[INDOLOGY] The study of Sanskrit as the epitome of uselessness

[Aleix Ruiz Falqués]

Dear list members,

For those who could not see the attachment with the text regarding
Sanskrit, its useless, and García Márquez, here it is. The Sanskrit primer
symbolises the uselessness of the bookshop and the spirit of the bookseller:

"The bookstore is the place where Aureliano Babilonia finds his Sanskrit
primer, and it is owned by a wise Catalan, or a Catalan sage, 'un sabio
catalán', who arrived in Latin America as a refugee from what the narrator
laconically calls 'one of so many wars' [345: 367]. He is a former Classics
teacher and an instigator of learning which is both arcane and occasionally
functional, like José Arcadio Buendía´s curiosity. For the Catalan, 'wisdom
was worth nothing if it could not be used to invent a new way of preparing
chickpeas' [337: 357]. This is both a pose and a credo. The Catalan, like
José Arcadio Buendía, loves useless wisdom but likes to think of wisdom as
useful too. When Aureliano Babilonia first meets the Catalan he has two
drawers full of scribbled pages 'that in some way made ont think of
Melquíades' parchments' [345-346: 368]."

Best wishes,
Aleix


On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 at 18:59, Aleix Ruiz Falqués <arfalques at cantab.net>
wrote:

> This excellent thread reminded me of a passage from *Hundred Years of
> Solitude*. This is from M. Wood, *Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred
> Years of Solitude*, (CUP 1990).
>
> [image: image.png]
>
> Best wishes,
> Aleix
>
> On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 at 15:03, Christoph Emmrich via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> MARCELLO   Steiner! Che fa qui?
>>
>> STEINER   E tu? Io sono di casa... Padre Franz mi ha dato un libro...
>>
>>
>> E mentre mostra un libro che ha sotto il braccio, accenna anche al
>> giovane e piccolo prete, che è rimasto dove stava e segue la scena
>> sorridendo lievemente.
>>
>>
>> STEINER   ...che avevo cercato per tutta Roma. Una grammatica sanscrita.
>>
>>
>> E Steiner ride, come di uno scherzo.
>>
>>
>> From the script of *La dolce vita* (Italy, 1960), in: Federico Fellini,
>> Ennio Flaiano e Tullio Pinelli. *Quattro film. I vitelloni. La dolce
>> vita. Otto e mezzo. Giulietta degli spiriti**. *Torino: Einaudi, 1975,
>> p. 188.
>>
>>
>> [MARCELLO   Steiner! What are you doing here?
>>
>> STEINER   What about you? I am at home here... Father Franz gave me a
>> book...
>>
>> And, while displaying a book he is holding under his arm, he also points
>> at the young and short priest who has remained where he was and who has
>> been observing the scene with a faint smile.
>>
>> STEINER   ...which I had been looking for all across Rome. A Sanskrit
>> grammar.
>>
>> And Steiner laughs, as if about a joke.]
>>
>> With warm regards,
>> Christoph
>>
>>
>> ----
>>
>>
>>
>> Christoph Emmrich
>>
>> Associate Professor, Buddhist Studies
>> General Secretary, IABS
>>
>> Director, Centre for South Asian Studies
>>
>> at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
>>
>> Chair, Numata Program UofT/McMaster
>>
>> University of Toronto
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Aleix Ruiz-Falqués
> Pali Lecturer
> Head of the Department of Pali and Languages
> Shan State Buddhist University
> Phaya Phyu, Taunggyi, Myanmar 140101
> (+95) 09428757648
>


-- 
Aleix Ruiz-Falqués
Pali Lecturer
Head of the Department of Pali and Languages
Shan State Buddhist University
Phaya Phyu, Taunggyi, Myanmar 140101
(+95) 09428757648


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