great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Last paragraph on page 842

First Person:

I force myself to go on working on the papers.  When I’m bored with them I undress slowly and get into bed, and fall asleep at once, and for the first time in years I dream, dream of only one thing, of a fleshless hand that comes toward me with a bell, screaming that I should go away; and when that face with its empty eye socket comes close to me, I wake up with a muffled cry, sweating, and feel those gentle hands caressing my face, those lips murmuring in a low voice, consoling me and asking me for affection.  I reach out my hands to find that the other body, that naked body with a key dangling from its neck, and when I recognized the key I recognized the woman lying over me, kissing me, kissing my whole body.  I can’t see her in the black of the starless night, but I can smell the fragrance of the patio plants in her hair, can feel her smooth, eager body in my arms; I kiss her again and didn’t ask her to speak.

Third Person:

He forced himself to go on working on the papers.  When he got bored with them he undressed slowly, got into bed and fell asleep at once, and for the first time in years he dreamed, dreamed of only one thing, of a fleshless hand that came toward him with a bell, screaming that he should go away, everyone should go away; and when that face with its empty eye sockets come close to him, he woke up with a muffled cry, sweating and he felt those gentle hands caressing his face, those lips murmuring in a low voice, consoling him and asking him for affection.  He reached out his hands to find that the other body, that naked body with a key dangling from its neck, and when he recognized the key, he recognized the woman who was lying over him, kissing him, kissing his whole body.  He couldn’t see her in the black of the starless night, but he could smell the fragrance of the patio plants in her hair, can feel her smooth, eager body in his arms; He kissed her again and didn’t ask her to speak.

I personally didn’t have any problems translating the text from second person to first or third person.  By doing this exercise I was intrigued on reading the passage in different point of views.

• Katarina Stojanovic

I thought Katarina translated this passage very interestingly. Although there is a slight distinction between the first and third person point of view, I understood and comprehended the passage much more effectively in third person. In first person it sounds as if it is a narrative, a frightening one. In third person however, it is much less sinister but also much more distant. I was able to to put myself in the shoes of the main character in first person while I didn’t really feel attached to the story in third person. In addition, it makes it slightly more strenuous to be able to put yourself in the characters shoes and feel the emotions they’re going through in my opinion. However I didn’t necessarily have any difficulty between the two perspectives. It actually  gave me a better understanding of the story. I believe in certain cases it’s necessary to view the story from other perspectives as it gives the reader the ability to put themselves in the story.  I didn’t find it particularly difficult or have any problems going from second person to first or third person.

• Farhan Zaman