Dear Reader,
We are excited to announce the second issue of RevUU: A journal to highlight new, critical voices in the literary space! RevUU is being continued as a passion project to host new voices by students from Literature Today, a Masters programme at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. In view of this Spring Issue we have updated our logo and freshened up the website to reflect on the season and add a new reading experience to all of you. The new issue will be released on May 7th, on the same day as our launch event!
Like in our last issue, RevUU still aims to be a diverse and inclusive platform where graduate students and aspiring writers can comfortably find their own voice while also being supported by other students and faculty. Moreover, we have opened up to writers from outside of the university by having an open paper call and have been able to gain more perspectives from outside of our Literature Today students, some quite international. Adding to that, we wanted to platform some of our own Dutch writers as well. That’s why we’ve decided to provide you with a bilingual experience which aims to enrich our inclusive message. Our theme this issue as well is very fitting to this message: “The Tastemakers of The Future,” to highlight some new voices in writing that will undoubtedly have an effect on the development of the literary landscape.
We have a wide variety of topics for this issue. For example, Annika van Leeuwen has written about the dehumanisation of motherhood in literature, and how for example The New Wilderness bridges the gap between motherhood and personhood. Iulia Ivana looks critically at capitalism and millennial fiction in her article “Wreck or be Wrecked”. Our international submission by Mery Świątkowska’s highlights the reading experience she had when reading Rebecca in a playful manner that resembles a stream of consciousness. The discussion about translation in view of the recent Gorman / Rijneveld debate is looked at in Kayleigh Herber’s article from a translator’s perspective. Mikołaj Bać shares a personal account of the impact books and love have had on his life from an early age in his personal essay. Solitude and how it influences humanity and literature in light of the 2020 pandemic is explored by Ella van Driel. In “G is for Grief” Jane Singer shares emotional stories about her life and how H is for Hawk helped her with processing her grief. Similarly there is also Lea Dokter’s “Stories of My Life” which focuses on the power of stories in relation to her family and, as the title says, her life.
Leda Serikoglu’s inventive and visual poem will be among our new creative writing submissions.
Furthermore, we will be hosting several reviews in this issue. Kris van der Voorn’s review on Tsitsi Dangarembga’s This Mournable Body, describes the experience of reading the novel and the importance of identity. Annick Smithers’ review of Weather explores the escapism of the novel and its playful writing style. Alyssa Vreeken’s review on The Gilded Ones discusses the representation within the novel and looks forward to the potential the rest of the trilogy might bring. For our Dutch language articles we have Lydia Fris’ review of Efter that looks at the importance of interpersonal relations, and Jane Singer’s review of the novel of our event’s guest Emma van Meyeren, Ook Ik Ben Stukgewaaid.
Additionally, we would like to thank Mia You, Jane Singer and Paul Bijl for their enthusiastic support and for making it possible to work on this second issue together.
All of these topics and articles can be found in our second Issue which we can’t wait to share with you. We hope you’ll be inspired by what we have prepared for you and can’t wait for your participation in the launch event which will take place on the 7th of May (email us at revuumagazine@gmail.com or contact us on our social media for more information on the event).
We sincerely hope you enjoy the first Spring Issue!
On behalf of our RevUU Board,
Mikołaj Bać and Ella van Driel, Chief editors
RevUU 