In Response to COVID-19 Crisis: Literature and Popular Culture
Abstract
The present article seeks to study texts from both high and popular culture, thereby excavating and extracting probable responses to the current COVID-19 crisis. Through this exercise in displacement from their original contexts, the researchers aim to demonstrate that the ontological and experiential status of a work of art derives from how the appreciator responds to it. In the case of literature, for instance, unlike New Criticism, which argues that meaning is embedded within the literary artefact awaiting a human agency to extract it, there are a candy-store of approaches and terms that argue otherwise, ranging from Derridian ‘play’ to Barthesean ‘writerly’ texts to Reader-Response Criticism to Reception Theory. In other words, a (literary) text ceases to be mere black marks on a white background (only) when the reader actively participates in the meaning-making activity.
Through this article, the researchers propose to dislocate certain high and popular texts from their original contexts to demonstrate that most, if not every, text is capable of being appropriated and played with, deriving relevant meaning(s) in the process. This ‘play’ can be and is in response to the current COVID-19 crisis that reads elements of complain, criticism, explanation, lament, piety, and plea within the texts as applicable to the present crisis. In the final analysis, it offers a hint to practice adapting these texts that can serve as a cathartic vehicle during this crisis.
Keywords: Adaptation. COVID-19. Derridean ‘Play.’ ‘Writerly’ texts. Reader-Response.
Introduction
The ontological and experiential status of a work of art derives from how the appreciator responds to it. In the case of literature, for instance, unlike New Criticism, which argues that meaning is embedded within the literary artefact awaiting a human agency to extract it, there are a candy-store of approaches and terms that argue otherwise – from Derridian ‘play’ (1966) to Barthesean ‘writerly’ (Abrams and Harpham 382) texts to Reader-Response Criticism (1976) to Reception Theory (Abrams and Harpham 335-36). In other words, a (literary) text ceases to be mere black-marks-on-a-white-background (only) when the reader actively participates in the meaning-making activity.
In what follows, the researchers propose to dislocate certain high and popular texts from their original contexts to demonstrate that most, if not every, text is capable of being appropriated and ‘played’ with, deriving relevant meaning(s) in the process. This ‘play’ can be and is in response to the current COVID-19 crisis that reads elements of complain, criticism, explanation, lament, piety, and plea within these texts as applicable to the present crisis. In the final analysis, it offers a hint to practice adapting these texts that can serve as a cathartic vehicle during this crisis.
A Heady Mix and ‘Play’
T. S. Eliot, in his magnum-opus, The Waste Land (1922), had identified the various 'plagues' that afflicted the twentieth century cultural condition: spiritual aridity (lines 43-59), 'burning' desires (line 312), materialism (line 314), the degeneration of sexuality to gross physicality without the desire for fruitful reproduction (lines 220-52), and, most importantly, the lack of compassion, control, and the tendency of giving within society and humanity at large (lines 399-422). The same conditions, perhaps exacerbated even further, can be said to exist in the present century.
Almost as if, simultaneously anticipating and in prior response to Eliot's diagnosis is W. B. Yeats' poem The Second Coming (1920). While The Second Coming presents a terrifying picture and envisions a frightful “beast” (Yeats) instead of the benevolent Christ approaching earth to dole out justice and judgement for humanity’s various crimes following Armageddon, in Leda and the Swan (1923) Yeats attempts to explain major, cataclysmic events as and occurring because of divine interventions in human affairs.
Though Yeats’ beast (will probably) materialize following Armageddon, can we not see the same beast in the form of the present COVID crisis humanity is up against, who perhaps feels humanity has run amok and wreaked havoc on fellow human beings and Nature, and is retributing in return?
