Thawtar Swe - Literary Swe Discussion

(September 28, 1974, Kalyana Youth Christian Association, Yangon)

Dear literature lovers, I am very grateful to you for coming to honor me like this.

I would like to report that although this is called a literary discussion, I will actually have to answer all the questions alone. So I am afraid, why do you ask, cowherd? "Why do you say, 'Bodhisattva'? I am not a Bodhisattva at all. I have never sought Buddhahood. I will tell you the whole story, I have never even imagined it. Believe me. Because it is a long and difficult task to become a Buddha. Four hundred thousand worlds and a hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand worlds and a hundred thousand, sixteen hundred thousand worlds and a hundred thousand. A hundred thousand worlds and a hundred thousand. If we were to seek Buddhahood, would we be 75 hundred thousand worlds and a hundred thousand worlds by our own standards? That's right, I will never seek this Buddhahood. I don't want to be a Buddha either. I don't want to be a god or a deity. There are 500 gods on the other side, what's the point, my dear? Right now, I am only a wife. If there are lives that continue according to Buddhism, I would like to continue to be a writer in this human world.

Now it's clear that I'm not a Bodhisattva.

Again, I'll turn to you and ask, are you a cowherd? No, definitely not. College students. Teachers, literary enthusiasts.

I want to say something about coincidence here. Don't underestimate a cowherd these days. It's not easy for you to become a cowherd. Because the price of cows is very high. Look at the price now, a pisat of beef costs 15 kyats, 16 kyats. A cow produces 50-60 kyats of meat, so the price of slaughtered cattle is 700 kyats, 800 kyats. A cattle is more than 1,000 kyats. A first-class cow costs more than 1,500 kyats.

So why are cattle prices so high? Some are smuggled out to Thailand. This may be one reason, but I can say one thing for sure: at any time, the price of cattle is linked to the price of rice. The value of a cow has always been around the value of one hundred tons of rice. I am a farmer who lives with cattle. Since the British era, if one hundred tons of rice were worth one hundred kyats, the price of cattle was also around this one hundred. When the price of rice fell below one pisas (one hundred kyats) and reached 60-70, the price of cattle also fell. Ha.. the price of rice was 150 kyats-160 kyats.

The price of cattle also started to fall. After independence and during the PDP era, the price of rice was 300-350 kyats, so the price of cattle was about the same. Cows and rice work together, and they are also related.

Now look, the government has set the price of rice at 1,200 kyats to over 1,500 kyats. The illegal price of rice is over 2,000 kyats. So, what do you think the price of cattle will be?

So why is the price of rice so high? Why is the price of cattle so high? It is because the price of rice is so high. Why is the price of rice so high? I don’t want to talk about this. When the price of rice is high, the price of rice is high, and when the price of rice is high, all rice products are also expensive. Rice products are, in terms of food, pigs, chickens, ducks, duck eggs, and quail eggs. Right now, an egg is 60 kyats, a duck egg is 50 kyats, a pound of duck meat is 12 kyats, chicken is 16 kyats, and pork is 16 kyats (this is what I heard at the market this morning. The government has now formed a price reduction commission to take action, so it won’t be so expensive in the future.) Right now, the price of these rice products is only temporarily rising. So I thought, while the price of all these rice products, pigs, chickens, and ducks, is rising, the value of rice products is also decreasing. Are you being a little bit too harsh? Do you know what this beast is? It's you, the humans who eat it every day.

Today I have to tell you how I got my face cut. Now, when I came to this speech, as soon as I reached the bus stop, the number 9 Hino stopped. Haha... I thought I was lucky today, but I knew it was a good day, and I couldn't predict when the next bus would arrive, so I got here in time.

It was important to get there, so I forced myself to get there. The man didn't get in the car, he climbed the first step and was stranded outside. So the conductor asked you, do you want to die? You want to die, but we are not without responsibility, so if you can climb inside, I will follow you, if you can't climb, I will stay down. I couldn't help but follow, so I put my head inside, climbed the second step and forced myself to get there. My head, this horn, came into contact with something soft like a hot air balloon. I don't know what it was, I couldn't even look up, so I rubbed my head and looked, and a woman's voice came out, "Hey, you white head."

Well... Look at me, when I went outside, I was beaten by the conductor. When I went inside, I was beaten by a woman I couldn't see.

Now, with humor and humility, I will answer your questions. So, as I said earlier, I, who am not a Bodhisattva and am not a cowherd, may or may not be able to answer your questions, may or may not be able to solve them, may or may not be solved. That's a guarantee.

