KARACHI: A literary sitting in Goethe Institut on Thursday, with Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui in the chair, proved to be a marathon session as two prose and poetry pieces were critically examined.
It was also a send-off for the Institute’s director, Dr Dirk Angelroth, and welcome to Dr Marla Stukenberg, the first lady director in Pakistan, who had arrived in the city only a couple of days before Eid.
Dr Angelroth’s story, Babri ki yaad mein (Urdu translation from the German by Shamim Manzer) recalled the author’s tenure at the Goethe Institut Bombay, as its director. It was the true story, to some just a character sketch of a plump old Parsi landlady, but very fascinating, despite her harsh and yet loving manners, disciplined and also humane. The Urdu translation looked like an original one and was admired by everyone. However, the modest writer with a subtle humour had no claim over story writing.
The other item was a free verse titled ‘Self Portrait’ written first in Spanish, later transferred into German by Dr Angelroth and translated by Shamim Manzer into Urdu.
The original poet, Hugo Guerrero, belonged to Peru, and the learned Dr also made a film on it. While teaching German language to students, mostly young people, coming from faroff places and suffering homesickness, he found the verse most suited to a short film. A young and lonesome boy from Nigeria and an Egyptian girl appeared on the screen, with green and fascinating German scenic beauty in the background. The translation was superb, and also the film.
Among those who contributed in the discourse on literary pieces included Shamshad Ahmed, Dr Kazi, Noor Mohammed Shaikh, Saba Ikram, Mumtaz Meher and others.
Dr Marla Stukenberg, the new director, was the last to read out her paper: ‘Glimpses on contemporary German literature (1989-2001).’ She said “The fall of Berlin wall seemed to mark the end of a very special period of German literature — the end of post-war German literature.”
We in Pakistan, in the wake of a fast growing computer culture, may not face the crisis at present but the Germans did, and the paper said: “At the beginning of the ‘90s, reviewers stated the crisis of German literature. It seemed to have lost a thematic focus and seemed to be more and more marginalized by the new trend of a global media culture, which put much lesser attention to readers than to Internet users.”
“But the contemporary literature did not abandon German history as it seemed to be at the beginning of the ‘90s. The literary analysis of Nazi fascism still plays an important role. We have experienced the emergence of a new generation of writers in Germany since the unification, the manner in which they rework established themes, such as German history, the GDR past, parental conflict, opportunism, conformity and violence and their engagement with new themes such as postmodernism, globalization and modern urban life,” the paper concluded.
Dr Marla, who was educated in political science and history, later specialized in ethnic conflict in the South Asian region and did her PhD on the same. She was a co-ordinator of cultural programmes at the Goethe Institut in Munich. She said coming to Pakistan was her own choice.
The outgoing director, Dr D. Angelroth, in a brief speech recalled his stay in Karachi. With three years spent in Asia, he was now 65 and loved his teaching career most. Recalling the late Mushtaq Gazder and many other friends, he lamented that he could not learn Urdu “as no one agreed to give a couple of teaching hours in the morning.” He gave away mementos to some of his colleagues, and an embossed Goethe profile also to the Writer Forum, for their friendly cooperation and regard for literature.—Hasan Abidi
