What do I ask myself/ teach my child to ask herself when looking for translations/adaptations of historical/epic works for her?
Upvote:3
Excellent question. I don't feel qualified to answer, but I'm a chagrined by the lack of answers so far. I'm going to take a pass on your first question (I think @Coelacanth has a good start in the comments).
In college our first classroom discussion of Plato's dialogues, started when the professor made us stop reading after the first page and challenged us to spot the glaringly obvious cultural assumption that we did not share. We probably spent 15 minutes groping around and finally had to admit defeat. The professor pointed out that someone asks a question of a slave - something that would never happen in our lives. (one hopes). Seems trivial, but it changed the way I read historical texts.
For the second question, I think the most interesting questions are: - How did the protagonist's solution to the problem differ from the one you would have chosen? - Why did the protagonist select that strategy over the one you recommend? - What assumptions do you make that the protagonist did not? - What assumptions did the protagonist make that you think are flawed? (e.g Gilgamesh can set aside his responsibilities of government to wander around for a few weeks). - What cultural artifacts & institutions are portrayed that are alien today? (e.g. slavery, temple prostitution, the importance of funerals, etc.) - What cultural institutions are present, but are very different today? (e.g. government, marriage, economy, treatment of minorities and strangers, friendship, clan, etc.) - What function do those artifacts/institutions fulfill in the society? - What analogous artifacts/institutions do we use today to fulfill those functions? - What images/adjectives/attributes are used to convey cultural assumptions? (Why is Enkidu hairy? What does that say about hygiene? What does his diet say about the culture? What does it mean that Enkidu is "seduced into civilization"?
At some level I admit I'm asking how my culture is different from the one portrayed; I'm trying to decompose culture into a set of interrelating components and study how they fit together for the inhabitants.
The other concept I might introduce is emic and etic.
- From our point of view, what is the point where you want to reach into the epic and slap the character upside the head and say, "YOU IDIOT!"
- Operating entirely within the context of the epic, making the same assumptions as the inhabitants of the culture in question, what did the protagonist do that was clever, and what did the protagonist do that made things worse?
Those questions can be trivialized. But the practice of fitting myself inside someone elses cultural limitations and then examining my own cultural limitations from an external view point is, I think, generally useful.
More post
- 📝 Are there historical instances of settlers who were largely uncontacted and undisturbed after settling?
- 📝 Did ancient people regularly suffer from colds?
- 📝 The act of Settlement 1701 and succession
- 📝 Who on ship was responsible for purchases during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 Was prostitution legal in the Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Solomon?
- 📝 Were there any elections in the First French Empire?
- 📝 Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?
- 📝 What kind of political institutions existed in Sakai, Japan in the 500s and 600s AD?
- 📝 Was there any official affirmation from the US government that they would win the Vietnam War?
- 📝 Can anyone identify what uniform this child soldier from Switzerland c1870 is wearing?
- 📝 Why are most monarchies in Europe of German descent?
- 📝 What were the consequences of the bankruptcies of the Spanish Empire?
- 📝 Why did Americans oppose Richard Nixon's visit to China? What "past policies" were Nixon going against?
- 📝 How did the check pattern help with financial computations?
- 📝 What were the effects of US foreign policy in the South East Asian region in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s on states with capitalist economies?
- 📝 Did Roundheads have opinions on early leaders of the Reformation (e.g., Martin Luther) during the Civil War?
- 📝 Who said: "Armies prepare to fight their last war, rather than their next war"?
- 📝 What was the first book translated from Japanese to any of the European languages?
- 📝 Was Smedley Butler right when he said 21,000 million/billionaires were created from World War I?
- 📝 Were people in the Neo-Assyrian or Achaemenid Empire aware of the empires before them?
- 📝 What's known about Tullia's son?
- 📝 Any evidence of woman named Claudia being a Welsh princess?
- 📝 Is it reasonable to claim that peaceful transfers of power began, globally, in the United States?
- 📝 Which 11 countries were democratic in 1941?
- 📝 Did pagan tribes in the Arab peninsula use bells for superstitious or religious reasons before and with the introduction of Islam?
- 📝 Why did mass production have to wait until the Industrial Revolution?
- 📝 How common were horses at the beginning of the 20th century?
- 📝 What did early humans do with their long hair?
- 📝 What do we know about Hennig Brand's family?
- 📝 How did it happen that countries and cities got different names in different languages?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What do I ask myself/ teach my child to ask herself when looking for translations/adaptations of historical/epic works for her?
- 📝 What are the social preconditions for division of labour, when compared in different emerging civilizations?
- 📝 Who first said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."?
- 📝 What actual proof is there for Carthaginian child sacrifice?
- 📝 What was the median price for a slave child in the Augustan Rome?
- 📝 What defenses did Lee leave behind when the Army of Northern Virginia left for Gettysburg?
- 📝 What is the source for the Arabic name of the penguin and when it is first used?
- 📝 What incentives were there for Soviet and Chinese politicians to try climb to the top when there was so much history of deposing their own?
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?
- 📝 Has there ever been a case when a traitorous military commander took command again for the side he betrayed?
- 📝 Why did Britain not purchase Alaska when Russia had it up for sale?
- 📝 Why was it "acceptable" for Prince Charles to marry a divorced woman, when Edward VIII had to abdicate for marrying divorcee Wallis Simpson?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What is the logic for the map maker classifying the map this way, specifically in Canada?
- 📝 What is the reason for the selections of gun caliber size in history?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the Exodus?
- 📝 When did the U.S. Army start saying "oh-six-hundred" for "6 AM"?
- 📝 To what extent did Native American cultures develop metalworking for tools and weapons?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What happened in Rome, when the western empire "fell"?
- 📝 What were the reasons for making Prohibition a constitutional amendment?
- 📝 What would have been the typical drinks for a US farmer in the late 18th/early 19th century?
- 📝 What was the plan for an abort of the Enola Gay's mission to drop the atomic bomb?
- 📝 What was the economic basis for West Berlin?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 What were sandbags used for in medieval duels?
- 📝 What evidence is there for chain stores or restaurant chains in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 What kind of ink was used by medieval scribes in Iceland, given that there were no plant galls for iron-gall ink?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the claim that "Taiwan has always been part of China"?