tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 24 12:16:47 1995

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To The Klingon Community



             AN OPEN LETTER TO THE KLINGON LANGUAGE COMMUNITY

	Within any community there are standards.  They may be mandated by the head of 
the community, they may emerge by consensus, they may exist simply through sheer
tenacity, be they rules or guidelines.  And the members of the community respect
them.  This is what it means to belong to a community, to share certain ideals 
and goals, to have common standards and codes.

	I believe we have such a community of Klingon language enthusiasts.  Much of 
the work of the Klingon Language Institute is predicated on this belief.  Our 
rules, sometimes spoken sometimes left unsaid, include a mutual respect for one 
another in our pursuit of knowledge and the exchange of ideas.  At our worst we 
agree to disagree, granting others the rights to their opinions however 
misguided we may believe them to be.  We can do this secure in the knowledge 
that the standards of our community allow discussion and ample opportunities to 
sway, or be swayed, to other ideas and opinions.  

	The goal have never been political, nor competitive.  Our numbers, even still, 
are too few to allow the luxury of infighting.  We succeed, as a community, 
because we strive together, for the benefit of the community.  This is as true 
for an author of scholarly articles in HolQeD as it is for those who only read 
these articles; as true for those who post regularly and vehemently to the 
mailing list as it is for those who only read and build their skills.

	The community existed before I came along, before the beginning of the KLI.  
Since my own involvement in it I have tried to operate under the belief that 
there was room for everyone, no matter how wildly divergent their opinions and 
ideas might be.  I must now concede I was wrong.  Today I received a packet from
Glen Proechel that convinces me that we are not all in the same community.

	The packet contained a review copy of Mr. Proechel's newest work, HOMLET: 
PRINCE OF KRONOS (THE HARD BONE BLUES).  I have not read through much of the 
work at this time, and a proper review must of course wait for a future issue of
HolQeD.  My immediate concern is that his work might be mistaken for the efforts
of the Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project which has been hard at work on 
the task for some time.

	This is not the first time that Mr. Proechel's path has veered from that of the
rest of the KLI's.  Many of you are familiar with his work GOOD NEWS FOR THE 
WARRIOR RACE, a translation of portions of the New Testament into Klingon.  Mr. 
Proechel had been working with the KLI's Klingon Bible Translation Project, but 
formally resigned from such association and chose to go his own way.  There were
clear ideological reasons behind this, different perspectives on biblical 
translation, and while I did not agree with Mr. Proechel's position I could 
certainly respect it.  That after all is part of what community is about.
	His publication of a translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet however cannot be 
viewed in the same light.  Mr. Proechel and I correspond regularly, often 
arguing in our views but at least (I had believed) granting one another mutual 
respect and attempting to find some common ground.  Despite this, I can recall 
no mention in any letter of his working on Shakespeare.  No indication of a 
desire to do any such translations.  No slightest hint.  

	I can only view his actions as a deliberate and calculated attempt to sow 
confusion in the community, toward what end I cannot even guess.  Had Mr. 
Proechel merely wanted to translate a bit of Shakespeare there were certainly 
plenty of other plays to choose from, arguably some with a more "Klingonesque" 
feel to them (e.g., Romeo and Juliet).  But he chose to do Hamlet, a play which 
the KLI has publicly announced will be the first publication of the KSRP, one 
which we have taken literally hundreds of advance orders for.  I can only assume
this was done with an intentional desire to undermine the efforts of the members
of the KSRP and the constituency of the KLI, and I do not condone this kind of 
behavior.  I find it ironic that an individual working in a language whose 
imaginary speakers place such emphasis on HONOR would commit actions which 
appear to demonstrate the opposite morality.

	I am stunned, and I am disgusted.

	This letter is being posted to the tlhIngan-Hol mailing list.  It is also be 
posted to the Usenet news group alt.klingon.  Additional copies are being 
printed and mailed out to all members of the KLI and all individuals who have 
pre-ordered copies of the KLI's production of Hamlet.  This rigorous 
distribution is required to try and limit the confusion and disinformation which
seems likely to follow in the wake of Mr. Proechel's publication.  

	Let there be no mistake, the work entitled HOMLET: PRINCE OF KRONOS (THE HARD 
BONE BLUES) by G. F. Proechel is *NOT* the work of the KLI!  It is *NOT* the 
work to be published as part of the KSRP!

	To the many of you who have waited patiently for the KLI's own translation of 
Hamlet, waited as the work went through discussion, editing, further discussion,
and revision, I can only offer my sincere thanks and appreciation.  It has been 
the position of the KSRP that translation of this magnitude must be the product 
of careful consensus, that a proper translation emerges from a common view of 
this language, not from a single individual's.

	The KLI's edition of Hamlet will be available in the first quarter of 1996.  It
will go to press in mid-January and all advance orders will be shipped as soon 
as the books are received from the manufacturer.  Unlike Mr. Proechel's work, 
the KLI's Hamlet will be a case bound, smyth sewn, hardback volume, printed on 
acid-free paper.  It is intended to last a life-time.

	I thank you for your kind attention and for taking the time to read so lengthy 
a letter.  I apologize for having to occupy your time with this news.  I still 
believe very strongly in the efforts of the KLI and the Klingon community, and 
that as a community we shall weather this new storm.

Qapla'

Lawrence M. Schoen, Ph.D.
KLI Director


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Dr Lawrence M Schoen, Director   :: The KLI is a nonprofit ::
:: The Klingon Language Institute   :: tax exempt corporation ::
:: POB 634, Flourtown, PA 19031 USA :: DaH HuchlIj'e' ghonob  ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::  [email protected]  ::  [email protected]  :::  215/836-4955  ::
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