Articles
Creative Sensibility and Cyberspace
P.R.
HarikumarLiterature has several faces to cope with the necessity of the reader who is in search of some light for seeing the world in a new perspective. According to the reader response theory presented by Stanley Fish and Norman Holland, the reader has the ability to reinvent the text as he wish and interpret the same in support of his experience. In post-modern literary scene we see a number of new trends, which are more or less connected with the socio-economic developments of our world. After assessing the literary theories old and new, we now realize literature as a powerful source of cultural discourse. The discourse still continues even after ‘the death of the author’ as Roland Barthes declared. Here, I like to examine some possibilities in front of the new age reader for achieving a global perspective in terms of his aesthetic perception.
Totality of Virtual Reality
We are living in an age of fast developing communicative devices, which can simply overcome the limitations of time and space. Four concepts- Virtuality, Recursion, Windows and Morphing- put forward by computer technology influenced much the way human imagination works. Man’s search for knowledge is never satisfied with mere ‘reality’. The urge for super reality and the bliss of new technology jointly created a new form of realty, i.e. virtual reality. The multimedia characters of computer and online culture, which comprises net and web services have instigated this advanced version of reality. It gives us chance for immersion, interaction and navigation. The totality of the new reality that has a magic charm is known as cyberspace, a term first used in 1984 by William Gibson, American writer of science fiction, in the sense ‘unthinkable complexity’.
Easy Resource Mapping
When we compare old age reader with his counterpart in the new world, we can easily notice many differences in the availability of materials and in the nature of appreciation. Lovers of literature and music are the most blessed in this changing world. Because they have endless opportunities to read and hear what their predecessors never had. Nowadays, a student of literature or any other discipline can map his resources within a short time. The entire human knowledge is almost stored in the network of computers. So that by a click you can hear the folk music of Brazilian aboriginal or ask questions to late authors about their merits and drawbacks. I remember one such occasion in the net in which I could ask a question to Virginia Woolf regarding her suicide and the reply I got was wonderfully tuned with the writer’s identity. Actually, university professors who taught the works of Woolf for years prepared the reply!
How can you map the resources for a particular subject with the help of the Internet? You can browse the net to find out the places where you get enough materials for a subject using search engines like Yahoo, AltaVista, Google and Lycos and search engines like Invisible web, Turbo10com and Complete planet. By clicking in hyper links you can simply go to one source from another. For example, if you search using Yahoo with the key word ‘Shakespeare’ you will get 15500,000 links from which you may collect unlimited materials including his complete works. In this juncture, one may feel the Internet as an easy access area where true democracy regarding the equal distribution of information came into existence.
Space for Self-Expression
As Sartre once said, the reading process is a contract between the author and the reader. The ancient Indian critic Rajasekharan also had the same opinion when he said ‘Bhavayathri Prathibha’ existing in the reader would help him to identify with the soul of a work of art. When one starts to read a book, three things –expectation, modification and retrospection- are happening in him simultaneously. As a result of these actions the reader comes to an emotion packed position with strong response towards the literary text. As far as the e-book reader is concerned, he has a lot of opportunities in his fingertip to express his views and response. Every homepage makes possible to write responses to the concerned authors or sponsors. If the reader is creative in any kind, he can simply get many a chance to publish/broadcast his works before a global audience through thousands of net magazines in different world languages. In this way the new era of communication helps one not only to become a connoisseur of art but also a creator of the same.
Translation Materials
Study of languages became very easy in the context of new wave information technology. Fluency in language is the basic quality of a reader who wants the real essence of literature. But we have limitations to learn many languages at a time. We do not have the capacity of Dr. Herman Gundert who could simply use eighteen languages without fear or favour. For the sake of non-pundits like us valuable software for translation (from English to many world languages and vice versa) is available in the net. Some websites also give chance to translate passages or web pages into major world languages just in a click. English, German, Italian, French, Spanish and many more languages are included in the pairs available for translation. Freetranslation.com, systranet.com, twolines.com and translation.net are some of the sites you can log in for translation materials. This facility makes us possible to communicate with Non-English speaking community who takes major share in the net services. At the same time, we must bear in mind the limitations of machine translation regarding poetry and other creative works. Because, as you know, poetry is defined as what is lost in translation.
Comparative Literature
The presence of a virtual global library and active translation facilities reminds us to start with research in the field of comparative literature. Comparative literature emerged as a new discipline in the 1980s to counteract the notion of autonomy of national literatures. Its ultimate goal is to visualize the total literary activities of man as a single universe. This is the right time to compare literary thoughts and works in regional languages with other Indian or foreign literatures. Two or three universities in our country have already begun departments of comparative literature.
Even in the midst of news that tells about the abuse of net services, the real reader can revolutionize his sense and sensibility by using the same technology in the right direction. Moreover, anyone who has the fire of creativity can start with a cultural discourse with an international audience and prove his presence in cyberspace. Despite the reports that the new situation is very harmful to small languages, a collective work with intelligence can change the fate of languages spoken in little groups. Anyway, the information revolution undoubtedly states that any voice made in any corner can be heard around the world and the same has its own role in shaping a global perspective. This is one of the valuable lessons that every citizen in the world of literature has to keep in mind. And, the same is applicable to every netizen regarding his interaction and navigation in cyberspace.
