SOPHIE'S WORLD
(Sofies verden), by Jostein Gaarder (JG), translated from Norwegian into American by Paulette Møller (PM)Guestbook | Guestmap | Discussion forum | Inspired by...
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| CH = chapter, P = page, L = line, C = comment, N = Norwegian, T = (alternative) translation, usually closer to the original text, TTR = Two-Tier Reality (metaphysical system bridging East and West) |
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CHAPTER 29: MARX (PP320-334) |
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| P320 L1: When she had started to read this Saturday, it was still Sophie's fifteenth birthday T: On Saturday she had begun reading about Sophie's 15th birthday L12: were quite sure of T: could quite see L14: scare T: shock L15: they had appealed (T: to her) for help L21: how are you? T: how nice! L24: great T: lovely | ||||||||
| P321 L2: do something for me T: do me a little favour L4: It's kind of a special favor T: But it's rather special L6: describe T: divulge L8: she or Anne were laughing too hard T: she or her aunt at the other end burst out laughing L10: begin T: make L10: of her own T: at home L11: plenty of time T: no hurry C: sampan leave tomorrow L12: remainder T: rest L13: and going to the movies T: to see a film L14: they had some catching up to do since they had not done anything special the day before T: they had to make up for the day before - it hadn't been a proper birthday L16: to T: from L17: constructing T: working on L21: weeding T: tending L28: just disappeared T: missed dinner L30: the pile of (T: among the) weeds L30: gave her a severe look T: looked at her L36: sharpness T: venom C: ?! L38: might be T: would have been L40: I don't know ... but whatever happens (T: Well ... anyway), I am going to have a talk with this Alberto as one adult to another T: I'm going to make sure I have a private talk with this Alberto. | ||||||||
| P322 L1(cont): You can borrow (T: use) my room C: But Sophie, Mom just wants to talk L7: Sophie's brain worked overtime T: Sophie thought feverishly L7: flash T: second L10: brothers also have their uses T: can be used for all sorts of things L22: soon enough T: in good time L26: flopped T: flagged L29: sarcastic T: ironic L30: Perhaps T: It was as if L32: many (T: disturbing) weeks L28: from paper lanterns T: from cakes and Japanese lanterns L34: The prize should preferably (T: was to) be a book about philosophy for young people C: More Gaarderian irony L38: called T: rang | ||||||||
| P323 L2: Oh, hi, how are you? T: How is it going? L15: talking T: together L18: old T: cheap L25: be tricky T: wriggle my way in L26: I get it T: I see L27: the time T: our time together L28: On Saturday the balloon goes up T: Saturday is D-Day L28: right now T: straight away L31: can T: tin L33: far (T: other) side L34: spacious desk T: big writing-desk L35: in the midst of T: amid L36: Sophie ... asked his name C: Then sentence missing: T: He hardly bothered to look up L38: ledgers T: papers L39: I presume T: perhaps | ||||||||
| P324 L2: yards T: metres L3: noticed T: caught sight of L5: pulled out T: held up L15: the frost does away with me T: carries me off L17: if the sale of matches was not especially brisk T: if she sold no matches L20: die of starvation T: starve to death L25: said T: I have already told you that L27: not fair T: unjust L31: it has paid off T: work deserves its reward L31: Progress, they call it T: It's called progress C: Then sentence missing: T: 'Now look here!' said Sophie L37: persisted T: continued | ||||||||
| P325 L1: playful T: roguish L3: minute T: moment L3: had disappeared T: were gone L7: glanced T: looked L15: I didn't expect to (T: Wasn't it strange that I should) meet them L16: Why not? T: Not at all L27: my dear T: my child L41: his (T: what we call Hegel's) idealism | ||||||||
| P326 L1: It was probably too high-flown (T: doubtless too vague) for them L2: we usually say T: it is usually said L11: or T: and L11: (T: We should note that) He was L14: forerunner T: trail-blazer L29: He was not a philosophical materialist like the atomists of antiquity nor did he advocate the mechanical materialism (T: antiquity and the mechanical materialists) of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. L32/33: factors T: conditions L36: pointed out C: asserted, rather L40: all the time T: his whole life L42: is (T: putting things) upside down | ||||||||
