Endangered by Desire T.G.H. Strehlow and The
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ENDANGERED BY DESIRE T.G.H. STREHLOW AND THE INEXPLICABLE VAGARIES OF PRIVATE PASSION By S. j. Hersey THESIS Presented as a thesis for the fulfilment of the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) School of Communication Arts, the University of Western Sydney, Werrington Campus. 2006 The author declares that the research reported in this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree at any other university or institution. Information acquired from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is provided. Shane jeffereys Hersey ………………………………………………………………………… University of Western Sydney Abstract ENDANGERED BY DESIRE T.G.H. STREHLOW AND THE INEXPLICABLE VAGARIES OF PRIVATE PASSION By Shane Hersey Supervisor: Associate Professor Hart Cohen Co-supervisor Dr Maria Angel School of Communication Arts This thesis is about the depth of colonisation through translation. I develop an analytic framework that explores colonisation and translation using the trope of romantic love and an experimental textual construction incorporating translation and historical reconstruction. Utilising both the first and the final drafts of “Chapter X, Songs of Human Beauty and Love-charms” in Songs of Central Australia, by T. Strehlow, I show how that text, written over thirty years and comprised of nine drafts, can be described as a translation mediated by the colonising syntax and grammar. My interest lies in developing a novel textual technique to attempt to illustrate this problem so as to allow an insight into the perspective of a colonised person. This has involved a re-examination of translation as something other than a transtemporal structure predicated on direct equivalence, understanding it instead as something that fictionalises and reinvents the language that it purports to represent. ii It begins by establishing an understanding of the historical context in which the translated text is situated, from both objective and personal viewpoints, and then foregrounds the grammatical perspective of the argument. Utilising the techniques and processes of multiple translation, Internet-based translation software, creative writing and historical reconstruction, it continues to consider the role of imagination and begins the construction of a visceral argument whereby the reader is encouraged to experience a cognitive shift similar to that understood by the colonised other, which is revealed in a fictional autobiography written by an imagined other. It concludes by considering the coloniser within the same context, using, as an example T. Strehlow, who had a unique understanding of the Arrernte language. Tracking his extensive alterations, revisions and excisions within his drafts of Chapter X, this thesis traces a textual history of change, theorising that the translator, no matter how "authentic", is as much translated by the text as she or he is a translator of the text. iii [The Arrernte] whose term for consuming love is the verb ‘erererama’, – “to long for ever and with all faculties for that which has been lost”. T. Strehlow (1932, final paragraph, last page) When fierceness and anger are asleep, and love alone is waking, we may be no less endangered by desire, which equally tends to darken the soul. John Wesley (sermon 46, 8) iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................2 Glossary.................................................................................................................................3 How to Read this Thesis....................................................................................................4 Methodology ........................................................................................................................6 The Strehlow Archive.......................................................................................................16 The Allure of the Archive................................................................................................20 T. Strehlow’s Most Significant Texts.............................................................................24 Part I: Introduction...........................................................................................................30 Part II: Functional Coincidence .....................................................................................33 Part III: A Multiple Grammatical Corollary.................................................................39 United in Grammar ..........................................................................................................39 Deconstructing Gertrude Stein ......................................................................................46 Part IV: The Imagined Whites’ Savage .........................................................................59 Part V: The Making of An Unbosomed Love...................................................................71 An Unbosomed Love.............................................................................................................78 Part VI: An Arandic Allegory of Love........................................................................139 Love ...................................................................................................................................140 Passion...............................................................................................................................142 Romantic Love ................................................................................................................143 A Negative Bias Against Passion..................................................................................146 T. Strehlow’s “Lovemap” ..............................................................................................159 Part VII: Conclusion.......................................................................................................162 Appendices.......................................................................................................................168 References.........................................................................................................................168 Pocket Material: CD of Songs of Human Beauty and Love-charms ..............................175 Pocket Material: CD of First Draft and Penultimate Draft..........................................175 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful for the assistance given by Alice Springs historian Richard Kimber, who generously read an early draft of this manuscript, and that of Strehlow Research Centre (SRC) board member Garry Stoll. Both men, who share a deep understanding of Arrernte culture, helped me to understand the complexities within the lives of Carl and Theodor Strehlow. Also, I am appreciative of the assistance extended by former director of the SRC, Mr Brett Galt-Smith, who encouraged me to continue working many long hours beyond the official closing time of the SRC, including on weekends, to be able to complete my research while in Alice Springs. I want to thank my parents, John and April Hersey, for their unflagging enthusiasm. I especially want to thank my partner, Vicki Hersey, for her financial support and encouragement to complete my study and to whom I am indebted for having created a space in which this thesis could flourish. Finally, I would like to thank my supervisors, Drs. Hart Cohen and Maria Angel, for all the advice and support they gave to me during the course of this project. Whether given standing in an ancient riverbed in the Outback or sitting in a café in the Blue Mountains, all the advice was appreciated. 2 GLOSSARY Western Desert. An area of land of approximately one and a quarter million square kilometres that includes areas of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. It is the home country of the Arrernte, Loritja Pitjantjatjara and Warlpiri Indigenous peoples, among others. Arrernte. The Indigenous people who traditionally inhabit the area in and around the Alice Springs region and East MacDonnell Ranges of Central Australia. Alternative spellings are Aranda, Arrarnta, and Arunta. There are five recognised dialects of the Arrernte language: Eastern, Central, South-eastern, Northern, and North-eastern. Luritja. Close neighbours of the Arrernte people who have a similar language and cultural practices. Alternative spellings include Loritja, Luritcha, Loritcha, Lurritji, Luridja, Aluridja and Luritja. Other neighbours, who do not share such close cultural and linguistic connections, are the Anmatyerr and Alyawarr. Carl Strehlow. Carl Strehlow studied for his religious vocation at Neuendettelsau Seminary in Germany under the tutelage of Dr Johannes Deinzer and Pastor Carl Seidel. Talented at learning languages, Carl Strehlow mastered the Dieri language in 1892 when he worked at the Bethesda Mission near Lake Eyre in Central Australia. He was transferred to Hermannsburg in 1894, where he quickly gained fluency in the Arrernte and Luritja languages. Throughout the following text he is referred to as C. Strehlow. T. G. H. Strehlow. Theodor George Henry Strehlow, the son of Carl and Frieda Strehlow, was born at the Hermannsburg Mission in Central Australia in 1908. As a boy, he was known as Theo. Throughout the following