Polyglossia 2017

'17 

poly 

glossia

← Lightbulb moment 

Jenny O’Sullivan 

Compound nouns. In passing conversations on the 

German language there is no grammatical notion that 

causes more astonishment (read: polite interest) than 

the legends of single words spanning forty yards, rumoured 

to contain three different kinds of choking 

sound. Even here, in its vocabulary, German culture 

cannot escape the looming shadow of ‘efficiency’; it is 

somehow seen as unromantic to string words together 

so plainly, rather than providing each concept with an 

individual label that is supposedly concise, unique and 

autonomous (read: derived from Latin). In Lightbulb 

Moment, I explore the visual metaphors often employed 

in compound nouns across both German and 

English, in the hope of revealing the whimsy that is so 

often overlooked beneath the umlauts and consonant 

clusters. 

1 

2

Inside 

From 

the Editor 

Lightbulb Moment 1, 3 

Jenny O’Sullivan 

From the Editor 3 

Jessica Bullock 

Politics + History 

To Brexit and Beyond 5 

Ernest Georgievich Kochetov 

translated by Matthew Procter 

Le Rire Universel 11 

Nay Abi Samra 

Nieustanne tango 14 

Never-ending tango 

Joanna Banasik 

The Politics 

of Spanish Monuments 17 

Elle Shea 

Churchill, Shakespeare 

and the Jocs Florals 19 

Adrià Salvador Palau 

Afra Pujol i Campeny 

Culture + Language 

La mente umana 20 

Zahra Seyyad 

La Danseuse 21 

Lucrezia Baldo 

Beijing's Hutongs on film 23 

Alexandra Boulton 

I went to an Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

Master Class and I had an o-lively 

time 27 

Marie-Louise James 

Cray-cray but totes legit: totes is 

like totes grammats. For reals. 28 

Justin Malčić 

Translation 

Re-creation as Translation: The 

Translator’s Art 29 

Rosie McKeown 

'Charles XII' by Esaias Tegnér 31 

translated by Naman Habtom 

Extract from 'I, too, am Catalan’ by 

Najat el Hachmi 33 

translated by Jessica Bullock 

Poetry 

Codicia 34 

Sasha Walicki 

Petrarch Translated 36 

Billy Morgan 

m/f 37 

Miriam Balanescu 

Your Body Is Just Sitting There 37 

Jacqueline Krass 

This publication has a brief that is beautifully 

broad: Polyglossia aims to celebrate the interest 

across the university in foreign languages 

and culture, sparking discussions about 

language, history, politics, literature, and translation. 

Throughout the year, the submissions 

published on our website have reflected the incredible 

depth of our field; we began with a 

study of the grammar of internet slang (Craycray 

but totes legit), and since then have covered 

everything from the role played by rock and 

punk music in changing mindsets in socialist 

Poland (“Nieustanne tango” – “Neverending tango”) 

to political correctness in France, Lebanon and 

the UK (Le rire universel). Such diversity of subject 

matter, however, created an intimidating 

editorial challenge when it came to compiling 

this year’s magazine; how to reconcile, in one 

publication, the vast array of topics explored by 

our contributors? 

Organised into Politics and History, Culture 

and Language, Translation, and Poetry, this 

edition of Polyglossia moves from the informative 

and reflective to the creative. The magazine 

stands testimony to valuable connections 

formed by students travelling and studying 

abroad; the MML Year Abroad has led to the 

publication of a geopolitics essay by Dr Ernest 

Kochetov, director of the Geoeconomic Strategic 

Studies Centre at Russia's Institute of Foreign 

Economic Relations, translated by Matthew 

Procter (To Brexit and Beyond), and to a report on 

a project between the École Normale 

Supérieure, Paris and the Louvre by Lucrezia 

Baldo (La Danseuse). However, throughout this 

year the focus of Polyglossia has been to encourage 

the participation of contributors of all 

fields, taking advantage of the opportunity to 

explore what is necessarily excluded from Tripos. 

Thus the 2017 edition features contributions 

from a wide range of students, translated 

from or written in English, Swedish, Catalan, 

French, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish – and 

internet slang. 

The importance of such a dialogue across 

subject boundaries was thrown into light by 

one of 2016’s biggest cinematic releases. In the 

battle for the most exciting subject field, the 

study of languages does not much inspire popular 

culture; enter Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, 

which puts language firmly in the spotlight. 

Arrival depicts the attempts of a linguist and a 

physicist to communicate with two aliens. The 

linguist, Dr Banks, highlights the risks of the 

challenge, including the danger of projecting 

human emotions onto a fundamentally differ- 

4

ent form of life; providing the aliens with the 

wrong set of tools. The film can even be said to 

betray the limitations of our ability to conceive 

of different forms of existence - the aliens have 

digits, a graphic system of communication, and 

names. The issue of the opposition of different 

academic disciplines is highlighted in the most 

patronising of raised eyebrows that Amy Adam’s 

linguist receives from Jeremy Renner’s theoretical 

physicist. Arrival places them in immediate 

opposition, and the film comes to show the impossibility 

of progress without cooperation between 

the two fields. It leads us to reflect that 

any future realisation of the much-hypothesised 

‘automatic universal translator’ – a computer 

version of the miraculous Dr Banks – will 

Jessica Bullock, Editor 

require the combination of all of the forms of 

cognition that humans are capable of; any such 

machine must possess formidable powers of 

analysis, but also emotive and creative faculties 

on a par with our own. 

In keeping with this spirit, this year Polyglossia 

Society has brought together individuals 

from all sections of Cambridge University; our 

social and careers events have been attended by 

everyone from ASNACs and Historians and Biologists, 

from undergraduate to post-graduate 

level. Polyglossia Magazine 2016 – 2017 testifies to 

the critical, original and creative engagement of 

these students with the current world around 

them. 

To Brexit and Beyond 

The fate of integration groups as they shift to new 

sets of coordinates 

Dr Ernest Georgievich Kochetov 

Translated from Russian by Matthew Procter 

Brexit has provided the reason to write 

this short article.* The eyes of the world have 

been fixed on this process, one that has dominated 

newspaper columns and TV news reports; 

a great many experts and analysts have been 

inspired to weigh in with their respective opinions. 

As an event, it is highly revealing: little 

appeared to presage the fracturing of so wellestablished 

an international organisation as the 

EU. Yet the whole trick lies in detecting the unstoppable 

processes that operate just beneath 

the surface of world affairs. Such currents periodically 

break through to the surface of our experience, 

causing us to ask ourselves: what just 

happened? Or, in this instance: what were the 

triggers that sparked the mechanism of Brexit 

into action? Indeed, is the Brexit vote symptomatic 

of a general collapse of world integration 

groups, or does it instead represent the beginning 

of their fundamental transformation 

into new systems for arranging global affairs? 

What are the causal factors from which such 

processes stem and rise to the surface? And, 

naturally, the question arises of the extent to 

which a country, having ‘broken its way out’ of 

an integration system, is truly able to feel, or 

become, sovereign and independent. Let us reflect 

a little on all this. I will outline below a few 

of my hypotheses on the nature of the event 

that has taken place. 

✴ 

'There is nothing eternal under the 

moon! Everything flows, nothing remains the 

same and we never step twice into the same 

river.' Heraclitus’ thought has long framed our 

vision of things – integration groups being no 

exception. They, too, have their own life cycle, 

their own flow of development and their own 

‘exit’ from the stage of history. 

Events both near and far bear witness to 

this fact. Titanic shifts are taking place in the 

integration system on the European continent 

as the United Kingdom breaks out of the seemingly 

monolithic and inviolable European 

Union, whilst intensive processes of integrational 

transformation are underway on the 

Eurasian stage, too. Indeed, the world system as 

a whole has not seen the last of such processes: 

new forms of integration efforts allowing for 

national and regional challenges to be tackled 

jointly are set to emerge in the not-too-distant 

future, forms that include broad geo-economic 

belts of development, global systems of ‘unfixed’ 

cluster-networks and new poles of economic 

innovation. Let us now examine how 

these processes relate to the phenomenon from 

5 

6

these processes relate to the phenomenon from 

present in each integration group to a greater or 

this reason, it is not so much the case that inte- 

plotted out on a geo-economic atlas of the 

both a theoretical and a practical point of view. 

lesser extent. Here we come to the central 

gration groups are destroyed when their indi- 

world. 

The global system on the 

threshold of a new phase of 

development 

The qualitative transformation of 

integration groups 

In order to grasp the essence of global 

integration events and their prospects for future 

development, it is important to bear in 

mind that they necessarily occur within the 

framework of those worldwide tendencies that 

have advanced significantly in recent decades. 

In other words, the problem must be considered 

in light of globalisation, as well as with reference 

to geo-economic theoretical and methodological 

insights. Such tendencies are linked to 

the movement of the world economic system 

towards a geo-economic (cluster-network) pattern 

of development. Integration processes, 

along with the members of integration groupings, 

have come to take on a geo-economic nature, 

and are now undergoing significant transformations 

in line with broader patterns of geoeconomic 

development. 

Now, armed with this methodological optic, 

we might proceed to discuss the above-mentioned 

theme, and to offer a few broad theses: 

❶ 

The appearance of integration groups on the 

world stage stems from a range of factors, 

which on a historical level, have been in constant 

change. These factors lend integration 

groups a particular predominant quality, 

whether this be geopolitical, social, military/ 

strategic or economic, even if such qualities are 

point: in certain cases, one feature or another 

comes to weigh more heavily than the others 

on the functioning of the integration group, 

asserting itself as a priority concern. 

It is in this regard that integration groups 

differ from one another: they vary in their aims, 

the tasks they seek to achieve and the mechanisms 

of their operation. Yet they are united by 

the geo-economic and geo-financial component 

that inheres in every one of them. This element 

emerges as the principal basis not only of the 

functioning of integration groups, but even of 

their very means of existence. 

In other words: 

An integration group that has covered 

itself in the war-paint of geopolitics and geostrategy 

will come to find, sooner or later, that 

such a disguise becomes openly burdensome for 

the group as a whole or for its component parts. 

The frittering away of resources to serve geopolitical, 

ideological and military/strategic ends 

becomes unbearable. It is at this moment that 

the integration group is forced to change its 

stripes; its predominant quality loses its saliency. 

The other component elements that underpin 

the integration group now come to the fore, 

and it is seen to undergo a qualitative transformation, 

moving towards new configurations, 

new coordinates, new spheres of activity. 

