Month: June 2015

MOROCCO IN ‘OPEN CONFRONTATION WITH THE ARABIC LANGUAGE(S)’?

BY MLYNXQUALEY on JUNE 25, 2015 • ( 2 ) Morocco’s “National Coalition for Arabic” is reportedly up in arms over a Ramadan sitcom it says “mocks the Arabic language”; a government minister says speaking formal Arabic causes her “a fever”; a recent report suggests teaching Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, in early primary: An ordinary summer in the struggle over language in Morocco. Darija* (the language that’s doing the mocking) and Standard … Read more MOROCCO IN ‘OPEN CONFRONTATION WITH THE ARABIC LANGUAGE(S)’?

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Uri Avnery on War Crimes

Uri Avnery June 27, 2015 War Crimes? Us??? “WAR IS HELL!” the US general William Tecumseh Sherman famously exclaimed. War is the business of killing the “enemy”, in order to impose your will on them. Therefore, “humane war” is an oxymoron. War itself is a crime. There are few exceptions. I would exempt the war against Nazi Germany, since it was conducted against a regime of mass murderers, led by a … Read more Uri Avnery on War Crimes

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Genre, Anxiety, and the Plurivocality of the Arabic Tradition

via the always excellent Arabic Literature (in English): BY MLYNXQUALEY on JUNE 22, 2015 • ( 1 ) The second session of the “A Corpus Not a Canon: A Workshop on the Library of Arabic Literature,” a panel series hosted by Dame Marina Warner and LAL General Editor Philip Kennedy at All Souls College, Oxford, this April. focused on the different genres and modes of writing embraced by the LAL: On the … Read more Genre, Anxiety, and the Plurivocality of the Arabic Tradition

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Norman Weinstein on “Barzakh”

Just published on Jacket2; below the opening paras & the link to the whole piece. Healer and hunter: A review of Pierre Joris’s ‘Barzakh’ NORMAN WEINSTEIN Barzakh: Poems 2000–2012 Pierre Joris Black Widow Press 2014, 306 pages, $19.95, ISBN 996007924 My father was a healer & a hunter. Is it any surprise I became a poet & translator? (“Nimrod,” 121) “Nothing truer than fragment” — I’m quoting Robert Kelly … Read more Norman Weinstein on “Barzakh”

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Stephen Kessler on Juan Felipe Herrera

This article was first published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel two days ago. America’s new ‘bard without borders’ Juan Felipe Herrera, California’s poet laureate, the son of migrant farmworkers, will be the next U.S. poet in chief. Riverside Press-Enterprise file By Stephen Kessler, Special to the Sentinel Juan Felipe Herrera, child of Mexican-American migrant workers, schooled at UCLA and Stanford, native Californian and outgoing state poet laureate, frequent visitor to … Read more Stephen Kessler on Juan Felipe Herrera

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“Humanity at risk:” climate scientist Schellnhuber speaks at the Vatican

Press Release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research 06/18/2015 Pope Francis’ much anticipated encyclical “Laudato Si” on inequality and the environment mirrors not only religious insights but also the findings of climate science. “Not the poor but the wealthy are putting our planet, and ultimately humanity, at risk,” said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), at the presentation of the … Read more “Humanity at risk:” climate scientist Schellnhuber speaks at the Vatican

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Nicole’s Chantilly Communion

Was unable to actually download & embed the little video by Françoise Lonquety from FB, but click on the still image above & you’ll get there. The lucky person getting communion above is Cyrille Commène, author of Zola, rêve sans nom. Happy Birth-day, Nicole!  

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Post-Marché de la Poésie

Four exhilarating & exhausting days are over. The Marché de la poésie was exciting as every year — though a slight shadow seems to hang over it, i.e. economic politics (& conditions) may see it disappear, which would be a real shame. Was also sad that old friend Jacques Darras, whose last year as president of the Marché this was, couldn’t be there as he was ill (but is … Read more Post-Marché de la Poésie

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Battle over Free Speech for Artists and Writers in Israel

via the always excellent Arabic Literature (in English): BY MLYNXQUALEY on JUNE 16, 2015 • ( 0 ) In mid-April, pots began banging over Parallel Time, a production for which the state froze Haifa-based al-Midan Theatre’s financing. The state also began an investigation into the theatre’s financing, and the Education Ministry effectively banned the play from schools, retracting the work’s eligibility for subsidized performances for students: This happened when the Palestinian play, which depicts the life of … Read more Battle over Free Speech for Artists and Writers in Israel

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