Samovar: magazine of speculative fiction in translation seeks submissions

Samovar submission guidelines:

Samovar is a quarterly magazine of and about speculative fiction in translation, published by Strange Horizons.

What do they want?

Samovar encourages and welcomes submissions from all languages, and by individuals from groups or backgrounds that have historically been marginalized and/or under-represented within speculative fiction. Please don't self-reject; we want to consider your work! 

All submissions should be made through our Moksha page, here. Translations submitted to Samovar may also be considered for publication in Strange Horizons. If you're sending us a submission and don't want it forwarding to Strange Horizons, please let us know in your cover letter. Feel free to send any queries to samovar@strangehorizons.com.

They pay! Details for submissions and payments follow for these categories:

• Short stories
• Poetry
• Non-fiction
• Review-essays
• Interviews/Conversations

Gregor Benton on the proletarian Esperanto movement

I vaguely recall the name Gregor Benton from somewhere; I assume he surfaced somewhere in my erstwhile study of the history of Trotskyism. I see that he is a specialist on China and that he has published on Chinese Trotskyism, Maoism, and Chinese communism overall.

I am familiar with Jacobin magazine. In a country where the very name of Marx is taboo, Jacobin is the most widely known Marxist magazine in the country, "widely" being a relative term but at least not totally invisible among the intellectual reading public. Many years ago, when the magazine was still in gestation, at least one person involved in it was interested in interviewing me on C.L.R. James, but this never materialized.

Nobody in the USA, on the left or otherwise, cares about Esperanto, so I was quite surprised when this article surfaced in Jacobin and by which author:

"Communism in Words" by Gregor Benton

"A brief history of Esperanto, the language intimately tied to the common destiny of the working class."

I can imagine the horror of many American Esperantists to see Esperanto associated with communism in this way, though there are some who have mentioned the proletarian Esperanto movement as an historical phenomenon. Benton's father, who fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War, defended Esperanto to comrades who dismissed it, using the phrase "communism in words" (which I have never seen anywhere else). Gregor himself learned Esperanto and delivered a euology to his father in Esperanto for the Catalan Esperanto Association.

This is a very good article, with a good historical overview and an objective assessment, advocating Esperanto in a realistic way without hype and cultism, and even with his particular interest as a man of the left.

Benton provides a capsule summary of Zamenhof and of the Esperanto movement's history and present status, then launches into the history of the proletarian Esperanto movement and the hostility engendered in reaction to the various causes that embraced Esperanto. Benton mentions the leading international organization, Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda (World Anationalist Association, "SAT" for short), its erstwhile collaboration with the USSR, the eventual Stalinist break with SAT, and the breakaway pro-Moscow Internacio de Proletaj Esperantistoj (International of Proletarian Esperantists).

Benton then covers the persecution of Esperantists by the Nazis and the Stalin regime and its eventual satellite regimes. (Esperanto had a significant presence before the Great Purges. I do not recall the Communist International ever endorsing Esperanto''s rival Ido, though I do remember Ido was part of the mix.) With de-Stalinization, the Esperanto movement was revived in the Soviet bloc, and its association there with the "peace movement" was a vehicle for Esperanto to thrive.

Benton also outlines the history of Esperanto in China, its early association with anarchism and communism. He mentions also the Japanese woman Hasegawa Teru (known by the Esperanto pseudonym "Verda Majo" = Green May) who was to join with the Chinese against Japanese aggression. In Maoist China, Esperanto was initially suppressed, then tolerated, then later, even while under suspicion during the Cultural Revolution, was widely used by the regime for Maoist propaganda. The Esperanto movement thrived in the post-Mao era, but its strength has vacillated.

Finally, Benton tackles the future prospects of Esperanto, with respect to the global changes that have transpired since its early days and what this means for the role and fate of the language -- in recent decades the effects of the fall of the Soviet bloc, the decreased reliance on traditional Esperantist membership organizations, and the rise of online communication. Esperanto thrives in the digital age, and the values it represents are as relevant as ever.

As You Like It in Esperanto: Washington, DC, 1910

2010 was the 100th anniversary of the 6th Universal Congress of Esperanto in Washington, DC, which Zamenhof himself attended. It was reported in the daily press of all of the major Washington newspapers. I researched this and related matters extensively and reported on it during the centennial year, in an interview on National Public Radio, a talk with slide show at the annual national congress of Esperanto USA in the Washington area, and in a similar talk as a part of a symposium at the UN on Zamenhof's birthday, at which Esperanto-speaker George Soros made a surprise appearance.