There is an important nuance that should 

be taken into account at this stage. All of the 

above-mentioned features (or component elements) 

of integration groups are affected by the 

all-encompassing process of globalisation. 

Moreover, all such elements share, to a greater 

or lesser extent, a certain network character. For 

vidual members splinter off from them. Instead, 

we might think of how the process of reformatting 

of integration groups is beginning, 

as their underpinning priorities change and as 

their operations move onto new sets of coordinates. 

However many shapes and sizes global 

integration groups come in, those that prove 

the most viable and the most capable of surviving 

in the long term are geo-economic integration 

groups, a set of organisations whose benefits 

are evident on today’s global economic 

stage. 

❷ 

The geo-economic and geo-financial ‘colouring’ 

of various integration groups often leaves its 

mark on their formation and development; 

A. A fundamental reformatting of existing 

hubs of world economic growth has taken 

place, causing global financial flows to be 

redirected and new funding streams to 

emerge; 

B. The globalisation of financial flows has also 

seen significant improvements made to the 

mechanisms that allow such flows to be 

redirected; 

C. The financial flows themselves, whose 

course is shaped by the goals and objectives 

of different integration groups, are taking 

on particular features that respond to the 

medium- and long-term tactics and strategies 

of the various integration groupings. 

This is taking place before advanced geoeconomic 

and geo-financial technologies 

have emerged, and before they have been 

The internationalisation of resources is 

emerging as the central, dominant vector of 

geo-economic integration groups. The drive towards 

internationalisation provides a means of 

consolidating national, regional and global resources 

in order to further national and regional 

development, as well as enabling the joint 

resolution of tactical and strategic challenges. 

Moreover, any response to these challenges 

should be based on the establishment of global 

hotspots of economic growth, places in which 

innovative projects can be developed and which 

will attract funding flows from global players in 

the geo-financial sphere. The formation of a fully 

internationalised, global production system 

is already taking place within these centres: 

global income is being created and redistributed 

along ‘stretched-out’, technology-intensive 

production chains. 

This process of ‘materialisation’, or the 

commercial ‘padding-out’ of integration groups 

through the emergence of ever greater numbers 

of large-scale national, regional and global 

projects, has required financial mediation at 

every stage. Various integration groups have 

been drawn into this process, which ultimately 

reduces their ability to stand aloof from world 

affairs and global problems and encourages 

them to rethink their operations in accordance 

with new priorities. This, in turn, puts the validity 

of outdated concepts and categories in 

question, opening the way for a fundamental 

rethinking of world-views, models, mechanisms 

and concepts. 

Financial flows are irresistibly drawn to 

centres of innovative global growth, a process 

5 

6

that leads to the realignment (rearrangement) 

• Strategies for action on the global economic 

works of art and unique records of historical 

or ‘re-divert’ supply chains, on the basis of in- 

of the main financial players operating on the 

stage; amongst others. 

events to exotic objects). 

novative principles and in new physical 

world economic stage, which in turn serves as a 

powerful impetus for the formation of new integration 

groups and the disintegration of old 

ones. What we are witnessing at present, therefore, 

is a new global process based on the simultaneous 

coming-together and falling-apart of 

integration groups. 

Disintegration is the result of processes of realignment 

within the world economic and financial 

system. This phenomenon mirrors the 

natural course of global development, which is 

moving from a status quo in which new solutions 

are devised for ever newer problems, towards 

an era of unstoppable development of 

innovative production along a vector that 

points confidently towards the future. 

The multidimensional and multi-directional 

nature of integration groups’ operations raises 

the question of whether academic research into 

their nature and the essential features and categories 

on the basis of which they are developing 

is sufficiently up to speed. Questions surrounding 

the global reach of the contemporary 

geo-financial system represent a particular priority 

for study. Focus should be placed on ways 

in which more prominence might be given to 

the following issues: 

• The geo-economic nature of cross-border financial 

flows; 

• Subsequent transformation of fundamental 

economic and financial concepts and categories. 

• The place and role of national systems in the 

world geo-economic and geo-financial system; 

The above tasks are closely linked with: 

• The project of creating a digital geo-economic 

atlas of the world and its constituent parts; 

• The need to make significant adjustments to 

the institutional framework of geo-economic 

and geo-financial systems, to their organizational 

and functional set-up. 

A sort of financial dualism, or the stratification 

of financial flows into real and virtual 

components, has imposed itself forcefully on 

the world economic system. The presence of 

virtual finance in world financial flows significantly 

deforms the system’s operations, raising 

the possibility that the bubble of the world financial-economic 

system might indeed burst. 

This makes the issue of ‘cleaning’ the global 

financial system of its virtual components, as 

well as developing substantive measures for 

dealing with this threat, one of urgent necessity. 

Equally topical is the question of finding 

a repository of value that might serve as a new 

measure for valuing commodities, services and 

capital. Prices of goods are currently losing 

touch with their basis. An injection of speculative 

elements into the world’s money supply on 

the wave of an artificially heated economic conjuncture 

may well lead to an inflationary boom, 

undermining competitiveness. Such situations 

are marked by periodic surges in hoarding activity. 

Moreover, along with the types of item 

that have traditionally been hoarded (precious 

metals in the form of ingots, coins, jewellery), 

hoarders today are also looking to get their 

hands on new items of intangible value (from 

In order for the global financial system to 

function stably and sustainably, financial 

‘dampers’ must be created in the form of geofinancial 

‘Global Equilibrium Funds’, backed up by 

the creation of a code of economic and financial 

conduct and the establishment of new institutions 

that promote financial responsibility, etc. 

In order to ensure that integration processes 

(whose main features are set out above) 

continue to follow their natural course of development, 

it is important to pay attention to 

the considerable contradictions that are emerging 

within them and to consider ways of overcoming 

them. 

When any one of the particular constituent 

parts (geopolitical, ideological, civilisational, 

military-strategic, etc.) that make up any 

integration group begins to dominate the very 

geo-economic (cluster-network) basis of the 

union, then in order for this geo-economic basis 

to be preserved, the integration group must 

begin to reformat itself on the basis of a new set 

of coordinates. Such a process of reformatting 

may even go as far as to lead to the departure of 

some of the group’s participants. In light of this, 

disintegration might be considered a form of 

advanced geo-economic technology allowing 

for the realignment of economic forces. However, 

once this process has begun, it is of the 

greatest importance that cooperation over existing 

cross-border supply chains is maintained 

and that international financial flows continue 

to operate. In today’s world, it is impossible to 

produce competitively relying on ‘short’ chains 

of production squeezed within the confines of 

the nation economy. It is possible only to ‘relay’ 

spheres. 

✴ 

As metal hoops hold together oak barrels 

of fermenting wine, so the above-outlined fundamental 

geo-economic and geo-financial configurations 

act as a powerful constraining 

framework for integration groups. They lend 

durability and flexibility in a rapidly changing 

global political and economic landscape. Integration 

groupings of older vintages (geo-political, 

ideological and military-strategic, amongst 

others) require a geo-economic update; they 

have been heading unstoppably towards reformatting 

on geo-economic grounds, on the basis 

of new theoretical and methodological insights. 

Concluding remarks 

It may appear that considerable attention 

has already been paid to the question of international 

integration projects, both in Russian 

and foreign literature on the topic. However, 

traditional accounts of integration on the world 

stage fail to note the trend towards globalisation 

that has affected almost every sphere of 

human knowledge. These traditional accounts 

might be summarised as follows: integration 

groups, in the various forms they have taken 

(unions, commonwealths, etc.), have tended to 

take shape as self-enclosed groupings of members 

of the international community; once established, 

their form becomes definitive. Integration 

groups have been seen mechanistically 

as the sum of their nation-state parts; these 

have generally maintained independent jurisdictions, 

clearly defined state-administrative 

borders and systems for managing relations 

7 

8

etween each other in various spheres. More- 

mapping global financial flows; one concerning 

burdened by remaining within old integration 

process has been slow, it has progressed in- 

over, all integration groupings were themselves 

production and investment; a page on innova- 

structures. The group forges an upwards trajec- 

evitably: world integration processes have come 

delimited by strict external boundaries, requir- 

tion, one on customs; a page detailing global 

tory in the world geo-economic system as it 

to reflect ever more closely the increasing ten- 

ing the elaboration of both an internal and ex- 

resources; maps treating ecological and civili- 

moves on to a new page of the geo-economic 

sions in the relations between participants in 

ternal code of conduct for relating to other in- 

sational questions; cultural and ethnonational 

atlas of the world. 

the global economy – tensions that derive in 

tegration groups, individual countries, etc. To 

put it more simply, such integration groupings 

pages, etc. Different integration groups take 

shape on each page, groups whose boundaries 

✴ 

large part from fundamental differences in 

people’s outlook on the world. All of this has 

arose, developed and rebuilt themselves on a 

political map of the world made up of their con- 

do not coincide with boundaries set out on the 

political map of the world. Their patterns of 

Therefore, Brexit offers a taste of what 

is to come: the fate of integration groups is to 

been pushing towards its limits. And here we 

have it, the limit has been reached! The plat- 

stituent parts, that is to say, drawn around in- 

construction and the dynamics of their restruc- 

move on to different sets of coordinates. This 

form of the EU has been kicked into motion. 

dependent countries. The system by which in- 

turing do not necessarily align with the dynam- 

explains why the UK has broken out of its inte- 

What is responsible for this? It is the paradigm 

tegration groups were formed was essentially 

ics of change experienced by those members of 

gration group, and bears witness to the fact that 

of global transformation, founded on the 

one-dimensional and linear, a tribute to the 

influence of the old Westphalian system’s di- 

the world economic community whose features 

are detailed on the political map. 

the European integration platform as a whole 

has started to look unsteady. Brexit therefore 

principles of humanitarian cosmology, 

common sense, reason and intelligence – in 

viding lines. As the process of globalisation develops 

in step with the discipline of global studies, 

ways of conceptualising integration groups 

and the processes through which they emerge 

and develop are changing too. 

Brexit is 1 a sign of the European inte- 

The ‘geo-economic atlas of the world’ 

opens up new horizons for traditional integration 

groups and their constituent members. It 

allows them to move between the various sets 

of coordinates, between its different pages. This 

is most apparent on the pages of the geo-eco- 

appears to herald further regional and worldwide 

transformations as ‘new people’ enter the 

world stage, new patterns of development 

emerge and new perspectives on the world order 

are formulated. This situation has been a 

long time in the making, and even though the 

other words, on the life-affirming principles 

of mankind. The question of how to reconsider 

the world order’s political, economic, managerial 

models in light of this paradigm has asserted 

itself with the greatest possible force. 