Moreover, James G. Frazer's study of ancient cultures had led him to detect certain similarities in the myths of people belonging to different cultures. Chief among them was the archetype of the killing of the “divine king”:
Among many primitive peoples it was believed that the ruler was a divine or semidivine being whose life was identified with the life cycle in nature and in human existence. Because of this identification, the safety of the people and even of the world was felt to depend upon the life of the god-king. A vigorous, healthy ruler would ensure natural and human productivity; on the other hand, a sick or maimed king would bring blight and disease to the land and its people. (Guerin et al. 193)
“Sick and maimed”, after from denoting physical injury, can also include connotative moral and ethical corruption. The COVID pandemic is said to have originated from China, a country whose leadership harbors hopes of world domination while curtailing the freedoms and rights of its own citizens (Brands). Moreover, in cases such as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, students demanding political accountability, freedom of speech and press, among other objectives were fired upon by what ironically is known as People’s Liberation Army (PLA) (Westcott).
Whether Coronavirus is natural or manmade, whether mistakenly or deliberately leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, people suffer because of sins of leadership akin to the archetype of the maimed divine king, to the extent that the initial severity and warning from a good Samaritan doctor were allegedly concealed from the country’s populace and the world at large (Buckley).
In Leda and the Swan, Yeats reads the mythical rape of Leda by Zeus as divine interventions that alter the course of history – not only did Leda give birth to Helen, considered to be the most beautiful woman on Earth, Helen also became the catalyst of the Trojan War, which destructive though it was, also gifted the great poet Homer to world civilization. The crisis today can similarly be read as divine intervention, whose purpose though yet unclear and unfathomable, can potentially alter the global power balance; push the world towards a new Cold War; destabilize world economy; and might just convince humans to treat each and every life form with respect.
Eliot’s poem, Morning at the Window (1914), perhaps the most easily accessible of his work in the oeuvre of a poet who is renowned for his complexity, was written immediately after the beginning of the First World War. The poem narrates the experience of the unidentified speaker as (s)he is seeking shelter (quarantined) in a basement with his/her family to protect themselves from air raids. While the overt context is different – in the case of the poem, it is the Great War and today it is the fight against Corona – it is possible to relate to the poem on the basis of the similarity of quarantine experience – anxiety, depression, etc. – and fear of the enemy: whether the Germans or the disease.
Moreover, the poem presents two stark images: the speaker observes housemaids with “damp souls” (Eliot, Morning) – that is sad, depressed – gathered outside to discuss the situation. Interestingly, perhaps because the speaker is looking out of the basement window, (s)he compares the housemaids with “sprouting” (Eliot) plants or flowers – as if they have literally grown (come) out of the ground – though qualified with the adjective “despondently” (Eliot) given the precarious condition of war. The second image is that of “a passer-by with muddy skirts” (Eliot) who as (s)he passes by, glances down towards the basement window, momentarily establishing eye contact with the speaker – a temporary, hopeful human contact is established in the fleeting, “aimless smile” (Eliot) that is exchanged before the stranger hurries off.
Similar situations during lockdown, the former in areas with less number of cases and the latter where the count is more, might have transpired – humans need and establish emotional contact, whether through gossip where news might be exchanged and anxieties cooled or through non-verbal gestures that can nevertheless alleviate some anxiety.
The 1980 Hindi film Do Aur Do Paanch (Eng. Two and Two Make Five), starring Amitabh Bachchan and Sashi Kapoor, is the story of two burglars-cum-con artists Vijay and Sunil. While Vijay (Bachchan) is disillusioned and cynical about society at large, Sunil’s (Kapoor) poverty combined with an old mother and young sister has forced him to work for the criminal known as Uncle (Kadar Khan). Vijay and Sunil cannot see eye to eye as Fate often pitches them against one another on the same job. Both separately attempt and compete to kidnap the son of renowned businessman Seth Mathur from the boarding school where he studies and the film is a journey of how the two are reformed out of their love for the kid and efforts by their beloveds (Parveen Babi and Hema Malini respectively). However, desperately seeking revenge against Seth Mathur for handing him over to the police years earlier, Uncle and his men poison the children's dinner following Ravi’s desertion of Uncle’s gang.
