In Soundings: why the Johnson government marks the beginning of a peculiarly English form of populism. Also, the first in a new series on ‘other Europe’; the chances of the radical left in the EU; what social critique can learn from neurobiology; on the political possibilities of song; ‘queer comrades’ and much more.
The history journal remembers bitter fights over Belarusian territories after WWI and recalls the ambiguous legacy of a nationalist icon. Also, German propaganda and psychological warfare in Belarus between 1941 and 1944.
Political polarization, populism, conflicting narratives, economic and generational changes: New Eastern Europe assesses the challenges of the new decade from the perspective of the West’s relations with Russia.
Belgian journal Culture & Démocratie devotes a special issue to the theme of the camp and its broad range of meanings, including refugee camps, detention centres and concentration camps.
Esprit asks how the idea of universalism fares in a globalized society attuned to difference, diversity and inequality.
Peter Handke’s new novella ‘The Second Sword’ has just been published and his play ‘Zdeněk Adamec’ will open the Salzburger Festspiele in July. The Czech literary monthly reviews last year’s controversy and lets posterity be the judge of Handke’s work.
War veterans, discredited identities, pride and denial: Czas Kultury explores how the arts can help reframe the public perception of physical difference.
Dialogi analyses superhero narratives East and West: from Slovene romanticism to post-communist spoof and the neo-con blockbuster.
Revista Critíca looks at imprisonment from the position of the incarcerated. How do inmates in different countries and prison systems ‘articulate themselves, in the widest sense of the word – expressively, corporeally, physically and relationally – in conditions of social death?’
The cover of the Samtiden shows a heavy steel door and the words ‘Does prison work?’ The contributors – jurists, philosophers and social scientists – generally answer that question in the negative. Asked to define which single change to the current system they would prioritize, most favour gentler punishments with emphasis on rehabilitation in a humane setting. Not for sex crimes though.
‘What kind of music would Beethoven have composed had his hearing stayed normal throughout his life? It is an impossible but thought-provoking question. The only certainty is that it would have been another, a different kind.’ Syn og Segn focuses on musical expression and its capacity for articulating emotion.
Sweden’s Ministry of Culture recently decided to decentralize arts policy in order to ‘democratize support for the arts’. What on the face of it may seem a positive move has produced mixed results – not least because the far-right Sweden Democrats have gained control of several local and regional authorities. ‘Ord&Bild’ features ‘Culture workers against Fascism’.
Index on Censorship looks at machismo as a political category. Resisting the suffocation of dissent in the era of the internet means standing up ‘for the principles of freedom and democracy all the time, not just when they affect you’, comments editor-in-chief Rachael Jolley.
Slovak journal Kritika & Kontext reflects on present-day discontents and the anti-war poetry of Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav.
In Flemish journal rekto:verso: post-digitality and the new normal, invisible labour and the internet; gaming as public sphere; and the radical self-absorption of Instapoets.
In Welsh journal O’r Pedwar Gwynt: Iris Murdoch in Russia, the lessons of J.M. Coetzee, narcissism and politics, and stories from both sides of the Berlin Wall.