Newsgroups: bit.listserv.literary
Date:         Tue, 25 Aug 1992 13:25:29 EDT
From:         Tim Johnson <PH408014@BROWNVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Milorad Pavic'

  I had a discussion recently with a friend who
had just finished reading Hirsch's _Cultural Literacy_.
I'll admit from the start that I am *very* sympathetic
to this rather (surprisingly) controversial text.
(The person with whom I discussed it is a teacher,
and I was gratified to discover that there are those
in the profession who have read it and taken its
principles to heart.)

  At any rate, I don't mean to discuss Hirsch - though
I wouldn't hesitate to engage someone in that discussion.
I do mean, however, to give some support to his ideas of
reading and how that relates to cultural literacy.  (And
perhaps those of you intent on pursuing the speed reading
thread to its death will find something of interest here,
too.)

  One of Hirsch's claims is that having vocabulary is
insufficient to being fully literate - which is to say,
capable of easily reading a newspaper or magazine or book.
His reason is that this sort of material is filled with
references which are derived from the author's cultural
background.  References which the author (unless the author
is puffed up pedant like Fowles ;-) does not explain - but
rather assumes to be common knowledge among literate folk.
Failing to recognize these references, or having to check
a dictionary every time one pops up, will cause one's reading
speed to plummet and will make reading seem a very unpleasant
chore.

  Okay, now, what does this have to do with Pavic', you wonder?

  I started Pavic''s novel _Landscape Painted with Tea_ this
afternoon, and I'm finding it very difficult going - precisely
because I'm am insufficiently familiar with Yugoslav culture.
I read a lot of Russians, and am fairly familiar with Russian
history and culture - so those novels present no problems for
me.  However, this novel is filled with transliterated idiomatic
expressions and apparent references to folklore which I simply
don't get.  Oh, I mean, I can puzzle out the gross implications,
but not the finer detail.

  So, a few of the obscure figures of speech:

  "He had studied at ... which is when he learned that his
   upper lip was responsible for one thing and his lower
   lip for another: the upper lip was for hot, the lower
   for sour...."

  "...and at the same time [he] learned to recognize women
   who preferred mustaches for dinner."

  "...the only good roof is one under which the egg does
   not rot."

  "But nobody has tears in just one eye."

  "...at night he became so ravenous, eloquent, and hardworking
   that the back of his belt turned moldy."

  "...he worked as though his ears were not planted on holes...."

  "It was as though his right hand were more sinful than the left,
   after all."

  " 'You are not one of those who spike eggs.' "

  "Like the devil in church, he was at pains to recognize his
   own text."

  "He was fast at the time, and about him they said: 'If nothing
   else, you can plant a tree in the handful of earth he can hold.' "


  If anyone on the list has any special insight into these
odd phrases, I'd appreciate hearing from you.  Any students
of Serbian or Croatian culture?  (It was originally written
in "Serbo-Croatian.")

                        -Tim
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