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Literature and the Body
Cairo, 17-21 May, 2012 Now in its third edition, the Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival this year explores the long-standing but inexhaustible relationship between "literature and the body." The body has been present through centuries of literature as an object of constant attention, undergoing continuous changes, but without losing its freshness and its ability to amaze us. From the erotic fairy tale, passing through myriad different approaches, literature has been the forerunner in revealing the deepest hidden fantasies of each era, often defying social convention, and when it hits the mark, it has given us bodies (Polyphemus, Gulliver, ET...) that once encountered remain in our memory forever. And today? To paraphrase the title of a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver, what is it we talk about when we talk about the body, in our modern times? |
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Just like "humour" and "city" - the themes addressed in previous editions – "body" is a word-world: its use, rather than defining and circumscribing a concept, pushes knowledge towards unknown horizons. It evokes strong emotions like desire or fear; it tickles the imagination. Much depends, however, on who talks about it and how. If in private chats the body can be discussed freely in all its nuances, even making fun of it, public discourse tends to harden and stiffen it, defining it within solemn categories that are functional to dominant ideologies, invented differences, imposed models.
Literature overturns and dissolves these oppositions, rendering them harmless. It shuffles layers of discourse, follows oggedly its vocation to raise issues, to dare, force boundaries, broaden the scope of research with every means at its disposal. Whether through the language of protest or through poetic embellishment, through invention or testimony or metaphor, in literature the body regains its suppleness and its innumerable facets, and eludes the banality of stereotypes.
Literature overturns and dissolves these oppositions, rendering them harmless. It shuffles layers of discourse, follows oggedly its vocation to raise issues, to dare, force boundaries, broaden the scope of research with every means at its disposal. Whether through the language of protest or through poetic embellishment, through invention or testimony or metaphor, in literature the body regains its suppleness and its innumerable facets, and eludes the banality of stereotypes.
There is probably no vision more different, from one side to the other of the Mediterranean, from country to country, than that of the body. So it will be more interesting than ever this year to hear the voices from different cultural backgrounds, incited in different ways to probe themselves and each other. The usefulness of our “gaze upon the other” will be called into question, starting from the experience of authors who have drawn materials for their texts from countries where they have lived or visited, but which are not theirs. And although we shall inevitably encounter texts -apparently the majority – whose
aim is to demand the body’s right to express itself despite the natural or social aggressions to which it is regularly subjected, our research will be more oriented towards the courage to depict the body and its manifestations as it strives for happiness, an ode to “joie de vivre”.
The theatrical reading form seems to us particularly suitable for this edition, where the text is elevated by the physicality of the“rap-rep”. There will also be conferences for deeper reflection, face-to-face or virtual encounters between authors, visual support in the form of two major exhibitions dedicated to the body and films and documentaries, as well as interactive seminars and book presentations. All of these, we hope, will make for discussion that is as vibrant and vital as the body itself.
Stefania Angarano
Baad El Bahr - Cultural Association
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