Zaw Zaw Aung - Twilight Blue

White rice [ 1 ]

I've written quite a bit. For various reasons, I don't always get what I want, and I don't always get what I want. Now I feel the need to write again. Everything I thought I knew was about postmodernism.

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If I want to say something, I don't say anything yet. There are things that are still being dealt with. It's tiring to have to clarify things before I can say anything. When I first started talking about modern, they said that these are just newbies and that they are just doing it now.

Patsara Journal, No. 18, May 17, 2005.

 

Yes, but what about it? A famous quote from the great modernist Virginia Woolf. “In or about December, 1910, a turning point occurred and the modern short story began.” (In or about December, 1910) This is what the person who says “Ninety-Wanted One 1911” is saying. But if you think carefully and with a broad mind, you will see that the person who says this has no historical perspective. He is ignorant of the development of art and the nature of art.

Think about the year 1910 that Wolff mentioned. What is the Burmese novel? When did it appear? Maung Yin Maung Ma Mae Ma Wut. It appeared in 1904. Even then, it was not very elaborate. It was still just a novel.

Another thing to mention is U Latt's The Jasmine Flower. It was published in 1912. His Shwe Pyi Soe was published in 1914. In world literature, when one era passes into another, we only begin our new era. We are very late (until now).

So let's say it like this. Because those things haven't been said yet. Should we just sit there without anyone to say them? No matter who says what, no matter how much they criticize us, we will say what we think we should say. Now let's talk about postmodernism.

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Is the postmodern era over? One scholar once said that the great influence of postmodernism is no longer there. The period of its influence is now over. (The Period of Its Influence is Now Over) The person who said this is not a fool.

Christopher Butler is a professor at Oxford University. What is a professor? He is a professor of English language and literature. He is obviously a person with the right to speak. But..

This but is important. But what is “finished” in the world is not “finished” in our country. We are just starting. There are many such things. We need to think about historical events correctly. Myanmar history is Myanmar history. It is not American history, it is not Chinese history, it is not Japanese history, it is not European history. It is certainly important to be aware of the unique situation of Myanmar.

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American professor Frederic Jameson is a prominent figure in world literature today. He is also known as a great leftist Marxist critic. He divided the capitalist era into three parts.

(1) Market Capitalism flourished in Western Europe, England, and the United States from the eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. The literary and artistic genre (called the Kind of Aesthetics) was Realism.

(2) The second era was the era of monopoly capitalism, which flourished from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century (after World War II). Literature and art were in the era of Modernism.

(3) Third, in our era, the art of cos (Multinational /Consumer Capitalism #960) was classified as Postmodernism.

Compare it to our country's history. In terms of science and technology, in the first era, steam-powered machines and motors flourished. In the second era, electricity flourished. Now, in the postmodern era, nuclear and electronic technologies have flourished.

Twilight (2)

To summarize what I have presented, in terms of time, the West has developed and “finished” the big countries, but we have not yet begun (or are just beginning). In terms of development, it must be said that our country has never been a prosperous and developed society. In the words of the leftists, the material conditions of a prosperous capitalist society have never existed. It is impossible to predict that postmodernism will emerge only if such conditions exist. The main thing is our unique situation. There is more to say. Now, let us consider it from a geographical perspective. Consider the following proposition.

Ideas, thoughts, beliefs cannot remain stable outside the geographical and cultural boundaries of the place where they originated. They cannot flourish. They cannot be denied their legitimacy. Take Buddhism as an example. It did not flourish in just a small area of ​​northern India. It is clear that it has spread and flourished all over the world.

Therefore, it cannot be said that postmodernism originated in the West, in Western conditions, or only in the West. Ideas, thoughts, and beliefs can spread. They can be communicated. The local people who spread them will also benefit from them. If they agree with them, they will accept and embrace the ideas that spread. History shows this clearly. Therefore, if we deny that postmodernism originated in the West, in the West, and is a Western issue, it would be shortsighted. If it is beneficial, useful, and workable for our time and situation, we should accept it. What is practical is paramount.

If the ideas, concepts, and customs that are spreading are beneficial to you in your real life, you should accept them. Similarly, if it is necessary to import ideas, concepts, and beliefs from outside, if they are beneficial to your real life, you should import them. You should not oppose or reject such imports. Bagan in 1044 AD is the best example. King Anawrahta is also the best example. At that time, the beliefs of Bagan were a mixture of deity worship, Mahayana (Tantra). Anawrahta accepted (Theravada) Buddhism introduced by the Arakan Buddha. He continued to strive to develop and prosper.

The main point is that a new religion was imported. The point is that it was accepted and embraced. Today, it has been nine hundred and sixty-one years. What I mean here is that we imported postmodernism, there is no denying it. We imported it because we believed it would be beneficial to us. Analyze the reasons, the good and the bad. Criticize it. If it is beneficial, harmful, and bad, we will be happy to be considered as the villains and the culprits in history.

Now, we are 'importing' it because we believe it will benefit society.

Twilight (3)

There was a saying: "The culprit who let the postmodern cat into the modern henhouse."

The French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard (1924-98) was commissioned by the Council of Universities in the eastern Canadian province of Quebec to study the state and status of modern knowledge and to report on it. He was given the job. Lyotard submitted his now famous (and highly controversial) paper The Postmodern Condition: A Report On Knowledge. First published in French in 1979, Lyotard

Patsara Journal, No. 20, May 31, 2005.