* © Кочетов Э.Г. (Ernest Georgievich 3/10/16) 

gration system’s rebirth, the erosion of its 

nomic world atlas that depict global financial 

original objectives (and thus its economic na- 

flows and production/investment trends. The 

ture) under the unbearable pressure of military 

central principle underpinning the construc- 

burdens; 2 a reaction to the danger of eco- 

tion of such groups is that of cluster-networks 

nomic exhaustion; 3 a move, or rather a ten- 

with flexible (fluctuating) borders; in other 

tative fumbling, in the direction of other in- 

words, of unfixed international kernels of 

tegration configurations within the global 

production. 

system. 

Here lies the key to understanding why 

In light of this, the idea of creating a 

existing integration groups disintegrate: if they 

multi-dimensional methodology for mapping 

‘squeeze out’ of the underlying page of the geo- 

the world and its institutional structures takes 

economic atlas of the world (in particular, the 

on great importance. It might be called a 

political map), it indicates that the time is ripe 

process of ‘geo-genesis’, involving the con- 

for them to set off, as a whole or as individual 

struction of a three-dimensional spatial system 

components (states, countries) towards new 

that we might name the ‘geo-economic atlas 

sets of coordinates, on to new pages of the geo- 

of the world’. The political map of the world is 

economic atlas. In principle, this theory is ap- 

only one page of this atlas. A whole range of 

plicable to any existing and developing integra- 

other pages might be superimposed: a page 

tion group, whose future development would be 

9 

10

Le rire universel 

Nay Abi Samra 

For Nay Abi Samra, the realisation that humour is 

Alors, pour reprendre, pour une raison ou 

not transnational offers the chance to compare identi- 

pour une autre je me retrouvais ici. Je riais tou- 

ty politics, political correctness and socialism in 

France, Lebanon and the UK. 

jours aussi fort, de ce même rire un peu ridicule 

qui a tendance à partir en fou rire au quart de 

Rire. Je ris très souvent. Je pense que ça 

tour. Je ne pourrais l’expliquer, mais rire laissait 

arrive à tout le monde de rire. Il s’agit d’une ac- 

en moi un arrière-goût d’énergie, comme une 

tion qui consiste à contracter les muscles du 

sorte de décharge électrique. Pendant quelques 

visage, changer le rythme de sa respiration et 

secondes je pensais être invincible, pouvoir 

passer dans un état d’euphorie éphémère. On 

changer et sculpter le monde au rythme de mon 

parle là d’une action essentiellement inoffen- 

rire. C’était une passion que je ne me retenais 

sive et surtout très bénéfique pour le corps et 

jamais de partager avec quiconque croisait mon 

l’âme de tout être humain. Je m’étais toujours 

chemin. 

dit que rire ne pouvais que faire du bien à tous : 

Par un simple rire, on pouvait tout changer. 

Hélas, on pouvait tout changer, et pour cela je 

dus grandir. J’observais les autres rire, je contemplais 

leurs mouvements, je scrutais leur 

état d’âme et puis je me rendais compte que 

derrière chaque rire, il y avait une raison pour 

rire. On nomme souvent cette raison ‘humour’. 

Quel drôle de mot ! 

Un jour, je reçus un email. Un email tout 

aussi inutile que tous les cinq cents autres que 

je recevais tous les jours à Cambridge. Le hasard 

fit en sorte que je lise cet email. Apparemment, 

il existait ce que l’on appelle un ‘BME 

officer’ (Black and Ethnic Minorities officer). 

Soudainement, mon rire se transforma en 

amertume. J’interrompais ma conversation et 

exprimais ma surprise. Pourquoi ? Cette 

Et c’est à ce moment-là que je compris 

que le rire universel n’existait pas et qu’il 

n’avait jamais existé. On ne riait pas du même 

ton ici. On riait sèchement, on riait banalement 

et surtout pas au noir. On riait de ce que je pensais 

inriable et ce qui me semblait hilarant était 

complètement tabou dans ce pays. Pourquoi 

est-ce que je parle du rire et de la politique de 

ce qui nous fait pleurer. En France, on rit parce 

qu’on ne pense pas qu’il devrait y avoir une 

quelconque différence entre noir ou blanc, entre 

juif ou musulman, entre hétérosexuel ou autre… 

En France on pense que l’humour noir est 

justement la preuve que l’on a dépassé tout 

stade de discrimination. On pourrait rire des 

arabes comme on rit des blondes, on pourrait 

Un matin, je me réveillais dépaysée. 

représentation me semblait complètement irra- 

représentation identitaire dans un même arti- 

rire des noirs comme on rit de Toto. On ne rit 

Pourquoi ? J’avais laissé ma vie derrière moi 

tionnelle et absurde. Je demandais des explica- 

cle ? En France et au Liban, on rit de tout. On rit 

pas pour blesser, on rit des failles humaines. On 

pour vivre la fameuse « Cambridge adventure ». 

tions à celle qui était avec moi. Elle sourit. 

de Daesh, on rit du racisme, on rit du sexisme, 

rit du monde. On rit de ce qui est ou a été une 

J’avais toujours cru à ce que j’appelle, ou plutôt 

Pourquoi devrais-je bénéficier d’une représen- 

on rit de sexe, on rit de la politique, on rit de la 

fois concret. On rit de façon inoffensive. Au Roy- 

j’appelais, le rire universel. Comme quoi le rire 

tation différente de celle d’une personne 

société, on rit de notre ridicule, on rit de notre 

aume Uni, on ne rit pas de ces choses-là, on a 

serait une communication internationale, une 

seule langue qui nous uni tous. Je pensais que 

rire au Liban, c’était comme rire en France, en 

Angleterre, au Japon ou en Ouganda. Naïve ? 

Oui, je le sais bien. 

‘blanche’ seulement parce qu’un de mes passeports 

était bleu ? L’absurdité de la chose me 

transcendait. Mon amie m’expliqua alors le 

concept de la représentation identitaire au Royaume 

Uni. Je ne vous cacherais pas mon désaccord 

fondamental. 

histoire, on rit de nous-mêmes et des autres. On 

ne rit pas pour moquer, on rit soit pour survivre 

soit parce que l’on ne croit pas en des différences 

fondamentales et qu’on pense pouvoir 

franchir le deuil que nous impose l’Histoire. Au 

Liban, on rit parce qu’il faudrait mieux rire de 

trop peur. Peur de son histoire coloniale, peur de 

l’erreur humaine, peur de soi-même. 

Le rire noir est un descendant du socialisme. 

Le rire noir est autorisé ou pas selon le 

socialisme établit dans le pays. En France, le 

socialisme veut l’abolition des différences de 

11 

12

manière officielle : on est tous pareils d’une certaine 

façon. Au Royaume Uni, le socialisme veut 

l’accentuation des différences : il faut que toute 

identité soit représentée. En France, on veut 

franchir notre histoire coloniale et théoriquement 

notre présent toujours discriminatoire en 

effaçant nos différences face aux institutions. 

Au Royaume Uni, on veut mettre une croix sur 

son passé colonial en implorant tous ceux qui 

ont été ou sont toujours opprimés. Les deux 

théories—je dis bien théories parce que les discriminations 

sont toujours aussi présentes en 

France comme au Royaume Uni—sont justifiables 

d’une façon ou d’une autre mais je suis 

partisante de la théorie que je nomme celle de 

l’humour noir. 

La théorie de l’humour noir est la théorie 

qui veut que l’on puisse rire de tout. C’est la 

théorie qui veut abolir toutes nos différences 

mais faire briller notre unicité. On est tous différents 

et uniques d’une certaine manière mais 

on voudrait être égaux à tous points. Quand on 

rit de tout, on dépasse le stade de toute discrimination. 

Quand on se fonde dans la masse de 

l’égalité, on peut montrer sa diversité de façon 

plus positive. Être sans cesse en train de promouvoir 

une représentation identitaire c’est 

montrer qu’il y a une distinction entre nous 

selon que l’on soit blanc, arabe, asiatique, noir, 

hétérosexuel, transsexuel, un mélange, rien du 

tout ou encore tous à la fois. Vous allez me dire : 

on fait quoi de la discrimination ? Je vous 

réponds : on la combat tous ensemble et non 

pas par de la discrimination positive. Pourquoi 

ne pas avoir des représentants de tous ? Des 

personnes qui représenteraient les victimes de 

toute sorte de discrimination peu-importe leur 

orientation sexuelle, leur sexe, leur origine, leur 

couleur de peau ou encore la façon dont ils 

pleurent. Au Royaume-Uni, on a tellement peur 

de rire, on a tellement peur de discriminer 

qu’on devient champion de la discrimination. 

On insiste tellement sur les différences de chacun 

que l’on n’arrive plus à voir ce qui nous uni. 

On est tellement obsédé par la volonté de créer 

une représentation parfaite que l’on finit par 

créer de réelles distinctions. On voit la discrimination 

partout, même là où elle n’a pas lieu 

d’être. On accuse tout le monde de ne pas respecter 

assez qu’on finit par en avoir assez du 

respect et qu’on opte pour la vraie discrimination. 

La théorie de l’humour noir est mon socialisme. 

Mon socialisme veut que l’on puisse 

rire de notre misère pour la dépasser, que l’on 

puisse rire de notre haine pour la transformer 

en amour, que l’on puisse rire de Trump pour le 

vaincre, que l’on puisse rire des arabes pour 

qu’ils deviennent tout comme les autres. Mon 

socialisme veut l’égalité des chances, mon socialisme 

veut des droits fondamentaux pour 

tous. Mon socialisme est un rire universel. 

Never-ending tango 

Nieustanne tango 

On the re-appropriation of morality through rock 

and punk sub-cultures and surrealist movements 

in socialist Poland 

The multitude of alternative youth underground subcultures 

in socialist Poland focused around the 

Jarocin rock festival, the biggest such event in the 

whole of the Soviet block, has allowed for the re-appropriation 

of bodies and the creation of a space alternative 

to that vested in the state. The all-controlling 

state’s misunderstanding of the content of these 

discourses, and the actions undertaken to constrain 

them, ended up strengthening the underground freedom 

movements. 

