LE MERIDIEN KUWAIT MEETING

Writers Guild Hold Meeting at Le Meridien Kuwait

Writers Guild organized their annual meeting at Hotel Le Meridien recently, attended and addressed by renowned writers and poets from different part of the world residing in Kuwait. The meeting was sponsored by an established and experienced Advocate Mr. Ahmed Qurban who is also a senior citizen of this country. Mr. Ahmed Qurban described the life style social literary, economical ethical condition of Kuwait from the early 20th Century and India's social literary & linguistic impact on Kuwait since it had had a cheaper sea link with Bombay, and other coasts. Mr. Johar Chinioty - scholar Chairman a driving force of the Writers Guild, presided over the meeting while Mr. Kingston - 1st Secretary of Zimbabwe Embassy was the Chief Guest. In a well decorated conference hall very much conducive and serene atmosphere required for writers to release and recite best of their potentialities the patnarch Chairman Mr. Johar - founder of this guild requested Dr. Anthony Johae - Head of the English Department, Dr. Bruce Merry - Faculty of Art, Dr. Ahmed Kamal - only Professor of Persian three Kuwait Universities to kindly occupy chairs at the Dias, highlighting the role of Writers Guild for the advancement of Society Mr. Johar showered abundance praises on every individual writer for his fervor in displaying intellectual capacity representing his Embassy, Mr. Kingston expressed some of the salient features of his home country. In a very elaborate narration Mr. Kingston described more of the cultural historical and social aspects which were not known before. Mr. Kingston invited the attendees to visit the hill side area of Zimbabwe which is too cold when it is hot in Kuwait.

At the outset Mr. Johar invited Mr. Akram Butt, a noted classical singer of Kuwait Radio, to recite his poetry in lyrical silky voice Mr. Akram Butt in his melodious and mellifluous words recited a ghazal which was interpreted by great Urdu Author Dr. Mirza Umar Beg.

Dr. Ahmed Kamal - Professor of Persian spoke about other Persian Poets Kaayani Naziri Saadi and came to the topic about notorious Hafiz Shirazi - the great Iranian poet. He gave full details about his early life during the 8th Hijri Century. He mentioned that Hafiz Shirazi studied many sciences particularly which are connected to Holy Quran. Hafiz Shirazi has memorized the Holy Quran in full which helped him a big deal in loving and writing poetry. He wrote a lot of poems, which reflected many areas of life.

The coverage presented by Dr. Ahmed Kamal was simultaneously interpreted by Mr. Mohammed Hani - an interpreter at Egyptian People's Assembly.

Dr. Laila Al-Saban spoke about the impact of the Arabic dialect in the society. She gave examples about the dialect which can effect in a certain society and she focussed on the Kuwait one. She mentioned that she studied only the Urban dialect and thus she wrote her book which divided her research into five main chapters. In these chapters she indicated how neighbouring countries like Iran in the past influenced the dialect and even influenced England. She also indicated that there are some words which have more than one meaning so how some of them are used in different way rather than in past. Dr. Laila Al-Saban thanked Mr. Johar who assessed and reviewed her book as a good comparison in light of other books written by her contemporaries and those of yester years. The speech of Dr. Laila Al-Saban was translated by Mr. Mohammed Hani.

Dr. Bruce Merry (Australian) professor of English literature spoke about the influence forced by all mass media particularly the new ones. He spoke about TV, Video etc and how the human mind was greatly influenced by such means upon/dealing with different kinds of art. He expressed his fear that human imagination would die one day because of those modern media such as Internet and Satellite. He also expressed his pleasure to see some people interested in art and think some fine activities like reading and painting. He congratulated Mr. Johar to have afforded such opportunities to great writers of the world on one platform of this Guild.

Dr. Anthony Johae (U.K), Mr. Johar described Dr. Anthony an Encyclopedia of world literature who is also an old member of this guild. Dr. Anthony in the last meetings spoke at length about the English poets Milton, Sherly, T.S. Eliot Byron and Wordsworth and for this meeting I had requested him to speak about Russian authors. Dr. Anthony spoke about Russian author i.e. Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) is generally regarded as the founder of modern Russian literature because of the way he revolutionized Russian as a literary language by freeing it from a stiff, arhchaic formalism. He also introduced new forms such as the novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, the first of its kind in Russian literature. Pushkin's novel is notable also for its Byronic hero, who perversely rejects the devoted love of Tatyana. Perversely, too, Pushkin was killed in a dual over rumors of a scandal involving his wife.

