Chautauqua, the literary journal of Chautauqua Institution, announces the release of issue 18, “Water.”
As we considered this theme we were interested in its eternal cycle—revolving through states of matter, states of being. The fact that all the water that ever existed on our planet still exists compelled us. Water is fundamental to our lives. It pulses in our blood, rejuvenates our cells, quenches our thirst. We fish and sail by the tides, drown in the flood of rising sea levels, suffer the droughts that devastate our crops, glory in the spring rains that resurrect the dormant natural world. The more than 50 writers in this issue embraced the theme and its challenges. Here, you will find work that explores these primordial motions, these fluctuations and fluidities that dominate our psyche and celebrate the lucidity of a moment, of a memory, of a dream: poetry by Margaret Donovan Bauer, Todd Davis, and Ace Boggess; insights into the restorative and destructive power of water by essayist/novelist Sayantani Dasgupta; flash fiction by Debra D. Daniel, Douglas Haynes, and Dion O’Reilly; an eclectic cover and the designer’s reflection on the art that inspired it.
Chautauqua’s sections reflect the convergence of art, literature, science, religion, philosophy, and leisure that happens every summer on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution. So, in Life of the Spirit, Evan Seay recounts a thrilling moment of self-discovery in Linville Gorge in “Crossing.” Betty J. Cotter meditates on her father’s unusual gift in “The Douser” in Life Lessons, while Sayantani Dasgupta adapts to living on a hurricane coast. In the lyrical metaphors of their poems, Bart Edelman—“Lost at Sea”—and Marty Ardery—“The Red Sea”—remind us how beauty and struggle often go hand in hand in Life at Leisure. Shitta Faruq Ademola, one of our Young Voices, finds profound pleasure at the edge of water: “As I Sit at the Shore, Joy Begins to Find My Palm the Way a Dog Finds Its Bone.” In Life in Art, Philip Gerard encounters “Waves of Memory” in two boyhood paintings that force him to reexamine what he believes to be true about his own life.
Chautauqua is an annual journal of creative writing built as an anthology. The writing expresses the values of Chautauqua Institution, broadly construed: a sense of inquiry into questions of personal, social, political, spiritual, and aesthetic importance. Each issue has a theme, explored through the philosophical pillars of Chautauqua Institution: art, spirit, education/learning, and leisure
Supported by Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua is produced at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The journal considers the work of any writer, whether or not they are affiliated with Chautauqua Institution—except for board members of the Chautauqua Writers’ Center and current faculty, students, and staff at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (unless directly solicited for special features).
To buy the Water issue (as well as back issues of Chautauqua) visit the Chautauqua Bookstore on-grounds at Chautauqua Institution or order online via the Chautauqua Bookstore, https://www.chautauquabookstore.com/shop/books/journal/issue-18.
Comments