Satura

A Moment of Silence

2023-03-29T12:54:44+02:00

How often are comic book readers confronted with the phrase “Aren’t you too old to read comic books?” or with being called “geek” or “nerd” for liking them? Also, in academic circles, even though the numbers of academic studies on comic books has increased in recent years, it is not yet established and unified as a critical field, partially because of its multimodality, but also because of its conceptualization as being a lowbrow genre in the literary field.

Mirroring Contemporary Society: A Dystopian Critique of Power Dynamics and Social Injustice in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games

2023-05-03T11:50:41+02:00

For centuries, visions of the future have been intriguing concepts for scholars and researchers alike, especially during times of crisis. Wars, global pandemics, or natural catastrophes can prompt us to take notice of the inequalities still prevalent in the present, to question the status quo and to imagine alternative futures where such injustices no longer exist. Literature is a suitable resource for experiencing contemporary imaginations of the future, set either in a utopian place, where everything is better than in our society today, or one where everything is worse—the dystopia.

Feminism and Ethnic Identity in the Paratexts of Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior

2023-05-26T17:37:42+02:00

In 1976, Maxine Hong Kingston published her first book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. Born in the US to Chinese immigrants and influenced by feminism, she mixes memories from her childhood with Chinese stories and legends her mother told her. Blending fiction with non-fiction, Hong Kingston cites Walt Whitman and Virginia Woolf as influences on her work, appreciating their inclusive language, which deals with “all kinds of people,” regardless of gender or heritage (Fishkin 784). The Woman Warrior became an immediate success, winning the 1976 National Book Critics Circle Award. Journalist and college professor Jess Row says: “When I query my first-year college students about books most of them have read, The Woman Warrior falls somewhere between Beloved, Romeo and Juliet, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” (Row). What puts The Woman Warrior in a group with these other famous works? The continuing re-publications and abundance of freshly written reviews show the momentum surrounding Hong Kingston’s work from 1976 to today.

With a Grain of Salt

2023-05-31T21:53:53+02:00

It is a truth universally acknowledged that having completed a seemingly conventional novel, writers often resort to trickery to keep the readers engaged in the narrative. Whilst some authors may eavesdrop on multiple focalizers, others wallow in a shallow stream of consciousness. The subtlest, however, do neither, and yet exceed all the rest. James Salter, (1925–2015) an American novelist ofmoderate renown, belongs to the latter category.

Nonfiction section

2024-01-19T17:32:02+01:00

artwork

Photograph

2024-01-19T17:39:24+01:00

Photo by Toranj Nasiri

‘Moving and Meeting’ to Action

2023-05-17T19:08:39+02:00

In 2015, when large numbers of people began fleeing war in Syria, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that she would allow a million refugees into her country, uttering the much debated words “Wir schaffen das!” (We can do this!”). Politicians faced many dilemmas in 2015 and all across Europe, policy makers eventually admitted to having made mistakes. Addressing new challenges and past failures, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson told the press in March 2022, that politicians have learned lessons from their mistakes. It can thus be assumed that this time in Europe “we can do this better” with the millions of Ukrainian refugees, possibly with the help of civil society again. It is in fact civil society that is often anxious to maintain the momentum of the search for sustainable solutions for refugees. This paper closely examines the local voluntary association ‘Move and Meet’ that was originally founded in 2016 in Münster, Germany, soon after the 2015 refugee crisis to support and include female migrants through physical activity into society. It will be argued that for the new wave that includes mostly Ukrainian women, it is beneficial to look at successful examples of civil society initiatives that were established to help female migrants who arrived to Europe in 2015. It is through these players that the game’s momentum can be kept up so that politicians this time may exclaim: “We can win this!”.

Intervening in the Colonial Past

2023-04-11T12:51:15+02:00

Postcolonial studies was first coined as a term for academic purposes in the 1960s. In their early years, postcolonial
studies primarily focused on critical engagement with literature and revealing the impact of colonization in everyday life. The Survival Handbook of the Portuguese Discoverers in the Anti-Colonial World belongs to this kind
of literature. The book was published in Brazil (Edições Macondo) in October 2020, and it was later published in Portugal (Douda Correria) in December of that same year. The Survival Handbook, which has not yet been translated into English or German, makes a relevant critique that postcolonial studies need to investigate. In this article, I present the book’s postcolonial critique.

Creative Writing Section

2024-01-18T14:57:31+01:00

artwork

Death on Sale

2023-03-31T19:02:18+02:00

Short story

Lineage No. 2

2024-01-19T17:42:58+01:00

Linocut by Laura Ntoumanis

My Amma, Bhopal

2023-03-30T20:02:38+02:00

Creative writing

Galcom

2023-04-08T17:04:50+02:00

Short story and photography

The internet told me that I was like a shark

2023-03-28T17:25:16+02:00

Creative writing

Poetry Section

2024-01-25T11:49:27+01:00

artwork

Sirens

2023-08-04T16:11:08+02:00

Poem

special operation

2023-03-31T22:13:59+02:00

Poem

Harness-Racing With A Train

2023-04-13T22:06:08+02:00

Poem

Wandering Wind

2023-05-28T14:33:38+02:00

Poem

first there’s nothing, then comes the blooming

2023-03-30T21:12:05+02:00

Poem

Light Memory

2023-03-31T15:14:11+02:00

Poem

Phone Me on Telegram or Budapest

2023-06-03T13:58:32+02:00

Poem and photography

Reviewing Translated Literature in the United States

2023-05-22T18:34:02+02:00

Translations are a staple of many national literary scenes around the globe. However, while around 80 percent of all translations published between 2000 and 2009 were from an English original, only around 8 percent of them were into English (Bellos 210). When compared to the American publishing landscape, the central market in the Anglosphere, only about 3 percent of all publications are works in translation, a statistic also known as the Three Percent Problem (Sapiro 242). Many readers and researchers share “the view that reading literature from other countries is vital to maintaining a vibrant book culture and to increasing the exchange of ideas among cultures” (“About Three Percent”).

2024-01-18T15:16:20+01:00

Table of Contents

About the Journal section

2024-02-21T11:39:56+01:00

artwork

Volume 5 Staff

2024-02-21T11:43:01+01:00

Staff bios

About the journal

2024-02-21T11:46:33+01:00

About Satura & How to Contribute

Acknowledgements

2024-02-21T11:52:15+01:00

Acknowledgements

Front Matter

2024-01-18T14:34:13+01:00

Title page, explanation about artwork in the volume, and Letter from the Editor