Another nineteenth-century writer to die in a dual was Mikhail Lermontov (1814 - 1841). His best known prose work is the novel. A Hero of our Times, which like Eugene Onegin features an embittered idealist in the Byronic mode, who seems only to be able to destroy love rather than to nurture it. Lermontov himself was of a rebellious nature and in his poetry is frequently scornful of women.

Ivan Goncharov (1812 - 1891), on the other hand, seems in his novel, Oblomov, to be expressing criticism of Russian men, particularly of the dreamer kind who, for all his generosities. It is Stolz, the practical German, who wins the charming girl, and not Oblomov because he cannot even get out of bed.

The satire of Nikolai Gogol (1802 - 1852) is directed broadly at the malaise of Russian society, particularly at the scourge of serfdom (abolished in 1861) and dysfunctional government bureaucracies. Serfdom is directly attacked in his novel, "Dead Souls", while the petty bureaucrat is ridiculed in the short story, " The Overcoat", and in the play, "The Inspector". The originality of evocation of the grotesque, however, goes beyond targeting the institution of Russian society to a criticism of human nature itself, its prosperity for artificiality and pretension and it is at this level that Gogol gives the reader a profound insight into the human psyche.

Ivan Turgenev (1818 - 1883) is another writer who in his fiction reveals the vagaries of the Russian temperament. In his novel, "Fathers and Children", he shows how the old traditionalist fathers become out of touch with the young progressives such as the nihilist, Bazrov, who puts his faith entirely in science and the material world, rather than in religion and idealism as his father has done. Turgenev was himself pro-Western and spent a good deal of his life out of Russia. In style, too, his novels have an compactness more akin to Western European prose fiction than to the "baggy monsters" of Russian literature as Henry James called them.

Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910), although writing in the classic mould of European realizes, as did Turgenev, in his novels creates a world on a much larger Russian scale as in his epic novel, "War and Peace" and too in "Anna Karenina". The combination of broad canvas and close attention to detail is reconstruction of the Battle of Borodino in "War and Peace" - the kind of comprehensive picture which is rather the province of the cinema today. Of special interest in Tolstov's work is his overt Christian anarchism which reject the self-indulgent and parasitic society life of the city and champions, the simple but productive rural life of the Russian peasantry. By contrast, the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881) are often centered on the city, particularly St. Petersburg as in "Crime and Punishment". Unlike Tolstoy where we see the belle mande of the metropolis, the reader is drawn into the labyrinth of the impoverished city life of the capital. However, Dostoevsky's realism is rather of a psychological kind he gets inside the minds of his characters and by doing so reveals their phobias and obsessions, and their motives for extreme forms of behavious. Hwereas Tolstoy represented his world as fundamentally harmonious, Dostoevsky apprehends it as chaotic seems to be looking forward to the fragmented perceptions of twentieth-century modernism.
Dr. Mirza Omar Beg gave an explicit review above presented through Radio.

Radio is the theater of mind and needs the listener's imagination perfectly. Radio Drama is considered to be endangered species even though at the end of 20th century, Radio has lost its importance as a huge and significant source for news and entertainment. The Radio Dramatist needs a creative interaction with the listener and the ability of a Radio Dramatist to write listen, imagination is a special quality denied to TV Viewers & theatre goers. Film & TV plays paint the colors for the audience, whereas the picture in the mind of Radio listeners.

Anastasis Hobbet (American), as a free lance journalist she wrote a novel "Pleasure of Believing" in the year 1977 which had many reprints of the last reprint was in 1997. Her second Novel is "Goose Bone" predicted. It is about a country of war in a single American family.
Mrs. Sachiko Kim (Japan), who came to Kuwait ten months back is an outstanding short story writer in English whose works have been published in magazines & periodicals of other Countries.

She held a promise with the Guild to be a regular member of the guild.
Madam Fatima Yousef Al-Ali is short story writer whose works are commonly published in literary magazines of Egypt & Kuwait. She narrated journey to literary conference in U.A.E.

Madam Khairunisa, English poetess could not read her poetry and also life sketch & works of Tagore because of shortage of time for which she was asked to read all that in the coming session.
Professor Mcarthy (Brazil) of Kuwait University was honored by the Guild for his meritorious Library services rendered during his two years tenure in this country. Mr. Mcarthy on expiry of his deputation will leave Kuwait on 15.7.99. An award for his literary services was given to Mr. Mcarthy who will carry on affection love & sweet memories to Brazil.

Among the attendees who stole the major limelight were Dr. Anthony, Dr.
Laila Al-Saban, Dr. Bruce and Dr. Mirza Umar Beg.

Mr. Johar, the Chairman in his concluding remark conveyed thanks to Mr.
Ahmed Qurban and all other attendees in the meeting.