{"title":"Artistic Distance and The Language of Oppression","authors":"Carmen Bugan","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198868323.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198868323.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Writing is an emotional process and it works when it makes us feel, both as writers and readers: it has the power to move—movere. Yet a certain emotional distance is necessary when one writes poetry with the language of oppression, especially when one has been the victim, and offers a historical as well as an artistic testimony. What kind of liberties can one take with the material? What constitutes appropriate artistic utterance when one navigates the territories of poetry about the hard truths? Translating screams of pain and anger into poetic expression, which shows the effect of oppression on the inner landscape of feeling, is what poetry offers as an art. But writing that courts the sympathy of the reader gratuitously, arouses anger, sermonizes, or is imbued with a sense of self-pity, represents a failure of the art. The healing aspects of writing (not only in terms of healing the writer, but also in terms of healing the language itself) form a significant part of this chapter.","PeriodicalId":269129,"journal":{"name":"Poetry and the Language of Oppression","volume":"30 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124618377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Writing in Turbulent Times","authors":"Carmen Bugan","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198868323.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198868323.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter investigates whether literature that engages with politics is, or indeed should be, political, and in precisely what sense. It discusses the difference between poetry that is profoundly political—dealing with fundamental moral issues—and simple verse propaganda. It also asks whether freedom is/should be a political concept or if it is something more personal, reaching much deeper into our nature. Looking at several effects of political realities on the artistic process, the chapter argues for the necessity to address the larger, and timeless issues such as suffering, hope, and love, rather than adopting a partisan politics in one’s literary work. In portraying the effects of turbulent politics on individual lives, literature has a unique opportunity to ponder and celebrate our humanity. It can counteract the manipulative language of propaganda, by drawing on the rich resources of a language that, through moments of political upheaval, is able to sustain, if those values which sustain can clearly be articulated.","PeriodicalId":269129,"journal":{"name":"Poetry and the Language of Oppression","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115169811","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}