These sub-cultures created an ongoing means to exercise 

freedom. As Foucault argues, the re-appropriation 

of the body is an on-going process; thus, freedom is 

not achieved but exercised continuously. The ‘Neverending 

Tango’—the title of Republika’s 1984 hit, symbolically 

refers to the on-going exercise of personal 

freedom in a reality where the state tries to control 

the private sphere; and the dialectic struggles between 

the official, dominant narrative and emerging, alternative 

morality. This created a movement which liberated 

young Poles from the parochialism equating the 

state’s particular narratives to ethics as such, and 

thus allowed for the redefinition of ethics, and an ongoing 

exercise of freedom. 

Joanna Banasik 

13 

14

Chcemy być sobą 

Początki rocka i punk-rocka w socjalistycznej 

Polsce; sposoby 

postrzegania i kreowania ciała i 

cielesności jako głos w publicznym 

dialogu 

Koncept „żelaznej kurtyny”, wprowadzający 

bariery do życia społecznego, zawsze 

powodował chęć patrzenia poza nią, w kierunku 

zachodu. Lata 50-te w Polsce naznaczone były 

politycznymi represjami i pokazowymi proce- 

dawała młodym ludziom głos w układzie zbudowanym 

na powszechnej zmowie milczenia. 

Muzyka dawała także możliwość 

odzyskiwania, manifestacji posiadania i 

możliwości zmieniania własnego ciała. 

Cielesność i ciała młodych ludzi stawały się 

polem do wyrażania wolności jednostki. W oficjalnej 

socjalistycznej ideologii podporządkowywanie 

się zasadom i normom estetycznym 

wykreowanym przez reguły systemu, pewien 

konformizm ciała, był jednym ze sposobów kontrolowania 

i ograniczania prywatnej sfery jed- 

staje się więc aktem publicznym, próbą 

odzyskania władzy. Młodzi ludzie poprzez ingerencję 

we własną cielesność, sprzeciwiali się 

dominującej estetyce, a przez to dominującej 

ideologii. Skórzane kurtki i spodnie, własnoręcznie 

szyte ubrania, przebijanie uszu 

agrafkami, krzykliwe kolory, ćwieki i metalowe 

ozdoby, charakteryzujące młodzież skupioną 

wokół środowisk rockowych i punkowych stały 

się symboliczną bronią w walce o odzyskanie 

możliwości decydowania o własnym ciele, a 

jednocześnie metodą sprzeciwiania się władzy. 

oszonych przez Wojciecha Jaruzelskiego, które 

prezentowała na każdym koncercie stały się 

emblematem wyrażającym sprzeciw przeciwko 

krępującym jednostkę ograniczeniom systemu. 

Podobnie zespół Republika w swoich 

teledyskach nawiązywał do czarno-białej, orwellowskiej 

rzeczywistości. Ciekawym przykładem 

wykorzystania symboliki jako środka 

sprzeciwu, była także grupa Pomarańczowa Alternatywa, 

działająca we Wrocławiu i łodzi, 

która poprzez surrealistyczne happeningi 

artystyczne ośmieszała władze. Grupa ta często 

sami. Lata 60-te przyniosły nieco rozluźnienia. 

W 1967 do Polski, na koncert przyjechali Rolling 

Stonesi i młodzi ludzie tłumnie gromadzili się 

przed Pałacem Kultury i Nauki, by choć przez 

chwilę spojrzeć, lub tym bardziej, być blisko 

nostki przez władze. Wygląd i jego kreacje były 

kontrolowane i tonowane przez brak dostępności 

tkanin i gotowej odzieży. Długie kolejki po 

produkty codziennej potrzeby regulowały rutynę 

dnia codziennego i wyznaczały jego rytm. 

Parada słoni i 

Pomaranczowa Rewolucja 

Siła symboliki w kreowaniu alternatywnych 

narracji 

odwracała, przekręcała lub ośmieszała oficjalne 

słownictwo i frazy nowomowy używane przez 

władze w politycznym i społecznym dyskursie. 

Jej słynne akcje miały na celu wykpienie 

władzy i doprowadzenie do aresztowania za jak 

zachodnich idoli. Do Polski docierały okruchy 

kultury z zachodu. Dopiero lata 70-te i 80-te 

przyniosły rozkwit polskiego rocka i punku. W 

1980 odbył się pierwszy Festiwal Muzyków 

Rockowych w Jarocinie, który zgromadził ponad 

20,000 młodych ludzi. Był to największy festiwal 

muzyki młodzieżowej, głównie rockowej 

(chociaż pojawił się tam również zespół 

punkowy) w państwach bloku wschodniego. 

Muzyka stawała się środkiem ekspresji frustracji 

oraz krytyki otaczającej młodych ludzi 

rzeczywistości. Muzyka i zgromadzenia muzyczne 

były nie tyle częścią oficjalnej narracji i 

życia w kreowanej przez rządzącą Partię Socjalistyczną 

przestrzeni społecznej, stawały się negacją 

tej przestrzeni, odrzuceniem systemu, 

życiem poza nim. Muzyka, sama będąc mocnym 

środkiem wyrazu negowała oficjalne środki ekspresji, 

pozwala na priorytetyzację jednostki, 

wyeksponowanie jej z ogółu. System promował 

konformizm, pasywną akceptację rzeczywistości, 

ciszę i brak dialogu społecznego– muzyka 

Ludzie ustawieni w długich wężykach zlewali 

się w jedno, wyglądali podobnie, nosili się omalże 

identycznie. Bourdieu w swojej analizie 

kładzie duży nacisk na ciało jako pole, w którym 

zderzają się: władza i indywidualna siła, w 

którym objawia się przemoc symboliczna. 

Możliwość kreacji, zmiany oraz panowanie i 

kontrola nad własnym ciałem przez jednostkę 

Odniesienie do symboliki i narracji 

pozwala w pełni analizować „nieustanne tango” 

pomiędzy władzami socjalistycznej Polski a 

artystami, pozwala na pewną analizę re-interpretacji 

przestrzeni społecznej oraz dyskursu 

społecznego. Pomimo oficjalnych zapewnień 

władz, które deklarowały zapewnienie obywatelom 

wolności słowa i ekspresji artystycznej, w 

Polsce funkcjonowała cenzura, ograniczająca 

możliwości publikowania tekstów. Słowa krytykujące 

realia życia w Polsce, władzę czy system, 

były usuwane. To doprowadziło do rozkwitu 

symboliki, która efektywnie budowała 

nową sferę dialogu i alternatywną metodę ekspresji 

prowadzącą do omalże otwartego sprzeciwiania 

się władzy. Bunt przeciwko systemowi 

odbywał się jednakże w zupełnie innym wymiarze. 

Symbole oraz metafory posiadały ogromna 

siłę wyrazu. Okulary słoneczne wokalistki rockowej 

Kory, nawiązujące do ciemnych okularów 

najbardziej absurdalne czyny. Symbolem Pomarańczowej 

Alternatywy stały się pomarańczowe 

krasnoludki, rozprzestrzeniane jako graffiti. 

Przykładami akcji tej grupy były kolportowane 

oraz umieszczane w przestrzeni publicznej 

slogany typu: “Boże, pobłogosław komunistów”, 

happeningi polegające na rozdawaniu 

papieru toaletowego i podpasek ośmieszające 

politykę ograniczania podaży produktów codziennego 

użytku, w tym środków higienicznych, 

czy słynne zatrzymanie „galopującej inflacji”, 

podczas którego milicja aresztowała uciekających, 

biegnących z transparentami „INFLACJA” 

członków Pomarańczowej Alternatywy. 

Nieustanne tango 

Próby odzyskania moralności 

poprzez kwestionowanie dominujących 

narracji 

Subkultury w Polsce stworzyły alternatywną 

przestrzeń dla protestu przeciwko

panującemu ustrojowi sprawowanemu przez 

„władzę ludową”. James Laidlaw w swoich teoriach 

na temat antropologii etyki rozróżnia 

koncept etosu i moralności. Etos jest ogólnym 

zapytaniem czym jest właściwe życie, moralność 

zaś stanowi konkretną odpowiedź. Poprzez 

uwolnienie asocjacji socjalistycznej moralności 

z absolutem jakim jest etos, subkultury w 

Polsce pozwoliły na wykreowanie alternatywnej 

moralności. Oficjalne władze promowały 

narrację, w której dominująca moralność zrównana 

była z etosem, a subkultury pozwoliły na 

zerwanie tej więzi poprzez alternatywna ekspresję 

artystyczną, która umożliwiała definiowanie 

i wyrażanie siebie. Foucault dowodzi, ze 

wolność nie jest celem, ale cały czas dziejącym 

sie procesem. Wolności nie można osiągnąć, 

15 

trzeba ją cały czas aktywnie praktykować. Rock, 

punk i artystyczne subkultury, funkcjonujące w 

socjalistycznej Polsce pozwoliły na aktywne 

„uprawianie” wolności. Unaocznia to więc 

sposób, w jaki subkultury w socjalistycznej 

Polsce podważały i kwestionowały oficjalną 

narrację mocno ją przez to osłabiając. Wolność 

stała się procesem i praktyką, działaniem, nie 

zaś celem do osiągnięcia. 

The Politics 

of Spanish Monuments 

Dictatorship, Democracy and Colonialism in 

Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor 

Salamanca is a city brimming with some 

of Spanish architecture’s pre-eminent jewels. 

Home to one of Spain’s most prestigious universities, 

it is a charming Gothic patchwork 

with a plethora of glowing yellow sandstone 

buildings. Many sites of interest come to mind; 

the stunning Cathedral, the University’s façade, 

but none so much as the Plaza Mayor, the beating 

heart of the city. This grand plaza is firmly 

in touch with its historical and artistic roots, 

but is also part of everyday salamantina life. Yet 

the rich history of the site has come into conflict 

with the present. Comprising of four pabellones, 

the square pays tribute to Spanish history, 

with each wall adorned with numerous medallones, 

plaques in honour of historical figures. 

The iconography of the Pabellón de Petrineros is 

the most varied of all, documenting profiles 

ranging from Cervantes and Unamuno to Santa 

Teresa Jesús. The plaques of the Pabellón Consistorial, 

on the other hand, have a fraught history, 

with some removed during the 1868 Revolution 

and others disappearing during the Second Republic. 

Now, however, it features allegories of 

the First and Second Republics and proudly displays 

plaques in honour of an important 

monarch in Spain’s democratic history, Juan 

Carlos I. 

Elle Shea 

These familiar faces of democracy have, 

however, been neighbours to a very different 

figure – but not for much longer. The medallón 

commemorating General Francisco Franco is to 

be removed after a unanimous vote by 

the Comisión Territorial de Patrimonio Cultural. 

