Life from Elsewhere
Life from Elsewhere: Journeys through World Literature is a compilation of ten essays from authors around the globe. The point of the collection (as if collections must have a "point," but maybe they should be published around a theme) is to celebrate a decade of Writers in Translation, which is a program that supports the best literature from around the globe. The writers in this collection are from Congo, Argentina, China, Israel, Syria, Palestine, Iran, Poland, the Caucasus, and Turkey, and all are translated from their native tongues. Themes of globalization, conflict, diaspora, loss of culture, complexity language wind their way through all ten essays. As Chan Koonchung writes, "...today's world is irreversibly both mixed and bundled together. We know we are all among strangers, some more strange than others" (41). Pushkin Press, the publisher of Life from Elsewhere, writes: "These illuminating, invigorating pieces reflect on the question of identity, both personal and political, in a many-frontiered world." The stand-out essay, to me, was "When Ideas Fall in Line" by Asmaa Al-Ghul (a woman born in the Rafah Refugee Camp in Gaza):
Amidst the conservatism encircling the Gaza Strip and the minds of its people, people often bring up the Internet and social media as liberating, but if this has changed their beliefs, it has done so only slightly. Here, social media is a mirror, a means of reflecting social reality. Gunshots and marching gunmen drown out words in this reality; art and literature can scarcely be heard. Here, reality binds the sanctity of religion to the sanctity of resistance and the liberation of land. (75)
The essays were all written in a quite matter-of-fact style, and this was maybe due to the translation or maybe due to the subject matter. Whatever the reason for the stylistic coherency of the essays, it was refreshing. I enjoyed dipping in and out of different parts of the world, and the essays make me wanna read the full-length works by the authors in the collection. Rating: ★★★★
