Global Voices » Literature

Jamaica, St. Vincent: Happy Earth Day, Mr. Marley

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:52:05 +0000

Geoffrey Philp and Abeni both pay tribute to the late reggae icon Bob Marley on his birthday.

Bangladesh: Protest Against Criminalization For Archiving A Banned Book

Rezwan — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:29:19 +0000

Hana at Unheard Voice highlights a petition by twenty human rights activists, academics and members of the Bangladeshi civil society in which they protest the arrest of a Head Teacher for having a copy of Taslima Nasreen’s ‘Lajja’ in the school’s library.

India: Tiny Travel Tales Contest

Rezwan — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:36:18 +0000

Clay, the travel and holiday blog of Club Mahindra, is organizing a short story contest on travel. The last date of submission of posts is February 5, 2012.

India: Jaipur Literature Fest Fashion

Rezwan — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:55:15 +0000

Jaipur Literature Festival, the largest literary festival in Asia-Pacific, has recently ended. Wearabout blog posts some pictures of festival fashion among the eclectic mix of men from all over; artists, poets, writers, intellectuals, pseudo-intellectuals, serious journalists, idlers, socialites etc.

Russia: The Fake Political Twitter Account Phenomenon

Alexey Sidorenko — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:05:29 +0000

The Internet not only gives life to citizen activist groups, human bots or lolcat lovers; online anonymity provides perfect conditions for human creativity and humor. Twitter is possibly the best platform for this quality, and in the Russian context this involves mixing anonymity, humor and political reality via a number of accounts belonging either to dead politicians or to those that deliberately avoid publicity.

Faux tweeting

The first Russian fake Twitter users appeared long before other well known faux accounts, like @ArabicObama, @KimJongNumberUn or @Angela_D_Merkel. Some have developed their own particular ironic styles and have become integrated into the socio-political landscape of the Russian blogosphere.

Constantly gaining new followers, Twitter parodies represent a new literary genre: a critical, often sarcastic view on politics, provided from the historical/political perspective of the accounts' respective ‘owners.' Some definitely remind of the legacy of Kozma Prutkov, a fictional character of the mid-19th century, who mocked arrogant officials some 150 years ago. Meanwhile, some accounts (like the one of @LevSharansky) mock the opposition and the West.

The dynamics of the fake Twitter universe are overwhelming. Not only do the number of fake accounts grow, so too grows their audience. According to the follower count, the overall number of fake Twitter followers increased by 40,000 followers only in one month from 21 December 2011 - 23 January 2012.

Below is a chronology of some of the most popular fake Twitter parodies:

List of RuNet's Fake Twitter Accounts

Fake Twitter parodies

Profile picture of Lev Sharanskiy

9. @levsharansky [ru]

Lev Sharansky is a parody of a Soviet dissident (the surname refers to Ukrainian and Israeli political activist Natan Sharansky, while on the profile picture Alexander Solzhenitsyn is depicted). Unlike most fake Twitter personalities in the RuNet, this one is run by pro-Kremlin bloggers and mocks the pro-Democracy opposition.

Lev Sharansky's personality is often used in various online polls to discredit online voting (bots and human bots get commanded to vote for Sharansky in order to prove that online voting is easy to hijack).

Sample tweet [ru]:

Чем быстрее Урал, Сибирь, Дальний Восток перейдут под юрисдикцию США, тем лучше не только для россиян, но и для всего мира.

The sooner the Urals, Siberia, and Far East secedes to US jurisdiction, the better it will be not only for Russians, but also for the whole world.

Profile picture of @LeninRussia

8. @LeninRussia [ru]

This fake account of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin [ru], is a Soviet cult object as well as the source of numerous jokes. The tweeting style includes references to atrocities commited by the Bolsheviks.

Sample tweet [ru]:

Судить людей и сажать их в тюрьмы - какая-то средневековая дикость. В конце концов, всех, кто нам с вами не нравится, можно просто сжечь.

To judge people and imprison them - it's such a medieval cruelty. At the end of the day, everyone whom we do not like can just be burnt.

