Art is not a mirror held up to
reality but a hammer with which to shape it.
---Bertolt Brecht
For the artist, the color, the
bouquet, the tinkling of the spoon on the saucer, are things in the highest
degree. He stops at the quality of the sound or the form. He returns to it
constantly and is enchanted with it.
― Jean-Paul Sartre
Hi there!
The February edition of Setu
comes packed with its usual colours and creative and emotional energies
unleashed by the verbal and pictorial units of aesthetic significance for a
jaded age!
This month showcases the
powerful modes of Concrete/ Vispo and Politiku poetry---works that are both
powerful and unsettling in their visual appeal, structure and enduring impact.
The effect that lingers on
post-reading, like the fragrance of a fine perfume!
Art here, at its best in
recording and registering reality as perceived by a mind in a spell of creation
of beauty.
Part of a long tradition,
political poetry especially, is meant to challenge the status quo through
radical tones---to unsettle, with shades of Brecht colouring the words of such
voices impatient for a change.
Here, in the current issue,
another assemblage of fine imagery and innovative styles and designs that
inaugurate new vistas of looking.
Some brilliant stuff!
Guest-edited by the
exceptional Jerome Berglund, the concluding two-part segment
of Master Series brings together some stunning short-form poems that engage
with urgent concerns of an age of fractured ideals and new realities that are
scary.
Talking of these
"consequential projects" and their effect, young Jerome says, in his
thoughtful email message:
They have meant the world to
participants and interested readers, from laymen to highly influential figures
in international community, I think this is an initiative which will truly be
remembered long into the future, and that perhaps we made some significant
contributions to understanding and exploring important subjects and concepts
that break new ground yet to be examined outside of the tradition's native
environment...
We remain indebted to Jerome
Berglund and all the poets and authors featured in this collector's item for
you: Lot of exciting works, visual, poetic and audio-visual.
Jerome’s editorial is a master
class on engaged literature, Litt├йrature engage, in the Sartrean sense
of the critical term.
The other select works, too,
expand on this idea of commitment and discharge their moral obligation as
writers desiring change in society through artistic intervention.
Hope to catch up soon, dear
reader---with another interesting and relevant project, another edition.
With very best wishes,
Warmly,
Sunil Sharma,
Managing Editor, Setu (English)