But why take such a step, over 42 years after 

Franco’s death? Answers are plentiful. Firstly, 

the medallón has always been misplaced on 

the Pabellón Real, which had always been reserved 

for Spanish monarchs. Thus, one powerful 

argument, albeit not the central reasoning 

behind the decision, is that the plaque categorically 

does not belong on the pabellón. A further 

logic concerns the conservation of the plaza 

from an artistic-historical perspective. Over the 

years, numerous restoration attempts have 

been carried out on it following acts of vandalism, 

including those on the 20th November, the 

anniversary of Franco’s death. Consequently, 

the commission maintained that the plaque 

had been so changed that it no longer concurs 

with 'las suficientes razones artísticas, arquitectónicas 

o artístico-religiosas protegidas por 

la ley.' A final reason is more problematic still, 

as it concerns the fraught cultural significance 

of Franco in Spain’s national imagination. The 

key question is: how does he fit in? 

16

The memory of the dictatorship is still 

alive for many, particularly those who experienced 

it personally. Indeed, it is unsurprising 

that there should exist Spaniards who remain 

in support of Francoism given the length of the 

regime and the illegality of political opposition 

throughout its duration, coupled with its airtight 

propaganda machine. Yet since the Transición 

began there has been an outpouring of reactions 

against public monuments Franco’s 

honour. In 2007 the government prohibited official 

public references to Franco; thus, buildings 

and streets named after El Caudillo reverted to 

their original names, and memorials were removed, 

the last of which being an equestrian 

statue in Santander in 2008. Last year the city of 

Malaga also revoked his honours and distinctions. 

These conflicting associations are symbolically 

summed up in the fact that while the 

national anthem, the Marcha Real, is no longer 

sang with the lyrics introduced under Franco, 

no new lyrics have been introduced due to a 

lack of consensus. The decision to remove the 

plaque, conversely, 'tenía que ser tomada por unanimidad,’ 

according to historian María José Turrión, 

a commission member. Thus, for the 

commission, the answer is that Franco does not 

fit in, either artistically, architecturally, categorically, 

or as a worthy emblem of Spanish history. 

And yet, adjacent to the Pabellón 

Real, the Pabellón de San Martín boasts an array 

of conquistadores, such as Cristóbal Colón and 

Hernán Cortés. A few kilometres further west in 

Salamanca there lies the Plaza de Colón, with a 

monument of the conquistador as its centrepiece. 

With colonisation still largely viewed as a 

major scientific and geographical discovery in 

Spanish history, it seems that it is not only recent 

history with which the country has yet to 

come to terms. 

Churchill, Shakespeare 

and the Jocs Florals 

Saint George from England to Catalonia 

Adrià Salvador Palau 

Afra Pujol i Campeny 

On May 28th 1943, Winston Churchill flew 

from Gibraltar to Algiers on his personal airplane, 

‘Ascalon’, named after the sword of Saint 

George. That year marked a turning point in 

WWII: the Allies advanced on both the Eastern 

Front and in Italy. Two years later, Germany surrendered 

and a decade later, Churchill received 

his Nobel Prize in Literature for ‘mastery of historical 

and biographical description as well as 

for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human 

values’. 

One wonders how Churchill would react 

to recent arguments about the celebration of 

Saint George in England. When debating 

18

whether it is an ugly nationalist celebration, 

one should remember other countries, such as 

Catalonia, have him as their patron saint. Those 

that are not comfortable celebrating Christian 

traditions may appreciate the fact that Saint 

George’s Day coincides with the commemoration 

of Shakespeare’s death, and with World 

Book Day. 

The medieval legend of Saint George tells 

us about the importance of individual courage 

against totalitarianism and injustice. In the 

tale, a town is terrorised by a tyrannical dragon, 

which is only appeased when fed. The cattle 

being gone, the town has to feed him one person 

daily, chosen by lottery. One day, the beloved 

princess is chosen. When the town and the king 

are about to lose her to tyranny, a hero comes to 

the rescue. Saint George bravely defeats the 

dragon with ‘Ascalon’ and is cheered by the 

town as a saviour. 

The Catalan version of the legend of Saint 

George, Sant Jordi in Catalan, has a romantic 

dimension lacking in others: before leaving the 

village, Saint George makes a gift of a rose, 

sprung from the dragon’s blood, to the princess, 

as a token of love. Mimicking this gesture, Catalan 

men traditionally give a rose to their 

beloved on Saint George’s day. 

In the late 1920’s, Vicente Clavel, an editor 

of Barcelona, noticed that this tradition coincided 

with the date of death of two of the best 

writers in history: Shakespeare and Cervantes. 

He proposed to give books together with roses, 

binding love and literature in a very successful 

marketing move for publishing. The unidirectional 

transaction became an exchange, in 

which the woman receives a rose, and the man, 

a book (in the present day, many couples exchange 

books, although the woman still receives 

a rose). World Book Day was born. 

The link between spring, roses, and literature 

was not novel: in 1323, the Jocs Florals, ‘Floral 

Games’, or Jocs de la Gaia Ciència, ‘The Gay Science 

Games’, were instituted in Toulouse. This 

literary contest gathered troubadours from the 

Occitan world and the Crown of Aragon, contending 

for three blooming prizes: the golden 

wild rose, for the best patriotic or historical 

poem, the natural flower, for the best free-style 

poem, and the golden or silver violet, for the 

best religious poem. In 1393, the games moved 

to Barcelona, where they still take place annually 

today, albeit with a different format. The 

date of this celebration was on May 1st. The 

proximity of Saint George’s day, and its new literary 

connotation, has blurred the boundaries 

between both events. Many, including Catalans 

UK in London, now celebrate Jocs Florals on 

April 23rd, Saint George’s day. 

We don’t know if Churchill named his 

plane ‘Ascalon’ himself, but in a way, he was a 

modern-day Saint George. When Europe was 

terrorised by its worst dragon, and England was 

tempted to accept a humiliating compromise, 

he guided us to the most important fight of 

modern history: the combat against tyranny. 

Nor do we know if he knew of Catalan Saint 

George’s traditions. What is certain is that, as a 

man with a great mastery of words, he would 

have cherished the bond between love, courage, 

and literature. 

19

La mente umana 

A note on resilience 

Zahra Seyyad 

This piece considers the mind as a plant in bloom, and 

how the phases of its life resemble the human value of 

resilience. Zahra's choice to write the text in Italian 

stems from her personal experience, of having first 

experienced mental health problems when living in 

Italy. 

La mente umana è una pianta rigogliosa. 

Plasmati dai nostri pensieri, dai più oscuri e 

profondi ai più frivoli e superficiali, notiamo 

d’avere una forma. Sono le nostre foglie, soggetti 

a cambiamenti costanti. E fragili che sono, si 

lacerano, non appena il flusso degli avvenimenti 

si fa sentire; qualche volta, peggio ancora, 

vengono recisi o trascinati via. Basta un soffio di 

vento, un pizzico di realtà. Prima di potere 

sfruttare la possibilità di piantarsi definitivamente 

nel suolo, possiamo osservare la caduta 

di ogni foglia. Possiamo osservare la lunga 

discesa d’essa, rappresentante di un’ideale ormai 

perso. Questo, comunque succeda, ci porta 

alla stessa realizzazione. Che la discesa sia stata 

rapida, brutale, provocata con forza da fattori 

altri; o che sia stata un dolce ed armonioso distacco 

lento, quel che si perso, tale rimarrà, perso. 

Nessun albero si riappropria delle foglie giacenti 

ormai al suolo, non può nemmeno tentarci. 

Eppure, è risaputo che quel che si perde, spesso, 

lo si ricerca. Poi succede questo: le foglie ricrescono, 

senza risultare mai identiche alle 

precedenti, chissà se semplicemente il senso di 

queste foglie nuove sia riempire un vuoto, perché 

le conseguenze dell’essere vuoti, magari, 

sono qualcosa da temere. Inoltre, potrebbe capitare 

che queste facciano la loro comparsa durante 

dei lunghi periodi invernali. Queste sono 

proprio con l’inverno: privano di ogni convinzione, 

mettono a nudo tutti, fanno soffrire a 

lungo. Ma, dopo, tutti sanno cosa arriva: la primavera. 

Finalmente, qui, rinasceremo. Rinasceremo 

più rigogliosi che mai, rinverdendo oltre 

ogni limite, poiché le avversità, anche più difficili, 

saranno state superate. Può mettere a dura 

prova l’animo umana, la speranza primaverile. 

Perciò è bene ricordare che tutto è destinato a 

mutare. Ed ecco che l’uomo arriva alla sconcertante 

scoperta di come un albero percosso da 

anche le peggiori tempeste, un albero spoglio, 

cui un bambino dispettoso strappa le foglie, si 

sente. Cosa sorreggono le foglie, però? I rami, 

così come le emozioni, pure le più ignote o 

meno comuni, sorreggono i nostri pensieri. Esse 

crescono, con noi. Poi, con il tempo, si moltiplicano. 

Capita, ogni tanto, che non sia un vento a 

spirare, ma una bufera, una vera e proprio. 

Ovvero, un susseguirsi di eventi causali (non è 

forse meglio convincersi che siano tali, no?), con 

un tale peso, capace di sovraccaricare i rami, 

danneggiandoli irrimediabilmente, se non 

spezzandoli, addirittura. questi, contrariamente 

alle foglie, potrebbe non crescere più. Così, 

nemmeno le foglie potrebbero tornare a 

crescere, lasciandoci mutilati nell’animo. Quindi, 

avere un tronco lacerato cosa vorrebbe dire? 

Non lo si può immaginare, e neanche comprendere 

le cause che abbiano portato a tali ferite. 

Che nessuno debba scoprirlo mai. 

De la cour aux Ernests 

à la Cour carrée 

Lucrezia Baldo 

Lucrezia Baldo recounts her experience of using art, 

drama and poetry to introduce the public to the 

charms of the Louvre's Petite Galerie. 

Un jeudi après-midi d’octobre je me suis 

retrouvée pour la première fois devant les œuvres 

de la Petite Galerie au sein du projet ‘Les 

Jeunes ont la parole’ entre mon université pendant 

cette année, l’Ecole Normale Supérieure de 

Paris, et le Musée du Louvre. On peut difficilement 

expliquer la magie qui se produit à la 

création d’un lien avec une œuvre spécifique 

quand on est entouré de nombreuses autres, 

chacune avec ses propres particularités. Les 

deux statuettes qui avaient capturé mon attention 

étaient L’Idole cloche, probablement pour 

son étrangeté, et La Danseuse aux crotales, pour 

son élégance. C’est en suivant mon instinct que 

je me suis embarquée dans cette aventure. 