Profile picture of @LeninRussia

7. @igor_sechin [ru]

Igor Sechin is a secretive ally of Vladimir Putin, now occupying the chair of Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. Sechin remains one of the least public figure in Russian politics. Exploiting this mysterious aura, his faux account mocks corruption and government officials.

Sample tweet [ru]:

Все хотят дворец за миллиард. Но только Путин нашел смелость его построить.

Everyone wants a castle worth a billion dollars. But only Putin found the courage to build it.

Profile picture of @tolstoy_lev

6. @tolstoy_lev [ru]

An account for Leo Tolstoy, the Russian literary classic, published philosophical quotes from Tolstoy's diaries wittily chosen to fit with contemporary news stories.

Sample tweet [ru]:

Как тысячелетия слагалась государственная жизнь, так, может быть, тысячелетия она будет разделываться.

As government life has been made throughout millennia, it will, probably, be dissolving the same way.

Profile picture of @SurkovRussia

5. @SurkovRussia [ru]

The fake account of Vladislav Surkov, former deputy prime minister, plays with his reportedly post-modern and art-loving nature, previously known as the “grey eminence” of the Russian politics, often going into literary explorations and drug experiments.

Sample tweet [ru]:

Если Бог зол, он насылает Сталина. Если Богу всё до лампочки, правит Брежнев. Но если Бог решил поприкалываться - на сцену выходит Путин!

If the God is angry, he sends Stalin. If the God doesn't care, it is Brezhnev. But if the God decided to have fun - here comes Putin!

Profile picture of @KremlinCherv

4. @KremlinCherv [ru]

Kremlin Worm is a meme created as the result of a scandal involving Governor Dmitry Zelenin who spotted a worm in his plate whilst having dinner at the Kremlin (read the GV story here).

Sample tweet [ru]:

Если бы меня пригласили в правительство, я бы был вице–премьером, ответственным за мелиорацию.

If they invited me to the government, I would be vice-minister for melioration.

Profile picture of @NikolayII

3. @NikolayII [ru]

This account is the tweeted diary of the last Russian czar Nicholas II. As in case of Leo Tolstoy's Twitter twin, Nicholas II mainly quotes extracts from his diaries. As many historians had noted, diaries of Nicholas II show complete detachment from wild political life around him while exposing focus on his personal life and personal experiences.

Sample tweet [ru]:

Завтракали в галерее. Вернувшись домой, читал, писал телеграммы и погулял.

Had breakfast in the gallery. After returning home, I read, wrote telegrams and went for a walk.

Profile picture of @alex_pushkin

2. @alex_pushkin [ru]

A poetic Twitter account resembling the playful style of one of Russia's most acclaimed poets Alexander Pushkin. It skillfully re-masters Pushkin's original rhymes to fit contemporary politics and make his tweets particularly ironic.

Sample tweet [ru]:

Ну что, пора. Итоги года / Привычно странная погода / Навальный, митинги, подтяжки / Год был не скучный, хоть и тяжкий

So, it's time. The totals of the year / Traditionally strange weather / Navalny, meetings and face lifts [reference to Putin's alleged plastic surgery] / The year was hard but not boring

Profile picture of @KermlinRussia

1. @KermlinRussia [ru]

A fake Russian Kremlin account led by an anonymous Moscow-based businessman, this even got into the Foreign Policy list of the best fake Twitter accounts and has managed to give several interviews, one of them in English. It is also one of the most popular Twitter accounts in the Twittersphere, having at the moment about 224,000 followers.

Kevin Rothrock describes the account's formula that can be more or less applied to the overwhelming majority of Russia's fake Twitter users:

..he regularly posts acerbic, ironic tweets mocking news stories about Russia’s leaders, often rewording the language of tweets by the official presidential Twitter account […], typically reversing or otherwise transforming the meaning of a prosaic Kremlin announcement into something embarrassing, cryptic, or downright evil.

Sample tweet [ru]:

We should make Russsia a better place to leave.

Russia: Mafia State Review

Vilhelm Konnander — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:19:07 +0000

Kelly Hignett of The View East reviews Luke Harding's Russia-critical book Mafia State on his dire experiences as a foreign correspondent in Russia.