Some of my documentation can be found in a special section of my web site:

Esperanto, Vaŝingtono, & la Mondo / Esperanto, Washington, & the World — Jubileo / Centennial — 2010

The Esperanto press of course reported on the congress as well.  Here is my outline of the contents, with links to some specific items, of:

Amerika Esperantisto, vol. 8, no. 3, Oct. 1910

Note that Shakespeare's play As You Like It -- Kiel Plaĉas al Vi -- was performed in Esperanto translation by non-Esperantist actors on Tuesday, August 16, the third day of the conference.

A series of Shakespeare's plays was promised for the 1907 Universal Congress in Cambridge, UK:

Shakespeare in Esperanto, The New York Times, April 10, 1907

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC posted an article from its web site on Facebook on May 11:

As You Like It in Esperanto: Washington, DC, 1910, by Sarah Hovde, November 16, 2015

As they say, it's a small world, also because I live in the same neighborhood as the Folger Shakespeare Library, and my late beloved Evelyn, the 12th anniversary of whose death is today, was a Shakespeare buff and a volunteer there.

The library's catalog entry lists the date of the play's performance by the Hickamen Players as August 15, I will have to check other sources to confirm whether it was the 15th or 16th. Hovde extensively documents the performance, with links to reports in the American press. Bravo!

According to her report, this was the Hickman Players' first (and last) play performed in Esperanto, the first Esperanto play performed in the USA, and the first Esperanto translation of As You Like It.

The translation can be accessed and downloaded from Google Books:

Kiel plaĉas al vi: komedio en kvin aktoj de William Shakespeare; tradukis Dro. Ivy Kellerman [Reed]; speciale tradukita por, kaj ludita ce La Sesa Internacia Kongreso de Esperanto. Washington, D.C., USONO: La Sesa Internacia Kongreso de Esperanto, 1910.

Some time ago I was asked by Humphrey Tonkin to research what other documentation I could dig up on this. Maybe someday...

Zamenhof in Washington revisited

In 2010, the occasion of the centennial of Dr. Zamenhof's participation in the first Universal Congress of Esperanto to be held in the USA, in Washington, DC, I lectured twice on this topic and was even interviewed on National Public Radio. All this is documented on this blog.

In preparing for these lectures, I scoured the Washington newspapers and documented their extensive reportage of this event.

The blog Imp of the Diverse has several posts on coverage of Esperanto in the press in its early years. The latest post, posted today, is . . .

1910: Zamenhof to Arrive in Washington

Here we find a bit of background, a newspaper photo (reproduced here), and some snippets from the press and from Zamenhof's correspondence in anticipation of the 1910 Universal Congress.

Imp of the Diverse & Esperanto

There are several entries of interest on Esperanto on the blog Imp of the Diverse. Some interesting posts, especially news clippings from the distant past:

The Illegal Language

Esperanto: A Last and Desperate Attempt for Volapuk?

How Do You Say "Goodbye" in Volapük?

International Languages, A New One Every Day

How Do You Say "Stop or I'll Shoot" in Esperanto?

If We Don't Get the Golfers, We're Doomed!

William Sanders Scarborough & Volapük in the Black Press

William Sanders Scarborough (1852-1926) was one of the most outstanding of outstanding Black American intellectuals of the 19th and early 20th centuries, individual scholars who, because of the dire predicament of Black Americans, assumed all the roles a Black professional person could fill: writer, educator, professor, administrator, civil rights advocate and leader . . .Scarborough was born into slavery and rose to become a leading scholar of the Greek and Latin classics and president of Wilberforce University.

Scarborough was resurrected from the forgetfulness of history with the publication of two books, edited by Michele Valerie Ronnick: The Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough: An American Journey From Slavery to Scholarship (2005) and The Works of William Sanders Scarborough: Black Classicist and Race Leader (2006).

In 2010, in the course of preparing a lecture on the 100th anniversary of the Universal Esperanto Congress in Washington, DC, in addition to researching the mainstream American press for relevant articles, I decided to search the databases of the Black press for reports on Esperanto and the quest for an international language. Here are the articles on Volapük, now on my web site:

• Volapük in the Black Press, 1888 
• Volapuk (Chicago Defender, 1911)

Note that the two signed articles, from August 1888, were authored by Scarborough. Given that Esperanto saw the light of day only in 1887, 1888 was apparently too soon for the American philological community to compare it to Volapük. (I don't recall when Esperanto first captured attention of someone in the anglophone world. It did not take long.)

