CC BY
7PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES
EASTERN AND WESTERN CULTURE AND THE AUTHOR'S IDENTITY IN BANINE'S
PERCEPTION
Atakishiyeva T.
Baku Engineering University, Faculty of Pedagogy, Department of Translation and English language, Baku, Azerbaijan
Abstract
The article deals with the Azerbaijani writer-Banine, who spent only a little part of her life in native country, and found her liberty from censure in France. It indicates how a woman of Islamic religion changed her mentality and became a Western person. The analysis of the author's interpretation is given through her memoir books, where her life is described there to the least details - "Days in the Caucasus" and "Days in Paris". Modification of a culture, orient and religion are the main issues in the article which are the events happening frequently nowadays, but were an occasion of courage especially for a woman from East at that period.
Keywords: Banine, memoir, religion, culture, Azebaijan, France.
Introduction
Banine is one of the prominent writer of memoir genre in Azerbaijani literature. Born and lived just a little part of her life in Azerbaijan she prevailed the remained way in France. Memoir works written by her like "Days in the Caucasus" and "Days in Paris" lightened not only the newly began genre in native country but also showed how a person can be frank to herself by giving details about the concealed feelings. Banine can be considered the Moslem woman who demonstrated the two cultures and religions of two different countries like Azebaijan and France in her works. As it is observed from the two books that the author controbuted to the world "The Days in Caucasus" depicts the life in Caucasus giving specifications about its traditional, religious and cultural aspects, whereas "Days in Paris" shows the readers all the social institutions donated to France. It must be mentioned the writer is not just a narrator of her stories standing aside, she is the real participant and the witness of both lives as she practiced two different mentality destined to her fate. From these books it can be seen how a woman of Islam religion and Eastern traditions changed her life, point of view and everything that she was bound from the birth totally by moving to France.
Research Methods
Comparative, biographical, historical methods and discourse analysis were used for the article and the scientific and theoretical provisions of the study were based on English language sources.
The aim of our research is to clarify the relationship of Banine's literary creativity and multicultural society based on analyzing the ideas of women's life and multiculturalism in Banine's and Georg Simmel's works. Studying of Banine's works in memoir literature as a women's cultural development phase of Azerbaijani and French multicultural prose helps to examine how living in such kind of society could effect on women's life, mind, psychology.
Research questions
XX century of Azerbaijan was a country where families of different nations lived along. Banine clearly gives information about it where she mentions on the
neighbor daughter Tamara of Armenian origin. "Tamara was a product of two enemy races - Armenian and Turkish. Her father was somehow related to the family, while her mother had converted to Islam to please her husband." [1,p.63] Though customs and mentality remained in every country, male members especially widowed father or brother preferred to be spouse a woman of other nationality. Some of them found those women more educated, more feminine and grace, whiter than the women of homeland. This detail can be considered as a sparkle of Western orient in Caucasus, as it was not proper for men of Islam to wed a female being of other religion where at the end Muslim man did not change his wife's faith into Islam. So, while reading the first book we may realize that Banine's both grandfathers married with the women of varied nations, though their first wives were alive and they were not divorced: Musa Naghiyev (Banine's grandfather from maternal side) married Yelizaveta Qriqoryevna of Georgian orient, Shamsi Asadullayev (Banine's grandfather from paternal side) married Mariya Petrovna of Russian origin, which are the proofs for them imitating the Western way of living. The other factor which resisted to Azerbaijani morals was Fraulaine Anna - the nurse for Banine and her sisters. The point of her being in their family, where Ba-nine's strictly religious grandmother-Meyransa khanum was against of it can also be considered a slight revolution in their lives.
Despite the fact of some Western aspects are seen in the Asadullayevs' lives in Baku, the book describes Azerbaijani holidays, mourning events and traditions which are absolutely Eastern mode of life. Being a woman of Islam religion and Eastern origin, she describes her life from the birth to the definite period of life, giving attainments of how the life was interesting at the same time ironical. Happy moments of her live are portrayed when beautiful traditions of Novruz and Ramazan holidays and some other memorable occasions are reported. "For children, new year, celebrated on 21st March (to coincide with the first day of spring), was a holiday that yielded great financial return. All
day we would run from house to house to 'congratulatory' visit." [1,p.21] Writer's derisive attitude to such moments is clearly given in the first book, when the author tries to explain about the day of death of Holy Meherrem (one of the prophets). On this day women and men gathered apart in a place where they could yell and beat themselves for Meherrem, Banine on her still childish ages believed them doing something negative. "Everything would go well at first as the women listened quietly. But soon one woman would start to cry, then another, then another, until the whole room joined in. There were terrible sighs, sobs, groans, cries of 'Yah Allah', and the despair would grow more bitter, the grief become more unbearable and the situation seem hopeless." [1,p.23]She grew up to 19 years with these two sides of the mentality always dreaming of leaving for France. Besides of some happy memories in her childhood, there was nothing that bound her to the homeland.