| P327 L1: material changes are the ones which affect history T: it is material changes which are decisive LL2/3/14/17/36: relations T: conditions L7: (Antiquity) Nobody was particularly interested in putting new discoveries into practice T: in using knowledge for practical improvements C: How about Archimedes? L12: the (T: fine) citizens L14: how material relations help to affect philosophical reflection (T: material conditions affect philosophical thought) in society L18: T: The way a society thinks, what kind of political institutions and laws it has, together with its religion, ethics, art, philosophy and science, Marx called society's superstructure L25: Sophie did so T: Here it is / Here you are L27: real life T: reality L32: (Alberto:) But (T: of course) the roof L34 The building has (T: in particular, a) very powerful (T: strong) foundation(s) - its base(s) - supporting the entire construction L35(cont): In the same way, Marx believed that material relations (T: conditions) support, so to speak, everything in the way (T: form) of thoughts and ideas in society C: Including Marx's own thoughts and ideas? L38: bases T: base=basis L39: is a reflection of vase production and wine growing? T: reflects the production of vases and wine? L41: that T: so L41: It is the interactive effect of society's basis on (T: the interaction between society's base/basis and) its superstructure | ||||||||
| P328 L1: rejected T: denied L3: bases T: base/basis L4: Plato was neither a potter nor a wine grower C: And Marx was neither a capitalist nor a worker L7: Could you describe the bases of the temple? T: If you study the base of the temple carefully, perhaps you can describe it for me L10: In the same manner we will identify T: We can similarly distinguish L10: bases T: base/basis L13: available to society C: Then sentence omitted: T: Here I have in mind climate and raw materials L13(cont): These are T: form L14: determines T: sets definite limits on L16: You can't ... grow dates in northern Norway C: But it's easy enough to get dates in Oslo (especially at midsummer) L18: You've got it T: the point L20: means of production. By this Marx meant the various kinds of equipment, tools and machinery L21(cont): as well as the raw materials to be found there C: Phrase added by PM; JG puts raw materials in the previous category (conditions of production) L25: you are talking about T: touch upon L25: base T: basis L26: those who own (T: ownership of) the means of production L26(cont): The division of labor, or the distribution of work and ownership, was what Marx called society's "production relations" C: Meaning of Norwegian sentence obscure. More literal translation: T: (?) The actual organisation of the work, meaning the division of labour and the ownership conditions, Marx called s. p. r. L31: determines which T: what L33: codex T: code L36: the question of what was morally right, according to Marx, is a product of the base (T: basis) of society C: Individuals have their own moral ideas, which may conflict with the majority's morality L38: in the old peasant society, parents would decide whom their children married C: A matter of custom rather than morality L41: if you are sufficiently in love, you'll find somewhere to live C: Landlords being notoriously soft-hearted about young couples C: She: That Gaarder fellow's right! If you haven't found us a flat by next week, I'll know you don't really love me! | ||||||||
| P329 L4: mainly society's ruling class that sets the norms C: Middle class too, surely? L6: History is principally (C: largely) a matter of who is to own the means of production C: A forceful and history-changing idea, simple and simplistic L10: interactive T: retroactive L14: base T: basis L16: a conflict between two dominant classes of society. In antiquity's slave society, the conflict was between free citizen(s) and slave(s) C: How can a slave class be described as a 'dominant' class? L23: stood T: is L24: since the "upper classes" do (T: will) not (voluntarily) relinquish their power, change can only come about through revolution C: Only? Wars and new technology (e.g. TV) produce immense social changes, while a Marxist-style revolution simply produces a new ruling class, paying lip-service to Marxist ideology just as the former ruling classes paid lip-service to Christian ideology L33: what happens to man when he works T: people when they work L35: When man alters (T: adapts) nature, he himself is altered T: adapted L36: when man works, he interacts (T: interferes) with nature and transforms it L37(cont): But in the process nature also interacts with (T: acts on) man and transforms his consciousness (C: mind and body) L39(cont): Tell me what you do (T: your work is) and I'll tell you who you are C: Only partly true L40: How we work affects our consciousness (T: mind), but our consciousness (T: mind) also affects the way we work L42: interactive relationship between (N: hånd og ånd) hand (T: body) and consciousness T: mind/spirit | ||||||||