I found another reference to Volapük in Scarborough's Works. Here is the quote with the bibliographical information on the original publication. Note also that this article was written in the heat of the imperialist scramble to carve up Africa:

The influence of civilization is a mighty lever in shaping the destiny of language. Dialects crumble before it, and the diversity of tongues drifts toward unity. The language of the intelligent must supersede, wholly or in part, that of the unintelligent wherever they come in contact, either by displacing it or fashioning it after its own mold. As the weaker languages and dialects of Europe have disappeared before the light of intelligence, so will the languages and dialects of Africa drop out of existence, one by one, it may be, as the same influence shall quicken and permeate the people. One by one will the stronger swallow up the weak, until the speech of the dominant people shall prevail, jargon first, perhaps, extinction later. Doubtless many more dialects than now exist have passed away, some of them leaving not a relic behind to tell the story of their existence, while of others bare skeletons of speech may be found here and there, but hardly enough to indicate their linguistic relations. The forces that produced these changes are still at work, but in a greater degree; and, though we can make no definite statement as to the results growing out of the invasion of Africa by foreign languages, yet again we believe that the inflectional will survive the uninflectional languages of the world. No artificial language can stand the test of time. In fact, it will hardly gain a foothold, but like Volapük, will die in its infancy. 5 [footnote clarifying Volapük] 

SOURCE: Works, p. 242. Original source: "Function and future of foreign languages in Africa," Methodist Review 76, November-December 1894, pp. 890-899.

International Language Review (1955-1968)

Jen la koncernaj retligoj:

International Language Review (issues listing + selected contents)

• “Signs and Symbols Could Have Saved the World” by Floyd Hardin
• Language and the Rhetorical Representation of Life by Floyd Hardin
• Circular: Letter to Floyd Hardin, October 3, 1958 from Mario Pei
• Quest for World Language Called Brawling Competition

50 numeroj de International Language Review estis eldonataj sub tiu titolo inter 1955 & 1968. Poste la redakcio, titolo, kaj karaktero de la revuo ŝanĝiĝis:

International Language Reporter, Vol. XV, 1^st Quarter 1969, No. 51. Continues International Language Review, incorporating Biophilist. Editor: John Ragsdale. Denver. Quarterly. Vols.15-16 (no. 51-58); 1st quarter 1969 - 4th quarter 1970.

Eco-Logos, vol. XVII, 1^st quarter 1971, no. 59. Continues International Language Reporter. Quarterly. Vols. 17-25 (no. 59-94); 1971-1979.

Mankas en mia kolekto n-roj 1, 3, 20, 22. Eventuale mi enretigos pluajn enhavaĵojn kiuj interesas min.

Estis/as multaj frenezuloj en la internacilingvaj movadoj. Ne ĉiuokaze temas pri iom da troa idealismo kaj utopiismo kaj manko de realismo, sed efektiva stulteco, ofte ligata al religia mesiismo. Floyd Hardin, redaktoro de la iama grava interlingvistika revuo International Language Review [Internacilingva Revuo], ŝajnas tia homo:

“Signs and Symbols Could Have Saved the World” [Signoj kaj simboloj povus esti savintaj la mondon]

Pluraj tiaj homoj aperis en tiu revuo, eĉ leteroj al usona prezidento Kennedy ligante universalan lingvon al disvastigo de kristana usona civilizacio. Do, frenezuloj.

Rimarku, ke mi aldonis kelkajn eksterajn retligojn al mia enhavopaĝo. Plejparte ili estas artikoloj el la revuo sub iu el ties tri titoloj; kelkaj ligoj devenas de retejo de Don Harlow.  La plej laste trovita ligas al artikolo en usona ĵurnalo en 1963:

Quest for World Language Called Brawling Competition (The Blade [Toledo, Ohio], Wednesday, August 14, 1963, p. 9) [Serĉo de mondlingvo nomita batalaĉa konkurso]

Krom la revuon mem oni disdonis la jenan folion:

Circular: Letter to Floyd Hardin, October 3, 1958 from Mario Pei

Oni rimarku, ke malgraŭ la rolo de Mario Pei en strebado al mondlingvo, kaj kvankam li estis filologo kaj profesoro, pri lingvoscienco li estis tute kaduka kaj absurde kontraŭscienca, vidpunkto dividita kun Floyd Hardin, redaktoro de la revuo.