L’idée du projet était d’animer le musée 

pendant trois soirées avec des médiations qui 

puissent présenter les œuvres de manière interactive. 

Mon école devait occuper l’espace de 

la Petite Galerie et avec mon binôme, Camille, 

j’ai voulu mettre en communication quatre 

œuvres mystérieuses: Les Danseuses de Delphes, 

La Danseuse aux crotales, Les Danseuses accompagnées 

d’Eros jouant du tambourin, et L’Idole cloche. 

Ces œuvres semblaient avoir été mises ensemble 

parce qu’elles avaient toutes inspiré des 

artistes contemporains à leur découverte pendant 

le XIXe et XXe siècle. L’inspiration allait 

donc être le centre de notre médiation. On est 

vite arrivées à un projet bien défini: écrire et 

réciter la fable, en rime et en alexandrins, d’une 

danseuse choisie par les dieux de l’Olympe pour 

incarner la danse et la beauté. On aurait des images, 

des instruments et des objets pour entretenir 

les gens et mieux expliquer notre propos. 

Au final, on avait écrit nos strophes, fab- 

19 

20

iqué une poupée en tissu et un livre avec des 

aquarelles et on s’était procurées des castagnettes 

et un foulard chacune pour se déguiser 

en statues grecques. 

Notre objectif était de faire rêver et en 

même temps d’approcher ces statuettes de la 

Grèce ancienne à notre public. Je voulais que les 

gens quittent le musée en entendant encore 

dans leurs oreilles la musique de nos vers. La 

Petite Galerie, dévolue au public familial et aux 

enseignants, à pour but d’introduire les gens au 

monde de l’art, les inviter à la découverte. 

Camille et moi voulions offrir une approche 

personnelle, ludique et insolite, et transférer la 

magie des œuvres. Pendant les trois soirées, on 

a donc invité les gens à s’approcher aux statues 

pour les observer. Alors, avec Les Danseuses de 

Delphes derrière nous, l’enchantement commençait. 

Au moment de l’ouverture du livre, des 

visages émerveillés répondaient à nos 

aquarelles. Ce qui était incroyable, c’était le 

public toujours différent et notre interaction 

avec lui. Nous adaptions toujours notre récitation, 

en fonction de l’âge ou du nombre de personnes 

devant nous. Mon public préféré était 

composé d’enfants. Leur enthousiasme nous 

donnait de l’énergie et je pouvais voir que nous 

devenions encore plus expressives et nous donnions 

le meilleur de nous-mêmes. 

À travers cette expérience enrichissante, 

j’ai ressenti une véritable connexion entre 

Camille et moi, les visiteurs et les œuvres. On 

était en train de faire vivre les statues, de leur 

donner un souffle nouveau et de le transférer à 

ceux qui sont venus nous écouter. C’était l’idée 

de départ : d’inspirer. C’est l’art en tant que 

mouvement. 

La Danseuse 

Il était une fois un couple sans enfant. 

Dans leur grande piété, ils prièrent les dieux 

De leur venir en aide. Leur zèle religieux 

Toucha profondément Apollon le clément. 

Le dieu de la musique, des chants et de la danse 

Parlant par la Pythie, leur montra sa puissance : 

« Une fille vous aurez 

Mais aux Dieux vous l’offrirez 

Toute sa vie elle dansera 

Dans la mort, gloire elle aura » 

Le dieu tint sa promesse : une enfant leur naquit. 

Celle-ci dès sa jeunesse, de vertus fut comblé 

Personne n’en eut tant, encore moins aujourd’hui. 

Avant que de marcher, elle sut déjà danser. 

Avec l’âge elle gagna en grâce et en beauté. 

Des foules accouraient pour la voir tournoyer. 

Les instruments jouaient accompagnant sa danse, 

Les lyres et les flûtes, crotales en cadence. 

Un jeune homme charmé par cette belle enfant 

Cherchait sans se lasser à conquérir son cœur. 

Ses efforts étaient vains, n’apportant que malheur : 

Elle ne pouvait aimer. Tel était son tourment. 

La déesse Artémis, reine des jeunes filles 

Vint un jour la ravir des bras de sa famille. 

« Je viens pour l’emporter, il vous faut la quitter. 

En tête de cortège je souhaite la placer ». 

Une fois qu’elle fut femme, sa renommée croissante 

Parvint à Dionysos – le grand dieu des bacchantes. 

Il la prit près de lui, et en fit sa prêtresse, 

L’éleva comme modèle de grâce et d’allégresse. 

Sous le soleil brûlant ou à la nuit tombée, 

Son corps enchantait tout, comme la voix d’Orphée. 

Les hommes et les femmes et même les enfants 

Etaient tous emportés dans le même engouement. 

21 

22

A l’heure de sa mort elle vola jusqu’aux cieux. 

Elle devint immortelle et rejoignit les dieux. 

Jusqu’à la fin des temps on la verra danser 

Dans les banquets divins elle nous fera rêver. 

Sur terre on éleva une tombe dorée 

Près d’elle on suspendit une étrange poupée ; 

Sous le souffle du vent, la poupée se balance 

Et rend à notre artiste son éternelle danse. 

Beijing's hutongs on film 

Alexandra Boulton 

This is a collection of photos taken with film camera 

in Beijing’s fast disappearing hutong. Lots of people 

say Beijing is the site of a constant battle between old 

and new: shopping malls tower over traditional hutong 

alleys which are being bulldozed to make way for 

more high-rises. In China, I started using an old film 

camera passed down from my grandfather only 

thanks to the county’s highly developed online shopping 

and home delivery system. Film bought online is 

both affordable and convenient, unlike in the UK. It 

can be delivered the next day to your door, and used 

film picked up, developed for you and sent back to you 

within a few days. 

23

I went to an Extra Virgin 

Olive Oil Master Class 

and had an o-lively time. 

Marie-Louise James 

The event spontaneously popped up on 

my Facebook newsfeed. Half joking, half intrigued, 

I put myself down as “interested.” 

When a friend also expressed curiosity, we decided 

to book our tickets and give it a try. 

All we knew was that it was an ‘extra virgin 

olive oil master class’ led by Dr Alfredo 

Marasciulo and hosted by ITMAW UK at Emmanuel 

College; canapés and wine were 

promised to follow. We were immediately greeted 

by dozens of unlabelled miniature olive oil 

vials, ranging from opaque jade and clear gold 

to almost black, and by the sound of animated 

spoken Italian; the organisers and about half of 

the audience were native speakers; others, like 

me, were simply Italophiles. As an MML student, 

I considered the event part of my academic 

approfondimento, a word corresponding to our 

concept of extra credit. A warm welcome was 

provided, and of course, complimentary Prosecco. 

Once the class began – at a languid tempo 

and only after a convivial introduction – Dr 

Marasciulo began to describe the importance of 

extra virgin olive oil with authority and pride. 

Truly knowing what defines the quality of olive 

oil, he said, was a skill that many pretend to 

have but do not actually possess. He even admitted 

to playing a plainclothes game, asking 

fellow shoppers for their advice on which olive 

oil to buy. Often they gave confident responses, 

without actually knowing what makes an olive 

oil so good. For example, unlike wine, the newer 

the olive oil – the more recently pressed – the 

better. In the first hour, Marasciulo broke down 

misconceptions about olive oil, discussing features 

such as acidity, grades, and pressing. We 

then moved onto the tasting portion of the 

class. We had expected to accompany our samples 

with bread; Marasciulo told us that the 

true hardcore way of tasting olive oil was in its 

pure form. 

And, just as for the quality in extra virgin 

olive oil, this was no quick process. First, the 

sample cup had to be warmed up, which is done 

most easily between the palms of one’s hands. 

Then we had to smell the olive oil: not a quick 

whiff, but rather a proper inhalation. Finally, to 

taste the olive oil, it had to be “aerated.” Aerating 

the olive oil is equivalent to slurping it in 

through the teeth, which Marasciulo said may 

seem, ‘come si dice… maleducato?’, but is necessary 

for true degustation. 

We sampled nine shots of pure olive oil, 

and – as a reward for our stamina – four more 

with bread. We tried everything from threeday-old 

presses to a 1997 lampante, a clear, black 

and inedible oil. We looked for notes of cut grass 

and for a slight burn in the throat, all signs of 

freshness and high quality. Marasciulo memorably 

described one slightly older, but high 

quality sample as ‘an old, but beautiful, mature 

lady.’ Inevitably, the atmosphere became more 

and more relaxed. There was something comical 

and surreal about collectively slurping olive 

oil, to then nod emphatically in agreement that 

‘this one had the aroma of a newly cut lawn.’ 

And yet here we were, exploring freshly 

pressed olive oil. As cliché as it may seem, the 

Italian synonymy with olive oil reflects a 

greater pride in the artistry and craftsmanship 

of national produce – an attention to detail that 

can be seen throughout in Italian art, fashion, 

and food alike. From Florentine leather jackets 

to a bottle of olive oil produced by a small grove 

in Puglia, Italian products have a longstanding 

tradition of artisanal quality. Marasciulo’s emphatic 

remarks echoed this sense of national 

dignity, just as our seemingly amusing evaluations 

stemmed from a genuine respect and awe 

for the Italian qualità di vita. 

When, three hours later, the session came 

to a close, we were completely immersed in the 

jovial atmosphere of olive oil tasting, exchanging 

in both Italian and English. It was a Saturday 

afternoon well-spent: one that celebrated a 

shared experience of Italian culture, the kaleidoscopic 

range of olive oil samples, copious 

white wine, and of course, a passion to learn. 

28

Cray-cray but totes legit: totes is 

like totes grammats. For reals. 

Justin Malčić 

Re-Creation as Translation: 

the Translator’s Art 

Rosie McKeown 

You’ve probs heard totes being used by 

like, people, maybe you, which is like totes 

norms, but what you probs haven’t realised is 

that forming totes words uses your knowledge 

of English grammar. In fact, every time you create 

a totes word, several rules of grammar come 

into play. Though I happen to think this is totes 

amaze, mabes you’re like whatevs grammar is 

like sooooo boring. 

Well luckily, even though totes is grammatical 

there’s no grammar to learn here: you 

very likely already know these rules subconsciously 

even if you don’t use totes yourself, but 

like, mabes you haven’t consciously thought 

about the phonology of totes before lolz. And as 

you can see, it’s not just totes: probs, fairs, 

deece, ceebs, and for reals are just some of the 

members of this class of words which end in an 

S or a Z sound. The earliest word of this kind 

recorded in the OED is obvs, appearing in the 

80s, and now these words are appearing all the 

time, impervious to widespread but useless opprobrium. 