According to the sociologist Georg Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history." [3] Researches made by the G. Simmel defined that culture are of two types: material and non-material. Non-material culture refers to the non-physical ideas that individuals have about their culture, including values, belief systems, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions, while material culture is the physical evidence of a culture in the objects and architecture they make or have made. To look from this point of view to the life of the author, it is clear that Banine refers to non-material culture group. We may have a theory that the writer could be related to material culture, in the case if she wanted to remain the same when she first stepped to France. Though her image was changed by her relatives, she did not prevent it, on the contrary she remained faithful to her new way of life, her appearance, morals. "A young hairdresser, after some reasoning and consultation with my sister, energetically set to work. Making some strange movements with his hands, he conjured above my head, and soon he noticeably changed shape of my head, it became more rounded. Forelocks fell on my forehead and I looked like Joan of Arc. In a word, I became a little French." [2,p.18] Even her relationships were in the manner of French women. So, she did not want to have any remembrance of the eastern culture, absolutely changing everything. Banine was a woman of non-material culture, because her cultural origin was only in her mind and conversations while talking to representatives of Azerbaijan.
The problem of how young Banine acquired a new culture is a matter of the article. A person possesses culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. Living abroad and getting acquainted with the way of life of France she mastered all the points which a French had from his or her birth. Conrad Phillip Kottak in "Window on Humanity" writes:
"Enculturation is the process where the culture that is currently established teaches an individual the accepted norms and values of the culture or society
where the individual lives. The individual can become an accepted member and fulfill the needed functions and roles of the group. Most importantly the individual knows and establishes a context of boundaries and accepted behavior that dictates what is acceptable and not acceptable within the framework of that society. It teaches the individual their role within society as well as what is accepted behavior within that society and lifestyle." [5,p.27-28,]
A cultural norm digests acceptable transaction in society; it serves as guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group. Everyday French life was like a lighthouse for the author, and she gripped hard it in order not to be like "a black sheep". Though she knew French and had some visions on French life, manners and fashion, it was not enough to be like them. She became a French woman only when she experienced all the points and accepted a true help in her way, because was trying to be appropriate to that society. The other matter of why she could easily change her culture is the issue of monoculture. "Accepting only a monoculture in a social group can bear risks, just as a single species can wither in the face of environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change." [5,p.205,] From this point of view it can be referred that Banine was incurred to social interchange. Being together with her family but lived alone she could do nothing in the face of cultural , religious, and lingual change. Her alteration was due to her will and social demand, accordingly the author was obliged to have a different life.
The process of culture modification begins with society influencing on human's psychology. Foreign society reflects and shapes the psych processes of their members so that they begin to live and accept the standards very simply. According to the research work of A. Fiske and H.R. Marcus the main tenet of cultural psychology is that mind and culture are inseparable and mutually constitutive, meaning that people are shaped by their culture and their culture is also shaped by them. From this point of view it becomes clear that Banine adapted to environment psychologically. "The dome of the Lyon station took the train under the arch and took refuge in its shadow. The composition slowed down. It is almost motionless, barely creeping, and finally stops. It seemed that my heart stopped with it. I'm afraid to breathe! God, I'm going to die! No, I didn't die - quietly, trembling and stumbling, I go down the stairs to the platform." [2,p.5] In this piece of work the author characterizes her emotional situation when her psychology is almost used to it and she describes the very situation and feelings as her psychics admits. Years spent in a foreign country made the writer a person of that civilization, culture privatizated her totally limiting her from the native country so that she neither desired to return to Azerbaijan nor she did it. Her literary heritage Rolf Sturmer was very close to Banine, in his letter to Azerbajani jornalist he said: "So, please forgive me, Azerbaijan for Banine was prison, pain of childhood and youth. When she finally could leave the country, together with her first, unbeloved for not self -chosen husband, it meant liberation for her. She could join her
beloved sisters in Paris, and France meant freedom, then. She adopted this country, she thought she felt French and she finally felt at home in France, if ever there is a home for mankind on earth." [9] Azerbaijan for her was "like about a lost dream, place of her childhood, lost in the fog of childhood's memories, lost forever, but always kept and cherished, full of pain and finally, hope" [9] but even these memories were not enough for her to return. This was how French culture changed and adopted her, this was how her psychology had been altered by foreign civilization. "The cultural matrix of social psychology" tells that foreign culture is shaped by the person herself, too, like Banine could have some contribution to French social life. The writer as well as the other Azerbaijanians gone there at that period did not have endowment in bigger scale to the culture of France, whereas people of different nation been there on that phase opened little cafes or restaurants of national cuisine, or artists and poets brought new type and genre to art. Cultural psychology express and transform the human psyche, resulting less in psychic unity for humankind than in ethnic divergences in mind, self, and emotion. "Days in Paris" describes the whole situation and culture clashes in France when Europe was suffocating under the waves of emigration. First waves poured along the Turkish and Balkan shores, and from there flowed on. Out of the war, impoverished and destroyed, France received half a million refugees, most of whom were poor and had no specialties. Many Russian women married indigenous people and were excluded from the list of refugees. Was not in these lists and wealthy emigrants who took citizenship of other countries. In fact, holding a Nansen passport did not represent all emigrants. But the revolution made all without exception. As Banine writes, Russian writers gathered in Paris: Bunin, Taffy, Remizov, Merezhkovsky and his wife, Kuprin, Zaitsev, Aramovich, poets V. Ivanov, Marina Tsvetaeva, Bal-mont.