| P330 L1(cont): Thus the way you think is closely connected to the job you do C: Not always L3(cont): So it must be depressing to be unemployed C: Not necessarily L4: A person who is unemployed is, in a sense, empty C: Typically Protestant 'work ethic', socially and psychologically dangerous. A person who is unemployed (by others) is free to use his time in other and perhaps better ways. Whether one can make a living is another question L5: To both Hegel and Marx, work was a positive thing C: Work being often a form of paid slavery, it may well be more negative than positive. Did Hegel or Marx have any personal experience of 'wage slavery'? L6: the essence of mankind C: And what might that be? L7(cont): So it must also be positive to (T: be) a worker? L8(cont): Yes, originally T: at the point of departure N: i utgangspunktet C: And when and/or where might that be? L8(cont): But this is precisely where Marx aimed (T: it is precisely at this point that Marx comes along with) his (T: cutting) criticism C: Precisely where?! L10(cont): What was that? T: Tell me! L11(cont): Under the capitalist system (C: and the feudal system, to a great extent), the worker labors for someone else L11(cont): His labor is thus external to him - or something that does not belong to him C: Eh?! The fruits of his labour do not belong to him L14: He loses (touch with) his own (T: human) reality L16: candy T: sweets/confectionery L20: She hates candy, that's for sure T: anyway L23: the whole (C: much) of his life L25: our point of departure N: utgangspunkt C: Any connection with L8? L26: during T: in L28: production hall T: factory (floor) L29: expectant mothers T: pregnant women L30: unspeakable T: indescribable L31: women were obliged (C: obliged? How about 'led'?) to supplement their earnings by prostitution C: Some did, some didn't L33: citizenry (T: 'gentlemen') of the town L33: precise (T: very) situation L34: the honorable hallmark (T: mark of nobility) of mankind, namely work C: If mankind can be said to have a 'mark of nobility', it is play LL37-41: C: Alberto brings on the violins C: Sister: Oh, Cedric dear, isn't it marvellous that here, in this warm, spacious living-room, we can enjoy playing the violin and the piano together after a nice refreshing bath! Violino, piano, si va lontano! Brother: My dear Wilhelmina, kindly speak for yourself! I must say that after that long horseback ride, I am impatiently awaiting my four-course dinner! | ||||||||
| P331 L1: Marx would have agreed T: felt the same L4: That sounds frightening T: Me, I'm scared stiff L5: It frightened the bourgeoisie too T: So were the b. L6: revolt T: rise L10: overthrow of all (T: the whole) existing social conditions T: social order L12: Workingmen of all countries (T: Workers of the world), unite! L15: conditions are surely a lot different today? L16(cont): In Norway they are, but they aren't (T: but not) everywhere C: Conditions are always good in 'our' country L17: continue to T: still LL22/25: exchange-value T: sales-value L25: always C: normally. L26: the capitalist pockets (T: confiscates) a value that was actually created by the worker C: assisted by capital e.g. machinery, fishing boats L30: capitalist invests (T: can invest) some of his profit in new capital C: capital goods L32: increasing his profit in the future C: Perhaps; all capital expenditure entails risk L35: in the long term (T: run), it will not go the way the capitalist has imagined T: imagines C: Nor the way the Marxist imagines L39: Capitalism ... is self-destructive because it lacks rational control C: The kind of control exercised by Lenin, Stalin and Mao? How 'rational' can you get? L41: isn't it T: in a way L42: it is inherent in the capitalist system that it is marching toward its own destruction | ||||||||