Greece: Cretan Masterpiece “Erotokritos” Translated into Turkish

Veroniki Krikoni — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:05:29 +0000

Stella Tsolakidou of the Greek Reporter website writes about the recent publication of the Cretan literature masterpiece “Erotokritos” in Turkish. Erotokritos is a 17th century epic romance, and has been translated by Professor Hakki Bilgehan, a Turkish microbiology professor, and published by the Foundation of Lausanne Treaty Emigrants [Turkish].

Lebanon: Snow Haiku

Moussa Bashir — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:52:01 +0000

As snow falls on Lebanon's mountains, Haiku from Lebanon posts its latest:

“The tender snow
Has wiped away
The weeping willow's tears”

Philippines: Revolutionary heritage

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:57:29 +0000

The Museo de Santisima Trinidad curator reviews Angela Stuart-Santiago’s Revolutionary Routes: Five Stories of Incarceration, Exile, Murder and Betrayal in Tayabas Province, 1891-1980. The book is a history of her family and the revolutionary struggles against the Spanish, American, and Japanese colonizers up to the early years of the Philippine republic. It is based on the memoir of her grandmother originally written in Spanish.

Ukraine: Gasprinsky Crimean Tatar Library

Veronica Khokhlova — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:07:49 +0000

Back in Nov. 2011, Peace Corps volunteer Barb Wieser guest-blogged about her work at the Ismail Gasprinsky Crimean Tatar Library in Simferopol, Crimea, at Uncataloged Museum blog.

Dominican Republic: Farewell to El Goyo & Sención

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:07:33 +0000

Repeating Islands acknowledges the deaths of “outstanding Cuban dancer, singer and percussionist Gregorio Hernández” and Dominican writer Viriato Sención, whose “work was marked by its commitment to historical truth and cultural engagement.”

Philippines: Filipina Amazons

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:18:57 +0000

Vina Lanzona's new history book, Amazons of the Huk Rebellion, tells the many stories of Filipina women involved in the Huk Rebellion from the 1940s up to the 1950s. This is reviewed online at The PCIJ Blog.

Costa Rica: Carmen Naranjo, Writer and Politician, Dies

Oscar Howell — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 07:28:37 +0000

Carmen Naranjo (born Cartago, 1928) passed away last January 4. She was a writer and a woman engaged in politics in the 60s and 70s, something then uncommon in Latin America. She became Culture and Youth Minister of Costa Rica in 1974, and was the first woman appointed as a member of the Costa Rican Academy of the Spanish Language. Already a towering figure in Costa Rican culture, she became the Director of the Museum of Costa Rican Art and Chief Editor at Costa Rica University Press EDUCA.

Among the awards she received were the Order of Alfonso X El Sabio (Spain, 1977) and the Order to Academic Merit Gabriela Mistral (Chile, 1996). At least three of Naranjo's novels are regarded as key to Costa Rican Literature: Los Perros no ladraron (”The dogs didn't bark”) (1966), Diario de una Multitud (”Diary of a multitude”) (1974) and Ondina (1983).

Carmen Naranjo in 2008, photo by Julia Ardón, used with permission

Carmen Naranjo did not only represent the capacity of women to achieve positions of relevance in a traditional society, she was also a pioneer in her views about culture, literature and writing, and media and communications. She was an early proponent of gender equality in Costa Rica, which today has become law. Today Costa Rica has its first female president: Laura Chinchilla.

When asked in a 2008 interview with Ailyn Morera [es] what her contribution to culture was she responded:

He encontrado que lo fundamental es trabajar en términos universales dentro del país para que la cultura aunque sea un milímetro crezca en todo el territorio. Por eso encuentro que es indispensable que la cultura tenga medios modernos de comunicación. Considero la radio fundamental y también la televisión, las fuentes que fluyen del Internet y todas esas cosas que le permiten a la gente comunicarse y tener fácil acceso a la cultura, y al conocimiento universal. Todo lo que fortalezca el conocimiento debe ser implementado por eso es tan importante que las universidades se proyecten para valorar lo que las comunidades tienen y desarrollarlo. No se necesita sacar a la gente de sus sitios sino llegar a ellos y lograr encender la espiral del desarrollo.