While reading both memoir books by Banine we realize that the writer had met people of different nationalities and religions around from birth to death. Resourcing from this point of view it can be noticed that one of he main reasons of her easily being "French woman" is her being adapted to different civilizations while being in Baku, maybe that is why she did not become totally religious Azerbaijani woman before going to France. Even her close relatives of Azerbaijani origin behaved like Western women in some cases. So, the writer did not have any way out but become a Parisian. Banine emphasized about cultural influences on her life in an interview given in 1947: "I have experienced the most diverse cultures: a German governess replacing my mother, the Islamic surroundings in which I was born, the Russian grip in which we were the tartar others, the rebellious subjects, Tolstoy and Dostoyevskiy which I read when I was playing with dolls... I should mention the biggest of all, the French influence." [8] As she refers, France influenced on her not because she spent most years of her life there, but also she always dreamt about that country which seemed unbelievable to go there while being a child.
France was a liberation to her, France meant realization of her impossible wishes. She could easily adapt there because she was coming towards it from her childhood. "Everything amazes me when I go back to the past. I am surprised to realize that this part-oriental, part -German, and later, Russian childhood is my own; that the dreamy, withdrawn and rather naughty girl is me. All these dredged-up memories seem borrowed: it's hard to believe they are mine." [1,p.80] Life in Azerbaijan seemed to her so far that even while traveling through memories to her childhood she felt as a stranger there, as if that childhood never belonged to her. Her alteration made her turn away from her careless, sweetest period of life - her childhood. As the writer herself cited in the book, her most precious term of her life was till her 15th age. Because after that age, she was appreciated as an advantageous bride and she had to say farewell to that happy life. It can be considered that the issue of her getting married was one of the reasons of her passion to go abroad. She was not a happy woman in love affairs, her first love Andrey Ma-sarinin ran away with her cousin Gulnar, and she was obliged to marry Balabey Godjayev whom she did not love at all. The latter important point was the last drop in her life, she was looking for the ways of leaving native country. "The train gathered speed and the crowd became a shapeless mass in which I could no longer make out Jamil. I sat on the couchette and cried too. I held in my hands a great piece of happiness; I clasped it against my heart, offering my fervent gratitude to God, who had given it to me without my deserving it. " [1,p.270] Banine described the people in the book with other names, her husband B. Godjayev was named like Jamil.
People been in the different environment are usually shaped according to the ways of thinking and describing and material objects. Many immigrants found the second native country in France, among them was Banine who did it not only becasue of obligation but also desire, she easily accepted French style. Though two cultures are exactly diverse they all have the same features, it contains:
1. Social Organization: It classifies people in smaller numbers according to the social importance and status, like money, work, education, family and etc. Ba-nine's first months there were enough good to sustain herself, she was in no need to earn money. Though she realized her dreams at last, she still remained the girl from Baku. Her previous status of a princess of oil millionaire exposed with her first steps to Paris. Nor she, neither her family was no longer that important people once they used to be in Azerbaijan. She was considered to be one of that group of immigrants who tried to find her place in a foreign country. "Among immigrants there were many girls of noble origin who worked models. There was nothing shameful about this." [2,p.41]
2. Customs and Traditions: Rules of behavior enforced by the cultures ideas of right and wrong such as are customs, traditions, rules, or written laws. Both books give quite a great description of the writer's original behavior and her cultural transformation in France year by year. It can be considered that her days spent in fashion house when she was working as a model were
a type of adaptation to French environment. Working there, listening to other models speak about their affairs which are alien to her religion and mentality, but very native to Western way of life created a glimpse of that atmosphere and because it was related to freedom it seemed to her sweet. In her first work place she had a friend- a beautiful model Albertin. Banine gives a detailed talk in her memoirs: "Albertin learning about my personal life, said that a young woman is worthless if she is alone, without a friend. It is necessary to have a lover. Young or old - does not matter." [2,p.46] The statements show how their worlds were different.