| P332 L1(cont): In that sense, capitalism is "progressive" because it is a stage on the way to communism C: Marxist historical folly engendered by Hegelian historical folly L4: surplus of money C: Maybe L5: modernize the factory C: Maybe L6: money on violin lessons C: Maybe L6: wife has become accustomed to a luxurious way of life T: has developed expensive habits/tastes C: Only if he is married L8: No doubt T: Yes? L9: He buys new machinery (C: Maybe) and so no longer needs so many employees C: Depends on whether business is expanding L11: I get it T: I see L13: effective T: efficient L14: Factories become bigger (C: Maybe) and are ... concentrated in ... fewer hands C: Maybe L17: fewer workers are required (C: Maybe), which means there are ... more unemployed C: Maybe; unemployed workers are available for new factories and new industries L18: increasing social problems C: Not necessarily L19: a signal (T: warning) that capitalism is marching toward (T: nearing) its (own) destruction L21: Whenever (T: When C: If) profit has to be tied up in the means of production T: more and more L27: Imagine if you were (T: you are) a factory owner. You cannot make ends meet C: Then sentence on raw materials added by PM L35: We would say T: We say L36: The knell has sounded (T: Time is up) for capitalist private property, Marx would say T: said Marx L37(cont): We are rapidly approaching (T: We shall soon find ourselves in) a revolutionary situation L40: make T: cut L40: the proletariat rises and takes over the means of production L42(cont): And then what? C: Lenin, then Stalin | ||||||||
| P333 L3: the dictatorship of the proletariat is (T: will be) replaced by a "classless society", in which (C: pigs fly) the means of production are owned "by all" - that is, by the people themselves C: i.e. by the state L7: labor now belongs to the workers themselves C: i.e. to the state L11: economists can establish (T: show) that Marx was mistaken on a number of vital issues T: important points L15: Nevertheless T: But ... and it's a big 'but' L16(cont): Nevertheless T: Yes? L17(cont): Marxism led T: still led L19: we live in a society with more justice ... than Marx did T: in Marx's time C: Who are 'we' and what 'society' do 'we' live in? Norway? Britain? The USA? Or the world? Have the richer countries established a more 'just' society at home by exporting their 'injustice' to the poorer countries? L24: Social Democracy ... has stood for (T: advocated) a gradual and peaceful path in the direction of (T: towards) socialism C: i.e. state control of the means of production L29: their T: its L31: create T: lead to L31: Russia T: the Soviet Union L33: No doubt of that T: Undoubtedly L34: touches T: undertakes L34: it would be unreasonable to blame Marx C: Marx and Marxism must take part of the blame for the atrocities committed in their name. The evil genie of social violence is easily invoked but not so easily controlled. Oppression does not make the oppressed virtuous L37: maybe he had given too little thought to the people who would (T: to the fact that people would) be the administrators of communist (T: socialist) society L38(cont): There will probably (T: doubtless) never be a "promised land" T: Utopia L42: there we bring the curtain down on (T: with that we say goodbye to) Marx C: Gudskelov. | ||||||||
| P334 L4: How do you know what he said? T: he said it? L8: Your wretched irony again! T: You confounded ironist! L12: A (T: Marxist-inspired) moral philosopher ... attempted T: tried L14: distinguished (T: solemn) council whose task it was to make all the laws for a future society C: An unrealistic and futile project - the sort of concept that brings philosophy into disrepute L16(cont): I wouldn't mind at all being on that council C: For shame, Sophie! You're not solemn enough, in any case L17: absolutely every detail T: all the circumstances L18: everybody has (T: they have all) signed L20: Oh (T: dear!) L22: they (T: will) have no idea which (T: what social) position they will have in (T: that) society L25: That (T: Such a) society would be a just society C: A just society cannot be created by laws. Customs and attitudes are equally important. How are they to be 'fixed'? L25(cont): It would have arisen among equals T: equal men L27(cont): Men and women L28(cont): That goes without saying C: And children? Are there any children in this fantastic society? If so, are they also 'equals'? Or does that 'go without saying' too? L28(cont): None of them knew whether they would wake up as men or women C: How can a man 'wake up' as a woman - or vice versa - and still be the same person? Such nonsense! L30: attractive T: good C: "Just" and "attractive" are not synonyms L31: It sounds promising T: attractive C: appalling L32: was the Europe of Karl Marx a society like that? T: such a society? C: Europe was not and is not a society. A 'culture', perhaps L33(cont): Absolutely not! T: No! L34(cont): But do you by any chance know of (T: can you point to) such a society today? L35(cont): That'a a good (C: foolish) question. | ||||||||