Amaze. 

How to totes (for the lolz) 

❶ 

Take all the syllables in the word up to the 

syllable carrying the main stress, highlighted. 

❷ 

Make the coda (final consonants) of the stressed 

syllable as large as possible using the onset 

(initial consonants) of the following syllable, in 

bold. 

❸ 

Add Z to the coda unless this makes an illegal 

(impossible) coda. If the coda ends with a 

voiceless sound (pronounced without the vocal 

folds vibrating) then the Z also becomes 

voiceless, changing to S. 

4 

An adjective immediately after totes may well 

also undergo this process too lol. 

 

In most kinds of British English, Rs aren’t 

pronounced in codas, so we get soz, not sorz. On 

the other hand, why we get laters and not lates 

remains unclear (awks). 

When Penguin unveiled Pocket Penguins, 

its new range of classics, last year, readers were 

given a visual reminder of the international 

nature of literature. Books originally written in 

English were given covers of the archetypal 

Penguin orange, but these were easily outnumbered 

by the rainbow of other languages: yellow 

for Spanish, dark blue for French, pale green for 

Chinese and so on. On the covers, only the title 

of the work and the author’s name appear. Thus, 

when a reader picks up a Pocket Penguin, they 

have no other information to suggest what 

might be inside; since it is impossible to judge 

these books by their covers, at least a fleeting 

engagement with what they contain is required. 

These cover designs, attractive in themselves, 

also make a point about the nature and 

art of translation: through their colours, they 

advertise their international status, boldly reminding 

readers that no country’s literature is 

more prestigious than that of any other, but 

also subtly hinting at what must have taken 

place in order for them to appear in English – 

lator decide which themes and ideas to explore. 

That is the job of the author, the primary creator 

– the creator of the urtext without which 

translations cannot be made. The job of the 

translator is to slip silently between the lines of 

the text, to take what has already been created 

and to re-create it – linguistically, culturally and 

literarily – in a form that new readers (who may 

be living in very different times, places and societies) 

can understand and appreciate. 

Much of the translator’s work happens at 

the level of individual words, and the job is never 

as simple as merely selecting the first equivalent 

offered by a bilingual dictionary. Things 

like puns and rhyming verse require a great 

deal of ingenuity and creativity to translate. 

Where a joke cannot be translated literally, the 

translator must invent one with a similar sense 

and force. Issues of register can also present 

difficulties, most notably the T-V distinction – 

the linguistic term for the distinction between 

the formal and informal ‘you’. In many languages, 

this distinction is an integral part of 

grammar, essential to verbal communication: 

Some totes words 

probably → probs 

fair → fairs 

definitely → deffs 

joking → jokes 

for real → for reals 

maybe 

mebbe 

whatever 

lol 

sorry 

totally 

ceebeeay 

→ mabes 

→ mebs 

→ whatevs 

→ lolz 

→ soz 

→ totes 

→ ceebs 

same 

possibly 

decent 

amazing 

delicious 

awkward 

later 

→ sames 

→ poss 

→ deece 

→ amaze 

→ delish 

→ awks 

→ laters 

that is, they have been translated. And yet no 

translator’s name will be found on the cover, for 

translation is an art that makes almost a fetish 

of anonymity and unobtrusiveness. It does not 

require its practitioners to invent a plot, a setting 

or a cast of characters, nor must the trans- 

in French, the informal ‘tu’ may convey affection 

or flippancy depending on the context of 

the utterance; similarly, the formal ‘vous’ may 

be sarcastic or sincerely respectful depending 

on who is speaking to whom. However, the English 

language does not express formality in this 

27 

28

way. Therefore, the translation of ‘tu’ and ‘vous’, 

for example, must be carried out otherwise: 

employing a generally higher linguistic register, 

using titles and honorifics, and adding adverbs 

such as ‘politely’ and ‘respectfully’ to dialogue 

tags can be used as satisfactory substitutes 

for the ‘formal you’, although admittedly 

the latter is far more succinct. 

This is just one example of how translation 

rarely involves direct correspondence between 

two languages – frequently, for reasons of 

grammar, syntax, or the lack of a word-for-word 

equivalent, the act of translation is slanted. 

Coming up with solutions in unexpected 

places, shuffling lists for reasons of rhythm or 

euphoniousness and rebuilding entire phrases 

to make them read fluently and beautifully in 

the target language is the translator’s job. Of 

course, he must also preserve the sense of the 

text, for the success of a translation depends on 

two equally important criteria. The first is that 

the translation must be a readable, coherent 

text in itself, regardless of the fact that it is not 

an original work; the second is that it must accurately 

communicate the original message, so 

as to fulfil the contract between reader and 

translator, wherein the reader can expect to 

experience something as close to the original as 

possible. 

Translators, then, are the subtle engineers 

of language, builders of invisible bridges 

between a text and its translated reproduction. 

Much of a reader’s understanding of other cultures 

is due to the work of those whose task it is 

to read texts in one language and rewrite them 

in another. To talk of things being ‘lost in translation’ 

is to suggest that certain things cannot 

be translated; while it may be the case that 

some ideas are more firmly anchored to their 

cultural contexts than others, it is the job of the 

translator to transmit these ideas in a way that 

makes sense to readers unaccustomed to the 

culture of the original, while simultaneously 

preserving the meaning and authenticity of the 

text. In his 2011 book on translation Is That a 

Fish in Your Ear?, writer and translator David Bellos 

says that reviewers of translated works tend 

to ‘recycle one of a small set of standard words 

of praise: fluent, witty, racy, accurate, brilliant, 

competent and stylish.’ Bellos continues, ‘You 

would have to comb through a great quantity of 

book reviews to find any nods towards translators 

that step outside of this set.’ This reaffirms 

the idea of translation as an anonymous art, an 

act of communication rather than creation, and 

yet an act of huge creativity, albeit one whose 

very creative value lies in its own unobtrusiveness. 

The author speaks to the reader, and the 

translator stands off to one side, whispering a 

comprehensible version of the original into the 

reader’s ear. Translation is a catalyst, turning 

incomprehensible foreign words into something 

that can be read and enjoyed, but not entering 

into the reader’s consciousness in its 

own right. It is an act of cultural sharing and 

unification, of great and sometimes unrecognised 

literary generosity – it is an act not of 

making new, but of making afresh. 

Charles XII 

Esaias Tegnér 

Translated from Swedish by Naman Habtom 

In the year 1718, in the eighteenth year of fighting, 

King Charles XII of Sweden was shot dead while inspecting 

his trenches. With this single bullet, Sweden's 

era as a great power came to an end. The young 

king, the last to die in war in Swedish history, has 

become the embodiment of discipline, selflessness, and 

strength. He was feared by enemies and widely admired 

by the likes of Voltaire, who penned a biography 

of the Nordic ruler. While he has gone down in history 

as a warrior-king, he is often times remembered by his 

declaration that 'I have resolved never to start an unjust 

war, but never to end a legitimate one except by 

defeating my enemies.' A century after his death, 

Charles XII was commemorated in a poem, Karl XII, 

by Esaias Tegnér, a Swedish Romantic writer, professor, 

and bishop. Over the course of the nineteenth century, 

Charles would go on to embody the nationalist 

mood. Nevertheless, others saw him as the king responsible 

for Sweden's misery and downfall. 

The translation of the poem maintains the original 

rhyme scheme. The name Vasa can be interpreted in 

one of two ways. The first is that of the House of 

Vasa, the first ruling dynasty in modern Swedish history. 

Charles was descended from the dynasty, though 

he belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. 

The second, most probable interpretation is that it 

refers to Gustav I, more commonly known as Gustav 

Vasa, the first King of an independent Sweden. The 

term 'Sweden' is not used in the original. Rather, 

'Svea' is used, the national personification of Sweden 

as a woman. 

✴ 

29

Oh youthful hero, King Charles, 

Amongst the smoke he stands. 

Sword in hand he charges, 

Attacking battled lands. 

“Oh, how Swedish steel bites, 

Let us show our stature. 

Move aside, Muscovites, 

With bravery and uniforms’ azure.” 

And one to ten they stood, 

Against angered Vasa’s son. 

They fled, those who could, 

That was his lesson done. 

Three kings united haughtily, 

Who sought to lead him asunder. 

Against Europe he stood calmly, 

A beardless god of thunder. 

Gray-haired statesmen with plots to invoke, 

Hurriedly form their treasonous act. 

The courageous young hero spoke 

One word and their snares cracked. 

Full-bosomed, slender, and hair of gold, 

A new Aurora came without delay. 

The twenty-year-old with a warrior’s mould 

Turned her unheard away. 

There a great heart was beating, 

From his Swedish chest. 

In joyfulness and in grieving, 

Justice he loved the best. 

In times of success and challenge alike, 

His triumph unmatched, 

He resisted defeat with disgust and dislike, 

He knew not when to detach. 

See the glow of the stars of heaven 

Over a grave so ancient. 

Covering the bones of a legend, 

Lies a century’s moss patient. 

His tale of glory fades into reverie 

And has begun to fade. 

In the frozen North, his memory 

Is left without parade. 

Yet to the story one listens 

To the venerable saga-land 

And the sounds of dwarves are silenced 

When the giant takes his stand. 

Nevertheless, among Nordic forests 

A high spirit does remain. 

He is not dead, just asleep and glorious, 

His force he still retains. 

Kneel, Sweden, by his grave, 

Your greatest son lies there. 

Read his memorial filled with fray, 

His heroic tale in his lair. 

The bloody head rises, 

There to learn history. 

Swedish honor without vices, 

Her banner of victory. 

Extract from 

I, too, am Catalan 

Najat el Hachmi 

In 2004 Najat El Hachmi, who would go on to win the 

Premi Ramon Llull with the novel L’Últim Patriarca, 

published a memoir entitled Jo també sóc catalana, as 

yet untranslated to English. Jo també offers an insight 

into the mapping of dynamics of gender, race 

and religion onto a unique, bilingual cultural landscape. 

The Catalan language is a supreme symbol of 

belonging, and proficiency is expected of immigrants, 

but signs that an immigrant has taken possession of 

the language as their own also arouse jealousy. Here 

El Hachmi experiences this hypocrisy whilst shopping 

with her young song. 

