THE CULTURAL IS POLITICAL – THE REUNIFICATION OF LEFTISM AND CULTURE

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged anti globalisation, artists, arts, comics, culture, Ellie Rowsell, escapism, feminism, film makers, Great Depression, Grime for Corbyn, Grime4Corbyn, Jason Manford, jeremy corbyn, Joey Barton, John Steinbeck, Kate Nash, Kerrang, labour party, Lily Allen, Maxine Peake, musicians, nme, Noel Fielding, novelists, personal is political, playwrights, poets, political right, politics, pro choice, rage against the machine, riot grrrl, thatcherism, vietnam war, woody guthrie, writers.

by Chris Jarvis

Culture and politics are inseparable. Culture is more than mere entertainment, more than escapism. Culture is central to how we understand the world, build our value sets and perceive our fellow people. It stirs human emotion in unique ways, pulling different levers in the brain. Sometimes overtly, sometimes with subtlety, the dominant cultural practices, institutions, icons and outputs are used to reinforce the dominant political system and defend the status quo. Establishment weaponise culture as a means of influence.

But this isn’t the sole preserve of the political right.

Looking through history, many of the most important moments of popular revolt have an accompanying soundtrack. The resistance to the Vietnam War had the protest folk singers. Rage Against the Machine were agitators of the US anti-globalisation movement. Riot Grrrl acts built feminist infrastructure, led pro-choice campaigns and brought ‘the personal is political’ sentiments to the fore of a cultural phenomenon. And so on, and so on.

This isn’t coincidental.Continue Reading

THINGS ONLY WOMEN WRITERS HEAR AND THE TROUBLE WITH TWITTER

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged #everydaysexism, #readwomen, #thingsonlywomenwritershear, #whatwocwritershear, chocolat, comments, echo chamber, family, gender, genre, harassment, Joanne Harris, Laura Bates, misogyny, online, online community, Paul Friere, publishing, rolling stones, sharing, social media, trolling, trolls, twitter, Virginia Woolf, wombles, women writers, writers, writing.

by Hannah Rose

Virginia Woolf stated in her 1929 seminal essay A Room of One’s Own that, because women remain unequal to men in society, they are less likely to succeed as writers. A writer has two basic requirements in order to write productively: an independent income which provides basic necessities—food and shelter— and uninterrupted writing time. In 1929, the majority of British women were either working to provide the basic necessities for others, and did not have a private space in which to pursue a creative life or an independent income. This, says Wolf, is why the literary canon is dominated by men. “Intellectual freedom,” she writes, “depends upon material things.”

Almost a century later, some women are still having to argue their right to a creative life.Continue Reading

REVIEW: SPAIN’S GREAT UNTRANSLATED, EDITED BY J. APARICIO, A. MAJOR & M. MONMANY

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Allen Ginsberg, anthology, Antonio Gamoneda, arts, bombing, book, Bret Easton Ellis, Carmina Masoliver, Catherine Hammond, English, Fernando Aramburu, Forrest Gander, Holden Caulfield, Howl, JD Salinger, Juan Antonio Masoliver Ródenas, machismo, Madrid, Martha Tennet, Miquel de Palol, Olvido García Valdés, personal, poem, poet, poetry, political, prose, religion, review, short story, spain, Spanish, tradition, translation, translator, Valerie Miles, Words Without Borders, writers, writing.

by Carmina Masoliver

I was given this book shortly after its publication in 2013 by mi abuelito, Juan Antonio Masoliver Ródenas, whose work is featured in the anthology of short stories, memoirs and poems. Currently living in Spain, it felt like a good time to read the whole book. The collection showcases twelve contemporary writers, in both Spanish and English translation, and definitely has a modern, experimental feel to it. The use of first person throughout blends the line between truth and fiction, and despite often feeling personal, there is always a sense of the political throughout. Continue Reading

WOMEN IN TRANSLATION MONTH – WHAT’S RADICAL ABOUT THAT?

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged #italianwomenintranslation, #readwomen, #WITmonth, #womenintranslation, amreading, Anglophone, arts, beach books, books, data, Elena Ferrante, English, feminism, fiction, figures, foreign, German, Han Kang, literature, non-fiction, novels, radical, readers, reading, suggested reading, summer reads, translation, uk, WIT, women, women in translation, writers, writing.

by Katy Derbyshire

If you read fiction, think of a translated writer. Just the first one who pops into your mind. Let me guess: Stieg Larsson? Karl Ove Knausgård? Thomas Mann? Marcel Proust? Haruki Murakami? If you thought of a woman off the top of your head, I salute you.

MAYBE TUESDAY

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged conclusion, creative, creative writing, embrace, end, ginevra lilli, handshake, happy ending, in translation, italian, italian women in translation, Italy, language, Magari martedì, maybe, page, poem, poetry, see you soon, translate, translation, women writers, words, writers.

by Alex Valente

Original Italian by Ginevra Lilli (1972-), ‘Magari martedì’

They come, small line of dromedaries
in the desert. Thirsty words
lined up, also tied up
one to the other. One line
seemingly obedient. Consenting.Continue Reading

A WHATEVER RAMBLING MOMENT

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged #diversedecember, #readwomen, creative writing, fiction, flow, italian, italian women in translation, Italy, Joyce, Lebanon, Leyla Khalil, personal, prose, short, short story, stream of consciousness, translation, translator, Woolf, writers, writing.

by Alex Valente

Original Italian by Leyla Khalil (1991-), ‘Un attimo qualsiasi di sproloquio’

A whatever rambling moment

which, by the way, they decided to call free internal discourse or interior monologue or stream of consciousness.

There must be – I just wrote mustard instead of must be and noticed it right away – some sort of difference dammit, I mean I’m sure there is but the essence at the end of the day is the same: they’re all ramblings.Continue Reading

FAKE IDENTITY

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged creative writing, fake identity, fernanda romagnoli, identity, in translation, italian, italian women in translation, poem, poet, poetry, stranger, strangers, translation, translator, women, women writers, writers.

by Alex Valente

Original Italian by Fernanda Romagnoli (1916-1986), ‘Falsa identità’.

Sooner or later someone finds out:
I am already dead
though alive. It is a stranger’s face
offered beneath the hair
suddenly pulled back,
the shadow behind the curtains
wandering at dusk,
the steps towards the door
that won’t open. Hers the song
tricking the neighbours, covering
my buried screams. Someone
sooner or later finds out. But for now…Continue Reading

SIGNAL BOOST: CAN TRANSLATION BE RADICAL?

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged conflict, conversation, creative writing, culture, dialogue, ideas, identity, italian, Italy, poem, poetry, publication, radical, sex, translation, translator, translators, women, women writers, writers.

by Alex Valente, in conversation with Cadi Cliff

This conversation starts in Norwich. The fault is mine, of course, as I start doubting my place within the Norwich Radical, and the role that I, as a translator of poetry, could possibly play in a radical, progressive, critical publication. Enter Cadi Cliff, editor and co-founder, green radical, and a mountain range of humanity.

This conversation, then, is a dialogue of sorts; a voicing of those doubts, translator to editor, reader to reader, uncertain radical to radical, on the place of translation, and poetry, within these virtual walls.