Art and Literature, Tarkasian
From SOTS
Contents |
General
Tarkas have a very broad aesthetic sense. They have binocular vision and can see a full spectrum of colors, so both two-dimensional art like painting and mosaics and three dimensional arts like sculpture and architecture are highly developed. They also have many musical traditions and hundreds of varieties of dance which range from historical re-enactments involving hundreds of costumed players to intimate exchanges between two Tarkas—the only Human equivalent might be the tango.
Music, Poetry, Literature and Theatre
What sort of community arts a Tarka can enjoy depend largely on his social class. Tarkas who speak gutter dialects also enjoy gutter arts, for example—burlesque dances, broad physical humor and plays, films & broadcasts which focus on lower-class Tarkas as the heroes/heroines. These usually include a good deal of bloody violence, mocking of one's superiors and jokes about sexual misadventure and being intoxicated.
Higher caste Tarkas would be expected to enjoy more refined and literate theater, music and opera that glorify the ruling class and celebrate their historical triumphs and stories about the lives and loves of the upper classes. Usually these characters agonize over the difficulty of finding love and success when confined by a world of rigid rules and expectations, etc etc...
Of course, as in any caste-oriented system, there is a good deal of "slumming" that goes on as bored higher-caste Tarkas sneak into the clubs and theaters of the gutter classes to enjoy their free and lively culture.
One genre of Tarkasian literature consists of guides on handling changed males. These have been written over several centuries, and are often traded between Tarkasian and Human females for similar writings. The Tarka equivalent to Niccolo Machiavelli was a female called Sara Jodok. The title of her famous work on politics and the architecture of power was called "Var Kona".
As an aside, Tarkas of the military castes have been known to enjoy Human literature and have apparently adopted the ancient Greek lyric poet Archilochus as an honorary Tarka...
They are well aware of the old stories of ancient Greek warriors who went into battle carrying heavy shields—in order to retreat these men had to throw down their shields and run, or the weight would slow them down and get them killed. Accordingly, many Greek mothers would send their sons to war saying "Either come home carrying this shield, or lying upon it"—i.e. do not shame your family and run from battle like a coward. Die rather than retreat or I will disown you. (The Greek phrase for this is He tan e epi tas, and can be found here)
The Tarka military caste often hears such nonsense from their own commanders, families and non-caste members. Thus their common soldiers have a keen appreciation for the reply that Archilochus made when he wrote these lines:
MERCENARY
I don't give a damn if some Thracian ape struts
Proud of that first-rate shield that the bushes got.
Leaving it was hell, but in a tricky spot
I kept my hide intact. Good shields can be bought.
Misc.
Opera, Anyone?
Tarkas would have no problem singing the pitches of a Human opera so long as it was a part for baritone, bass, alto or contralto. A Tarka singer might have difficulty shaping certain words though; their teeth and tongues are arranged somewhat differently than a Human being's. There would most certainly be an accent! But the singing would be relatively easy. The difficult part would be getting a Tarka singer to stand still during arias as Human opera singers do; a Tarka's natural inclination would be to dance while singing, interpreting the words with the body as well as the voice. Putting a Tarka diva on-stage with an otherwise all-Human cast would be somewhat disconcerting to all concerned.