3. Symbols: Anything that is common for place and recognized by people who share the same culture, especially if it is common for Paris and shared by women could be fashion. Most people associate French culture with Paris, which is a center of fashion, cuisine, art and architecture. All of the time people once been there or just lived in that country were linked with the fashion. Banine while working in a fashion house tried to follow the latest style, she wanted to be one of the elegant Parisian women.
4. Norms: According to the religion and mentality each country has its norms and rules which are governed by society. The way of doing something considered to be a naïve action in one country can be seem to other society quite a different one with double meaning. Banine points this type of event in her "Days in Paris": "After a while, her masseur came to Albertin's room. The girl with the agility of the fashion model undressed and lay down on the bed. A man - a massage therapist, panting, began to massage her body. I remembered a long childhood picture when my grandmother, overweight and inactive woman went to bed and called us, her grandchildren, to mash her back. We boys and girls, six to seven people, took off our shoes and had fun and jumped onto the bed, and then climbed onto the broad grandmother back and trampled her." [2,p.46] Massage done in Azerbaijan and France was the same, but on account of mentality difference it had various consequence and result.
5. Religion: It is the answer to their basic meanings of life and values. By reason of religion people live their lives having their own beliefs about standards. In Muslim countries women would never gather together with other men in one place, as Islam does not allow it, whereas in France they could easily do it. "Yes, I forgot to say that the Josezo workshop was surrounded by a closed courtyard and they had no neighbors. This made it possible to arrange parties without disturbing others. Jose liked to arrange noisy Sunday "gatherings", and everyone came to this island with their hotels to spend time "in a free environment."[2,p.34] "Josezu" is the joint of the names of her sister Zuleikha and sister's husband Jose. These were parties where men and women could have fun and drink and spend the whole day together.
6. Language: A system of symbols with the help of which people contact with each other, language is a chain which has an influence on people and culture as well.
7. Social institutions: Relationship of culture with social institutions like family, religion, gender and
etc. had a great impact on the writer, too. Being in France she had stopped her connections with her relatives later, so it may be said that she was free from it. A little part that she spent her years in Azerbaijan made her be dependent on mentality, and this mentality was the main reason her being torn away from her love. The non-existence of censure gave her lots of freedom in France and she lived her life as she wished.
Conclusion
The main thing that kept the narrative of Banin's "Parisian" books was psychologism, the ability to pass the story through her own, subjective, but in many ways fair perception of the author - a sensitive and emotionally responsive woman. An intellectual and an artist capable of reproducing the subtlest, seemingly, almost elusive psychological traits and moods of the hero.
In this sense, in the Azerbaijani literature of the 20th century, especially in its "female" "link", it is difficult to find a writer who would be so realistic, taking into account the socio-psychological state and relationships of the characters, could create a "love story", or, more precisely, "Unrequited feelings", as Banin did in the novel "The Last Duel of Bunin".
Overall, Banine had a very unusual life. Um-mulbanu (Banine) lived up the life when a Muslim woman from the East could never do. The only thing she searched-was to be as happy as a woman. She did not try for it in Azerbaijan, but in France she was able to achieve it at the expense of her friends, freedom and writing profession. Tom Marsden in his "The eventful life of Banine" writes - Banine was the most unhappy woman trying to find her way, love, friendship or a little bit of popularity in this hostile world.
REFERENCES:
1. l.Banine. "Days in the Caucasus". Pushkin Press.2019
2. 2.Banine. "Days in Paris". "Qafqaz" Press House.2006
3. Simmel, Georg (1971). Levine, Donald N (ed.). Georg Simmel on individuality and social forms: selected writings. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. xix. ISBN 978-0-226-75776-6. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture#Cul-tural_studies
5. Kottak, Conrad. Window on Humanity. 2004
6. Jackson, Y. Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology, p. 203
7. Fiske, A.; Kitayama, S.; Markus, H.R.; & Nisbett, R.E. (1998). The cultural matrix of social psychology. In D. Gilbert & S. Fiske & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The Handbook of Social Psychology (4th ed., pp. 915— 81). San Francisco: McGraw-Hill.
8. http://www.vi-sions.az/en/news/808/15bf7191/
9. https://www.facebook.com/Banine.Assadou-laeff/posts/861445383876640/
10. http://www.ocs.cnyric.org/webpages/phy-land/global_10.cfm?subpage=19595
11. Marsden Tom. The eventful life of Banine.
2002