Jarojn poste Pei verkis libron pri sia politika konservatismo, kiu montras lian socipolitikan nekompetentecon, eble antaŭan krom samtempan. Kutime en Usono reakciuloj paranoje oponas "unumondismo"n. Sed persone kaj lingve Pei travivis antaŭan epokon da ekstrema konflikto kaj amasekstermado, kaj la postmondmilita mondo alportis la danĝeron de atommilito; eble tial lin okupis strebado al internacia kunlaboro kaj universala lingvo.

Esperanto in the Jewish Daily Forward

Se oni serĉas la Jewish Daily Forward [Juda Ĉiutaga Antaŭen (ĵurnalo)], oni trovos plurajn artikolojn pri Esperanto aŭ menciante Esperanton.

Mi jam blogis kelkfoje reference al ĉi tiu ĵurnalo. Jen:

Esperanto, the 'Worldwide Yiddish'
By Gary Shapiro
The Jewish Daily Forward, December 21, 2010

Temas pri Zamenhof-Simpozio ĉe UNo, en kiu mi prelegis.

Laughing in the Face of Evil (On the Shortlist for the Sami Rohr Prize, Joseph Skibell Uses Writing and Farce in the Face of the Holocaust), by Laura Hodes, The Jewish Daily Forward, published May 18, 2011, issue of June 3, 2011.

The Art of Tempting Memory To Speak
By Benjamin Balint
The Jewish Daily Forward, April 23, 2004,
[recenzo de / review of Feathers by Haim Be’er]

Skibell kaj Be'er verkis romanojn en kiu rolas esperantistoj.

Seeking Mameloshn Down South by Ilan Stavans
The Jewish Daily Forward, published December 05, 2003, issue of December 05, 2003.

Inkluzivas diskuton pri Lejb Malaĥ (Leib Malach), kies verko Misisipi legeblas en Esperanta sed ne en angla traduko.

Mi blogos pri pluaj artikoloj.

Stead's Review, July 1910

Here are relevant excerpts from an issue of the monthly journal of Esperantist and crusading journalist William Thomas Stead (1849-1912), who died on the Titanic:

The Review of Reviews for Australasia (Stead's Review) , July 1910.

* * *

Advert [p. i]

TO
ESPERANTO STUDENTS.

Esperanto Manual, Indispensable to Students,
2s.

Motteau's Esperanto-English Dictionary,
2s. 6d. (2s. 8d. posted).

O'Connor's English-Esperanto Dictionary,
2s. 6d. (2s. 8d. posted).

Rhodes' New English- Esperanto Dictionary,
6s. (6s. 6d. posted.)

Esperanto for the Million, 3d.

Le Serĉado por la Ora Saflano (The Golden Fleece),
7d. (9d. posted).

Pocket Vocabulary (English-Esperanto), 3d.

The British Esperantist : a Monthly Journal in English and Esperanto.
Annual Subscription, 4s.

Send to "REVIEW OF REVIEWS,"
T. & G. Building, Swanston Street,
Melbourne.

* * *

Dr. Zamenhof for the Nobel Peace Prize. [pp. 403, 405]

I sincerely hope that the Nobel Committee may be induced to give a favourable consideration to the memorial put forward in favour of Dr. Zamenhof. No one deserves the Peace Prize more than the earnest philologist of Warsaw, who for the last quarter of a century has devoted himself with such remarkable success to securing the adoption of Esperanto as the second language of the human race. Dr. Zamenhof's zeal for Esperanto was largely inspired by his passionate devotion to the cause of universal peace. All Esperantists are pacificists of the practical kind, and it would be a well-won tribute to the initiator of a great reform if the Peace Prize were to be adjudicated to Dr. Zamenhof.

* * *

The Universal Races Congress. [p. 405]

To the general regret. Sir Harry Johnstone has been compelled by ill-health to resign the chairmanship of the Executive of the Universal Races Congress, which is to meet in London in July, 1911. Fortunately, a capable and sympathetic successor has been found in the person of Lord Weardale. The object of the Congress will be to discuss the larger racial issues in the light of modern knowledge and the modern conscience, with a view to encouraging a good understanding, friendly feeling, and hearty co-operation between Occidental and Oriental peoples. The idea is to hold a Congress where the representatives of the different races might meet each other face to face, and might, in friendly rivalry, further the cause of mutual trust and respect between Occident and Orient, between the so-called white peoples and the so-called coloured peoples. Few things are more needed than a mutual understanding between men of different complexions.