As Vijay rushes in his car over hills and valleys to get a doctor, Ravi and the rest try to keep the children awake and active to slow down the effect of the poison. Kishore Kumar's melodious and earnest voice, lip synced by Kapoor and penned by lyricist Anjaan, sings
सोती है ये रात सोने दो
नींद में जहां को खोने दो
गीत मेरे तुम तो सुनो
तुम कहीं सो मत जाना. (सोती है ये रात सोने दो)
[Let the night sleep if it wants to
Let the world be lost in sleep
You do pay heed to my songs
Don’t you fall asleep.] (our translation)
A heart wrenching plea to God, when removed from its context, can become humanity's collective beseechment to God in these uncertain times.
Conversely, the song “आसमाँ पे है खुदा और ज़मीं पे हम” (Eng. The Lord resides in the sky) penned by Sahir Ludhianvi for the 1958 Hindi film Phir Subah Hogi (Eng. Morning will Dawn Again), an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment (1866), can be read as a stringent critique of and lament over the feeling of being abandoned by God.
While Vladimir and Estragon, representatives of post-World War II humanity, do not give up waiting for Godot even after repeated deferrals by Godot (God?) and at times Estragon’s (like some of us) forgetting that they (we) are waiting for the savior who can save us all (Beckett 10), Ludhianvi’s lyrics portrays a God indifferent to the plight and suffering of humanity, similar to Beckett’s Godot (God) despite Lucky’s speech describing God as one who “loves us dearly with some exceptions” (Beckett 40).
However, unlike Vladimir and Estragon, the protagonist in this case does not sit idle waiting for God; rather, he decides that he alone cannot worry about the well-being, safety, and security of the world when God himself does not seem to care. For the protagonist, not only has God given a free hand to humans to act as they wish – often in greedy, selfish, and self-destructive ways – the sheer population burst has made it impossible to keep a tab on and take care of every single individual. Hindu mythology believes in 33 Koti (Core) Gods and Goddesses (Devta-s and Devi-s) which with the passage of time became erroneously mythologized as 33 Crore (Sai). Even going by the latter number, the population of India as of 2018 is approximately 135 Crore, more than thrice the total number of Gods and Goddesses to take care of them. The lyricist indirectly refers to this when he says “आदमी हैं अनगीनत देवता हैं कम” (Men are infinite, Gods few – our translation). This perhaps has forced the deities to abandon humanity – a crisis borne of uncontrollable population increase.
This song, then, accumulates similar layers of meaning during present crisis. While God lets deadly viruses, or rather, people who manufacture deadly viruses, run amok for political, economical, geographical, and/or strategic gains, they are themselves unwilling or unable to take care of the ever-increasing population. In such a scenario, each individual is left with no option but to save themselves while ignoring or forgetting about others.
Indeed, individual, separate recitation of the three poems, Leda and the Swan, The Second Coming, and Morning at the Window; or separate cover version of the two songs; or a bricolage of fragments from these texts can, in the context of COVID-19, serve as a response to the crisis; a simultaneous plea for help, lament, and criticism of divine power; and a cathartic vehicle during this crisis. It can thus become a useful, sensitizing pedagogical exercise in adaptation where teacher/s and students can collaboratively produce just such an adaptation.
Conclusion
The present article has attempted to offer itself as a cathartic vehicle to express feelings of complain, criticism, explanation, lament, piety, and plea during these testing times as the world battles with COVID-19, through a study of texts belonging to both high and popular culture. It thereby attempted to excavate and extract probable responses to the current COVID-19 crisis from these texts. Through this exercise in displacement from their original contexts, the researchers have aimed to demonstrate that the ontological and experiential status of a work of art derives from how the appreciator responds to it. The ‘writerly’ response to these texts undertaken in the present article demonstrate that most, if not every, text is capable of being appropriated and ‘played’ with, deriving relevant meaning(s) in the process. This ‘play’ is in response to the current COVID-19 crisis and in the final analysis, it offers a hint to practice adapting these texts that can further the cathartic aim of releasing worries and anxieties during this crisis.
Works Cited
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Chetan N. Trivedi, Vice-Chancellor, Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta University (BKNMU), Junagadh (Gujarat)
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Rohal S. Raval, Research Scholar, Department of Languages (English), Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta University (BKNMU), Junagadh (Gujarat)