jacob" as stated in the Old Testament, therefore as a product of the same system he is entrapped with the idea of getting the handmaids pregnant. Serena Joy and the other wives on the other hand envy the handmaids and thus the novel portrays a hideously competitive society in which everybody is jealous of each other.
By depicting all the characters in a morally decaying society in which religion and political system are used to dehumanize people Atwood satirizes the clash of ideologies. Scenes like the group weddings that are organized to reward the warriors and the public executions which require hanging people on the walls warning can be seen as exaggerations through which Atwood does not make a "modest proposal" unlike Swift, but tries to take off the blinkers of people.
The Sufi proverb "In the desert there is no sign that says, Thou shalt not eat stones" best formulates Atwood's belief in the self-control of the individual or the social control of the society. In its most basic terms the statement denies the authoritative nature of the politics; human beings are given the natural ability of knowing what to do and what to avoid, instinctively at the most crucial moments.
Finally, it can be said that throughout the novel Atwood makes ample use of the three quotations which she gives at the beginning. The religious theme of Rachel and Jacob is handled with humorous touches: Offred's awareness of the power of her body amuses her and encourages her to use this power freely: "They [the guardians] touch with their eyes instead and I move my hips a little, feeling the full red skirt away around me. It's like tumbing your nose from behind a fence or teasing a dog with a bone held out of reach... I'm not ashamed after all. I enjoy the power; power of a dog bone, passive but there." (Atwood 22) Atwood's proposal is not a modest one, unlike the famous eighteenth century writer and ciritic Jonathan Swift's. On the contrary, she conveys her message by taking the subject to its extreme points. The Sufi proverb justifies the exaggerated situation of the "Republic of Gilead."

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986.

4.10.11

A Welcome

WELCOME, welcome! do I sing,
Far more welcome than the spring;
He that parteth from you never
Shall enjoy a spring for ever.

He that to the voice is near
Breaking from your iv'ry pale,
Need not walk abroad to hear
The delightful nightingale.
Welcome, welcome, then...

He that looks still on your eyes,
Though the winter have begun
To benumb our arteries,
Shall not want the summer's sun.
Welcome, welcome, then...

He that still may see your cheeks,
Where all rareness still reposes,
Is a fool if e'er he seeks
Other lilies, other roses.
Welcome, welcome, then...

He to whom your soft lip yields,
And perceives your breath in kissing,
All the odours of the fields
Never, never shall be missing.
Welcome, welcome, then...

He that question would anew
What fair Eden was of old,
Let him rightly study you,
And a brief of that behold.
Welcome, welcome, then...
                                             William Browne