Translated from Catalan by Jessica Bullock 

The linguistic milieu depicted in Jo també challenges 

convention, which dictates that any speech in a ‘foreign’ 

language remain untranslated, especially in a 

passage which plays upon the particular relationship 

of two tongues. Leaving the Castilian untranslated 

creates a greater divide between Najat and the shopkeeper 

than in the source text, but translating the 

whole dialogue into English would obliterate the tension 

between the familiar and the alien that is crucial 

to El Hachmi’s presentation of the experience of immigration. 

✴ 

Rida gets off the bus with his usual smile, 

hugging me just as tight day after day, rucksack 

on his back. He smells like school. 

We need to go shopping, son. As usual, he 

doesn’t stop demanding, I want this, Mummy, 

I want that. At the till he helps me to pack 

everything up. The girl behind it, a little tired, 

says to him: 

“Hola guapo. Que vas a la escuela?” * The 

Plana accent is a stamp that a whole lifetime 

cannot erase. 

answer. 

Rida, shocked, stays mum and does not 

“Que no habla este niño?” 

“He does talk, in fact he’s very talkative, 

31 

32

ut you might have to speak to him in Catalan.” 

speaking to me in Castilian, I would continue 

Acércate Pasión, 

Vanidad de vanidades, todo vanidad! 

“Ah, habla catalán? 

“Yes.” 

“Es que no hay muchos que lo hablen.” 

“I speak it too, you know? And nearly all 

Moroccans my age, if that’s what you mean, 

speak their language perfectly, it’s the language 

talking to them in Catalan and they, out of 

some unknown stubbornness, would not 

switch language. […] I do not know why some 

Catalans are offended when people speak their 

language, all in all it must have more to do with 

the nature of their love for it. Or is that deep 

down all these people who always reply to me 

que te quiero ver de compañera, 

cuerpo a cuerpo, entre íntimos. 

Avecínate, a mi mesa 

quiérote alimentar. 

No huyas por nocturnas sombras 

de negra tela velada, solitaria y triste 

aleteando en las umbrías de la apatía. 

Incandescente, indecente 

ardo, vivo y encendido, 

ma chaire, rebelle, se promène… 

¡Oh, cuánto quiero rozar 

aquellos negros pétalos 

que tu morbosa caracola ciñen! 

¡Y cuánto sentir los pajizos huesos 

of the schools, if I’m not mistaken.” 

“Ai, bueno, bueno.” 

For a moment it occurs to me to tell her 

that “bueno” is a barbarism, but there is already 

enough tension between the two of us. 

in Castilian continue thinking as speakers of a 

minority language? 

“Hi sweetie. How’s school? […] Does this kid not talk? 

[…] Ah, he speaks Catalan? […] It’s just there are lots 

who don’t. […] Oh, okay, okay.” 

Mil visiones atizan tus fuertes soplos 

de labios, muslos y verde calor. 

Mil veces pienso en ti y la alegría 

que entrañan tus regocijos. 

¡Ah, qué delirio! ¡suelta fruición 

de labios, muslos y verde calor! 

de tu mandíbula que salvajemente crujen! 

Mon esprit sur ses levres fuiroit… 

Lips that would kiss 

Form prayers to broken stone. 

Con alas derretidas me desplomo en la mar: 

That is just an example, one of many similar 

anecdotes. There are others that are worse, 

almost surreal. I have held whole conversations 

with native born Catalans hell-bent upon 

Conmigo ven, Susana, en la agreste sima 

¡sumerjámonos en la cuna de la naturaleza, 

con trémulos besos y mortales, 

tiernos abrazos y ciego abandono 

quebrado cacareo y menguante esperanza, 

desmayo célebre y confusa meditación, 

¡cacareo y esperanza, cacareo y esperanza, 

desmayo y confusión! 

Codicia 

Y es que yo soy de lejos inflamado 

de vuestra ardiente vista y encendido 

y temo, y espero, y ardo, y me hielo 

et volo sopra 'l cielo, et giaccio in terra; 

et nulla stringo, et tutto 'l mondo abbraccio. 

Buenamente te encuentro y mal te agarro 

El blanco huevo de Narciso 

te contempla, te contempla en la ribera 

con pálida y áspera melancolía, 

brota la flor amarillenta… 

Ô toi que j'eusse aimée: 

ne te verrai-je plus que dans l'éternité? 

Tus ojos, lagos abrumadores, me ahogan, 

Sasha Walicki 

como desmañado cazador de mariposas… 

y temo, y espero, te sigo y persigo. 

lívidos cielos cercan el huracán. 

Verde remolino y negra congoxa: 

I was here interested in uniting imagery of Lust over 

the ages (archaic spellings, therefore, persist, as in 

'levres fuiroit' and 'congoxa'), and its perverse proximity 

to Love, perhaps drawing out some aspects of the 

'archaic man' in the Jungian sense, now modernised 

by culture and the myths and realities of progress, but 

at a 'deeper level', as he has it, unchanged. 

✴ 

…For proof look up, 

And read thy lot in yon celestial sign, 

Where thou art weigh'd, and shown how light, how 

weak 

If thou resist. The Fiend looked up and knew 

His mounted scale aloft: nor more; but fled 

Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night. 

— Milton, Paradise Lost, Libro IV 

✴ 

¡Corre, corre Apolo, 

la moza se te escapa! 

¡Salta, asáltala con verde brío, 

que la moza se te escapa! 

Gruñe el cielo: 

Vanidad de vanidades, todo vanidad! 

Pregunto yo: 

¿Qué he de hacer con tus verdes ramas 

sino asirlas? ¿Y cómo sujetar un cuerpo apagado? 

¡Cuán noble amor faltaría! ¡Y cuántas lágrimas! 

la douceur qui fascine et le plaisir qui tue. 

Cautivado yerro por malditos senderos, 

a mi lado van Cipriano y Lelio, 

vadeamos ramas y matas espinosas, 

buscando virtud y conciencia. 

— C'est une épineuse entreprise — 

advertía el sabio gentilhombre, 

extrayéndose. 

Seducido, bobo, 

yo me encierro, 

no encontrando remedio ni abertura, 

ni la resuelta firmeza 

Y es que la castidad no tiene vida. 

de Simón del Desierto. 

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Away, away vile temptress! 

Away, away! 

Nadie oye mis gritos. 

Hiede la niebla, paulatina y verde, 

criando una náusea marina 

que me sabotea el olfato. 

Hiede, ¡cuánto hiede la verde niebla! 

Funesta y serpentina, 

copiosa y latosa 

hiede, hiede la niebla 

con toda tranquilidad. 

Laso, 

me canso, 

aflojo, 

y me derrumbo a pedazos. 

* * * 

El desbordante deseo crece y arde desenfrenado. 

Desenfrenado, arde y crece el deseo desbordante. 

Vous allumez un feu qui ne pourra s'éteindre! 

Al verte languidece, languidece 

mi tosca lengua. 

Al verte languidece, languidezco 

bajo la caverna del paladar. 

Yazgo en el negro túnel 

de salmonete crudo 

por el que plateada 

fuga y regresa 

la anguila pródiga de mi vida. 

Por doquiera que voy 

va mi lengua conmigo, 

labrando el epitafio dantesco: 

Amor condusse noi ad una morte. 

Así fue que desenterrándola, Pasión me sepultó. 

Retomando conciencia, 

entiendo por qué mala fama tienes: 

rancia criatura de enjutos amores, 

homúnculo del demonio 

atolondrada y tercamente resucitado 

por siempre jamás. 

¡Vil putrefacción! Rancia y enjuta, 

¡así es la verde sierpe! 

It is like this 

It is like this 

In death's other kingdom. 

Petrarch Translated 

Billy Morgan 

How trusting must or can I be? When lines 

Of ‘Sonnet 312’ are islands glimpsed 

Through telescopes on ever-moving ships? 

Related to us passengers near blind? 

My years not voyaged in Italian 

But lonely English, I can only guess 

As these two seas converge on borderless 

Pages if the words are true companions. 

But throw aside those guesses. Build a castle of 

Your own on shaky ground and then rebuild 

As, bit-by-bit, the empty cracks are filled 

With reading and re-reading. Roam from translation- 

To-translation, and find the softest tread 

On which poor Petrarch for his lover bled. 

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m/f 

Miriam Balanescu 

ataraxia n. 

bakku-shan n. 

culaccino n. m. 

dustsceawung n. f. 

écriture n. f. 

Note: words are as delicious—as curling ashes, the last lick of 

embers. 

the way we leave our words in the vault, to wait unfazed in rageless 

dust 

her back can’t argue. The morning knotted in her hair 

drips down your mug away from meaning, un-escaping. Another 

classifying ring on your desk 

when dirt rebuilds itself to run, because you’re chasing the 

smallest things 

mind outworking, words unbarred, light sighing through the 

hatch. I walked alone in the field today when all the one hundred 

seagulls picked up their feet and carried Spring across the 

sky. The word was thinking, for how long, people will call it feminine 

Your Body is 

Just Sitting 

There 

Jacqueline Krass 

1. 

mostly i do not think about my Polish 

relatives and your Polish relatives 

& who took up residence in whose houses but 

2. 

sometimes, then, i do 

think about it 

5. 

what does it feel like 

he asks 

to be beautiful? 

mina loy: ‘Beautiful 

half-hour of being a mere woman 

[…] 

Understanding nothing of man’ 

6. 

i talk about studying in france, 

forget to mention 

how i was cold for weeks 

in july in the south 

how the missing, 

my host mother said, 

made me cold 

ataraxia (Greek): 

bhakku-shan (Japanese): 

culaccino (Italian): 

dustsceawung (Old English): 

Untranslatable words 

philosophical term referring to tranquillity through lack of concern. 

a woman who looks beautiful from behind. 

water-rings left by a cup of hot drink. 

pondering dust and the buildings or structures it came from. 

there was a memorial for it 

( ) 

in berlin but no bodies 

hundreds of gravestones and no bodies 

was that the joke 

german children kept playing 

on the stones so i knew 

at least something was still alive 

3. 

now it is Sabbath & 

i continue to work 

4. 

remember when we were in the orchard 

when i was in the orchard 

i wore sweaters— 

i wrote about blue fingers— 

how i lost my sense of taste, 

avoided food, 

then went to morocco 

8. 

i don’t miss new york but i miss something 

or something misses me 

9. 

your body is just sitting there 

raw exchange value 

the way 

your body is just SITTING THERE 

10. 

it makes me so sad to 

see the last light turned out 

it is Sabbath & 

i continue to work 

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Polyglossia 2017

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