A difference of colour in the hide of a man is often a non-conductor of sympathy, and without sympathy there can be no understanding. If the Congress could but provide for the simultaneous bleaching or bronzing or blackening of all the faces of the human race the gain would be almost as great as the sudden adoption of a universal language.

* * *

Reklamo [p. 428]

SELFRIDGE KAJ KO.

SELFRIDGE'S estas la plej nova aĉetadejo en Londono. Tie oni vendas ĉion kion viroj, virinoj kaj infanoj portas kaj uzas (escepte vinojn manĝaĵojn k.t.p.). Cent apartaj fakoj okupas ses ekrojn da planka areo. La komfortoj, luksoj kaj oportunaĵoj de ĝia aranĝo estas laŭ skalo ĝis nun nekonata en Europe. Gratifikacioj estas tie nek atendataj nek permesataj. La kvalito de l'komercaĵoj estas la plej fidinda, la provizaĵoj estas la plej bone elektitaj, la prezoj, ni kredas, la plej malaltaj en la mondo.

ĈIUJ NACIOJ RENKONTIĜAS ĈE

SELFRIDGE

kaj ĉiuj estas bonvenaj.

* * *

LANGUAGES AND LETTER-WRITING

ESPERANTO. [p. 457]

The Catholic Congress of Esperantists was a great success. The delegates came to Paris from several countries, and many subjects interesting from a Church point of view were discussed. The meetings, which naturally excited comment in the Press, though intended for Catholics were in no sense exclusive, and the Esperanto flag was conspicuous amongst the banners carried in procession and deposited in the cathedral of Notre Dame.

The Young Folks' Esperanto Association (International) is making rapid progress. It has already six hundred members in twenty groups, of which the largest are in Paris, Lille, and Dresden. The English secretary is Mr. H. van Etten, 82, East Dulwich Road; their organ Juneco.

During the Brussels Exhibition a special section will be set apart for Esperanto exhibits, and a bureau is to be arranged at which Esperanto translators will always be found ready for service. It is moreover expected that at the great gathering of Congress initiators, which will take place in Brussels on May 9th to 11th, many Esperantists will take part in the proceedings.

The Cheltenham Congress, which opens on May 14th, will be in one sense a preliminary to the London General Meeting of June 11th to 13th, for which very especial arrangements are being made by Mr. Kiralfy and Mr. White at the White City on Saturday, Mr. Cox organising a river journey to Windsor the next day. Only one hundred and twenty places are available, and of these thirty were taken on announcement. Applications should be sent to Mr. G. Cox, 125, Broomwood Road, Clapham Common.

One of the most interesting Esperanto books we have yet published, whether from the point of view of the linguist or the searcher of the Scriptures, is the Concordance to Dr. Zamenhof's version of the Proverbs of Solomon. Hebrew is, of course, one of the mother-tongues of Dr. Zamenhof, and accounts for the value of the translation; but without this Concordance, prepared by a well-known Esperantist, it would be much less useful, for few have the time to search out for themselves the various places in which the same word or phrase occurs and the slight differences of rendering between the established and the Esperanto versions. The price of the Concordance is 9d.

The New Testament, to be published under the auspices of the British and Foreign Bible Society, is rapidly nearing completion, and the first chapters of the book of Genesis, translated by Dr. Zamenhof, appeared in the April number of La Revuo, and will be continued monthly.

The Christian Commonwealth has contained for many weeks a regular Esperanto section, sometimes for children, at others for older folk. The issue of March 30th, for instance, gave a translation of the aims and rules of the Progressive League.

One great sign of progress is that the German scientist, Dr. Werner Marchand, publishes with each number of his Das Leben und die Erde an Esperanto résumé.

The International Institute of Esperanto, founded at the Dresden Congress to promote a more thorough study of Esperanto, grant diplomas, etc., etc., is under the direction of M. Ed. Privat, whose admirable Fifty Conversational Lessons is published at the REVIEW OF REVIEWS Office at 1s. 6d. net. No teacher should be without it, for it contains the graded conversations, founded upon specially homely readings, which are so necessary in teaching a living language.