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Glossia - how does your language inspire you? The creative writing languages journal for Bristol University's linguists, home to prose, poetry, travel writing, photography and literary translation in Czech, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
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glossia creative modern languages journal
SEASONS autumn 2012
issue 3
glossia creative modern languages journal
how does your
language inspire you?
cover photo
Baguette Delivery, La Vendée Corinne Andrew
p.4
Lluvia y seca, chili y limón Tereza Bauerova
p.6
Seasons are a Cultural Phenomenon Emilia Morano-Williams
p.10
Los Descendientes del Cielo Thomas Web
seasons
inside…
p.12
La Maîtresse Blanche Matthew Jones-Parry
p.14
‘Ласточка’, by Алексей Плещеев translation by Isobel Allen
p.16
in the next issue submission guidelines
edited by
Hannah Scott
¿Qué es lo que más
extraño de México?
El que cuando sale el sol,
hace tanto calor que puedo
caminar en sandalias todo
el día.
El que cuando llueve, se
inundan las calles y por
unos momentos, toda la
vida en la ciudad se para.
El que cuando como tacos
con salsa picante, me
enchilo, mis labios arden y
mi boca está a punto de
escupir fuego.
Lluvia y seca, chile y limón
El queso. Tortillas de maíz.
Lonches de chorizo.
Licuados de fruta tropical.
Agua fresca de horchata
con fresa. Nieves raspadas
de todos los sabores. El
tequila, por supuesto.
Comer todo, hasta frutas,
con chile y limón.
La música popular, de
mala calidad y pésima letra,
la que les gusta a todos
pero todos tienen
vergüenza de admitirlo.
La música clásica, casi
desconocida, sofisticada y
exótica. Conciertos a cielo
abierto.
La gente, los encuentros,
las locuras, los viajes, las
vistas, las mañanas, las
noches…
La intensidad de la
vida, en fin.
Tereza Bauerova
Autumn: kids running back to school, perfect foliage, the smell of
cinnamon and apples on a chilly evening, a crackling fireplace and
large sweaters. These images fill our minds and fill our adverts.
Every year they woo me without fail and seduce me into thinking
that I love autumn. That is, until the cold, dark reality hits and I want
to pull said large sweater over my ears in a futile quest for warmth.
Since I have no plans in to move to California, Australia or anyplace
where summer and spring are the dominant seasons, I decided this
year that autumn and I should try to work out our troubles.
Unfortunately, it’s not simply a matter of deciding that I’ll find a
way to enjoy the longer nights and chillier mornings. No, during my
time abroad at Bristol and now in Italy I’ve come to realize that
seasons aren’t a simply meteorological phenomenon, but a cultural
one as well. If a Brit were to go to New England, they wouldn’t find
their perfect fall. If an Italian were to go to England, it wouldn’t feel
like autumn. When this American goes to England and Italy, she
doesn’t always know what to think when the season begins. My
Seasons are a Cultural Phenomenon
childhood fall memories are filled with white New England churches,
red leaves and pumpkin patches; English kids get bon fire night and
dark, rainy afternoons. The kids in Italy, let’s just say they aren’t
making leaf garlands or drinking pumpkin spice lattes.
The world may be flattening out, but autumn retains its national
character more than any other season. Fall holidays starkly manifest
these differences. In America there’s the long weekend for
Thanksgiving. In England, there’s Guy Fawkes and in Italy they
celebrate All Souls Day. In America Halloween is important. In
England you simply must dress up in a scary costume and in Italy the
holiday is a novel, foreign idea that is divorced from their culture and
the right way of being.
I’ve always found the big holidays easy to forego. It’s the small
moments that make me miss my childhood understanding of fall and
yearn for the comforts of my own culture and country. It’s those
Sunday afternoons when I want to make pumpkin butter or apple pie
that I feel like I’m missing out on the season. Talking to friends,
family and reading magazines remind me of the seasonal rites that
my new country doesn’t participate in. The images and seasonal
That’s the biggest struggle with living abroad: the fear of missing
out. After all, isn’t everyone in England right now? Aren’t they going to
class, trying to get a spot in the library, talking to professors, sitting in
Boston Tea Party and going on epic nights out? They might be, then
again, they might not be.