And also, in answering the question, the Shan child from the mountains, carrying a bundle of straw, ran, the long bundle was long, the short bundle was short, so it would be long and long, and short and short.

Now... first, I've put two questions together.

Question (1)

I would like to explain and clarify Saya Thawta Swe's views on the slogans "Art for Art's Sake" and "Art for the People."

Maung Swe Tint, (Shumawa-Editor)

No. 1, Sindus Street, Yangon

Another similar question

I would like to know your thoughts on the idea of ​​"art for art's sake."

U Aung Thin, Lecturer

Department of Burmese Language, W/S, Yangon

This question has been answered by U Thein Pe Myint, Maung Shara, and Saya Jawana since our discussion. Now that you've come back to me, I'll have to answer as best I can. If you're one of a kind, you don't know which religion to believe, and if you don't get into trouble, it's okay, okay?

Now... I'll answer.

Art for Art's sake is a direct translation of the English word "Art for Art's sake". "Art for the people" is also translated as "Art for People's sake". So since it is a bilingual English-Burmese issue, I will have to explain it in both English and Burmese. I will also be an English speaker.

Dr. Edwin John Flach, a German secretary at the West German embassy who lived in Burma from 1963 to 1967, was very friendly with the Burmese people. Saya Zawana also knew him. He and I had our own house, our own home, our own home. If I wanted to drink whiskey, I would go to his house at any time. Even when she was not there, I would order her waiter to give me whatever I wanted. His house was a very beautiful, medium-sized mansion, located in the heart of Adelang, on the shores of Inya Lake.

So one night, he had a garden cocktail party at his house, inviting people from many embassies. Since it was a good place to eat and drink, I even brought my cartoonist, Ko Pe Thein.

In that group, Dr. Edwin introduced me to an Englishman who was studying Burmese literature.

"He is Thawda Swe the writer, artist," Dr. Edwin said. The Englishman asked, "You, artist. Then do you write art for art's sake?" At that time, there was a trend in our literary world that art should not be for art's sake, but for the people. So I, not knowing whether I was from the South or the North, answered, "No, I don't write art for art's sake. I write art for People's sake." The Englishman rolled his eyes and replied, "Oh, you write for people's sake, not for animal's sake. Then no book's for animals in your country." The audience on the side, American, French, and Italian, laughed. Here, I was embarrassed of the great Burmese. Even if my own words were funny, they would be funny.

If we could translate what we said into Burmese,

"Oh, you art, so art is written for art's sake?"

So I

“No, art is written for the public,” I replied. “Oh, I write for people. I don’t write for animals. So in your country, there are no books for animals to read,” he mocked me.

Now, if he were to suggest it, it would be a good idea. Think carefully, and you should think about it too. Of all the creatures in this vast world, only humans can create art, only humans can enjoy art. Who else but us humans?

No animal can create or enjoy art. That's why there's even a saying that the buffalo plays the harp. So do we still need to say that art is for the people? Our art is not for the people, so why do buffaloes, cows, goats, pigs, chickens, and ducks come in and enjoy it? So this saying doesn't need to be said, right?

Come on... Come on, “Affor Atsat” This is directly translated as “Art for Art’s Sake”. It’s like what Saya Dagontara translated Naked Beauty as “Naked Beauty”. Actually, there are already words in Burmese that are suitable for Naked Beauty. “Sinlon Chaw”, “Phyu Ph Now, you can directly say, "What does it mean when you say 'mee hin kha' is for mee hin kha'? Is it because we only eat mee hin kha? So, if you make mee hin kha, let it be mee hin kha, let it be good mee hin kha, and don't feed it to dogs because people can't eat it, right?"

Similarly, if we turn Art for Art's sake into Art for Art's sake, or Art for the sake of creating art, the issue would not be resolved.

Actually. It's because you asked me 98:6$90ssolu 3əqscos : Art for Art's sake š. Art for People's sake These two English words have nothing to do with us. Whatever they mean, we in Shwe Myanmar are just a big country. Let's write about our own Burmese culture, customs, and our own people, our own country as much as we can. There's no need to argue or create conflicts. No matter what anyone says, a writer can only write as much as they can. This is a comparison with myself. I can't write more than I can write now. So don't argue and criticize each other.

Now.. this question, Maung Swe Tint and U Aung Thin, I can only answer this much. I can't be dissatisfied anymore, I have already guaranteed that I am not a Buddha.

Now... let me ask you another question.