I have found that what is fundamental is to work in universal terms in this country, so that culture will grow even a millimeter within the territory. That is why I think that it is essential that culture has modern communication tools. I think radio is fundamental and also television, and the sources that flow from the Internet and the tools that enable people to communicate and have easy access to culture and universal knowledge. Anything that strengthens knowledge must be implemented, that is why it is so important that universities spread out and value what the communities have and help develop it. It is not necessary to press people out of where they are, but instead reach them there and so be able to ignite the wreath of development.

As a writer Carmen Naranjo was a key figure during the change that Costa Rican society suffered in the decades starting in the 50s, after the collapse of the government of Calderón Guardia, and up until the early 80s. In Carmen's time, the country was defined by a conservative society and a rigid class system. The main literary trope was the honorable and sincere man of the countryside. It was a figure of simple wit and common sense, reflecting the idea that the upper class had of their origins and destiny.

Carmen Naranjo wrote from the attitudes of the new urban middle class, challenging the imaginary cherished by a society that was changing forever. The young urban people experienced the pressure of coming to terms with a new and diverse society, with politics that began to be pervaded by new ideas and upwardly moving young and ambitious politicians. Hers was a literature of rupture, protest and renovation.

Alfonso Chase, a fellow writer and friend, is quoted by Michelle Soto in La Nación [es]:

La aparición de Carmen Naranjo como poeta en los años 60 fue una revelación, pero también un rompimiento con la tradición literaria costarricense. Ya el campesino no era tan Magón ni tan Aquileo. Carmen era totalmente urbana y era una hija de la Segunda República. […]Era una mujer para ahora. Hubiera sido muy interesante en estos momentos porque este es el tiempo de los indignados.

The emergence of Carmen Naranjo as a poet in the Sixties was a revelation, but also a rupture with the literary tradition of Costa Rica. The peasant was not anymore so Magón [Manuel González Zeledón] or Aquileo [Aquileo J. Echeverría. Magón and Aquileo are the two authors that created the bucolic literary image of the Costa Rican peasant]. Carmen was totally urban and a daughter of the Second Republic […] She was a woman for today. She would be very appealing now in the time of the outraged. (See Notes below)

Benedicto Víquez writes about Carmen Naranjo in the blog El arte literario y su teoría [es]:

Sus personajes son innominados, se convierten en voces llenas de angustia, luchando por encontrarle sentido a la vida y la muerte, rescatando los instantes de felicidad en su larga lucha por sobrevivir en una sociedad llena de prejuicios, superficialidad, vacuidad y alienante […]

Her characters are unnamed and turned into voices filled with anguish, fighting to make sense of life and death, recovering the moments of joy from a long battle to survive in an alienating society full of prejudices, superficiality and emptiness.

Finally, Víquez writes in El arte literario y su teoría [es] about Naranjo's novel Los perros no ladraron:

Los personajes viven directamente la burocracia de la ciudad, se enfrentan crudamente a ella, en vivo, sufren la impotencia para resolver las más insignificantes diligencias, tales como buscar trabajo, ser atendidos por un empleado ante una solicitud, tan simple como pagar un recibo, sacar una cita, subir en un ascensor, caminar por la ciudad, aspirar a un ascenso, etc.

The characters experience the bureaucracy of the city directly, they face it crudely in the flesh, they suffer the impotency to resolve the most insignificant matters, like finding a job, receive attention from a clerk to a petition, simple issues like paying a bill, make an appointment, take an elevator, walk in the city, aim for a raise, etc.

Chile: Would Cheaper Books Promote More Reading?

Silvia Viñas — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:06:19 +0000

Enzo Abbagliati blogs [es] about a recurring discussion in Chile: removing or decreasing the IVA (value added tax) on books to promote more reading.

Ghana: Reading 52 Books in 50 Weeks

Ndesanjo Macha — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:09:36 +0000

Fiona reaches a milestone: 52 books in 50 weeks: “With two weeks to spare, today I reached my goal of reading fifty-two books for the year. A week ago I was beginning to wonder whether I would make it and then I discovered The Hunger Games and ploughed through three books in two days.”