Autumn might not be that different if I was in England or
America. It might just be the possibility of participating in stereotypical
stereotypes of an American fall didn’t necessarily show up in my
childhood, but haunt me now.
Autumn in England makes sense to me; the weather is perfect for
staying inside and spending time with loved ones. It’s as if the country
exists in a perpetual autumn with ubiquitous grey skies. Italy, however,
has always meant summer to me, eating alfresco and sipping on peach
iced tea. Italy doesn’t have rows and rows of trees changing color and
dropping their leaves on streets to remind you that cooler weather is
settling in. I miss those small tokens. Even though I have my music
that screams fall, even though I have chillier days, dark mornings and
fall vegetables, I feel like something is going on without me.
Author’s Note: I did end up having a lovely autumn in Italy and, while it was
devoid of pumpkin picking, clap board churches and apple pie, it was filled with
cinnamon, the smell of roasting chestnuts and even a trip to Venice in the offseason.
fall activities that keeps me happy. Seasons are a shared cultural
understanding more than a day on the calendar. After all, if it can
snow in fall and be warm in winter, there isn’t much that the weather
can do to determine our understanding of the year and of seasons.
So, while everyone else is enjoying their hot apple cider,
pumpkin pie and clapboard churches, I’ll be in Italy, trying to make
my own autumn 2012 as memorable as possible. I have no idea what
form that might take, but at least there’s one thing that I had right
now that nowhere else has: the offseason in Venice.
Emilia Morano-Williams
El mar, lleno de verano
El alba perezosa, esparciendo sus rayos entre las olas.
El viento viejo, inagotable
Aguanta el peso infinito de las aves.
Zumbando entre las nubes, la mañana del periodo de celo.
Los Descendientes del Cielo
No queda más que el parloteo de los pájaros
El ruido profundo de las olas
Quebrándose en la orilla.
Los acantilados, labrados por el agua
Lugar de calor, de refugio, de amor
Guardianes de esta vida precaria.
La hora de comer.
El nido, colocado en el precipicio de la Tierra
Una vez morada pacífica
En las riñas de la juventud, ahogado.
Se acerca el crepúsculo
Se acerca la tormenta.
Los Descendientes del Cielo
Thomas Webb
la maîtresse
blanche
La neige est une dame, ainsi belle que mortelle,
La Mort en douceur, sous son voile de blancheur.
Son corps est léger, reluisant de diamants,
La Sirène amoureuse a une étreinte tueuse.
Matthew Jones-Parry
Алексей Плещеев
Травка зеленеет, Солнышко блестит; Ласточка с весною В сени к нам летит.
С нею солнце краше
И весна милей... Прощебечь с дороги
Нам привет скорей!
Дам тебе я зерен; А ты песню спой
Что из стран далеких Принесла с собой.
Ласточка
The grass is going green The sun is shining; To us in the spring time The swallow is flying. With her the sun’s more beautiful And the spring’s much more sweet, As down from her journey A greeting she tweets. I’ll give you grain, And a song you will sing, Which from some distant country The swallow did bring.
The Swallow
Isobel Allen
contact us –
[email protected] www.issuu.com/glossia www.facebook.com/GlossiaJournal
edited by Hannah Scott
submission guidelines
creative writing Literary submissions are welcomed in any genre, in Czech, French, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese and Spanish, and should be no more than 1500 words. Please send a short summary in English along too.
literary translation Translations should be into English from any of the above languages, and should be no more than 1500 words in length. Please send a copy of the original text along with your translation.
travel writing In any of the above languages or in English, no more than 1500 words.
art/photography please send as a .jpg
