Multilingual voices: 'I Died in Hell - They Called it Passchendaele'

On 4 November I read extracts from works by the Dutch and Flemish authors Benno Barnard, Gerrit Kouwenaar and Hugo Claus at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. The multilingual multimedia performance ‘I Died in Hell - They Called it Passchendaele’ showcased lyrical responses to the ‘Great War’ from across Europe.

Poetry and prose, read in different languages, highlighted the ’glocal’ aspects of the conflict. It made clear that war never simply affects ‘The World’ or particular countries: it affects people. The personal experiences of violence are perhaps best expressed creatively, in our mother tongue. Yet we have to listen to each other’s translations to hear what is human and shared in these (his)stories.

There is more on the blog I wrote for UCL’s Centre for Low Countries Studies.
And some beautiful pictures by UCL Events:

4 November 2014, Bloomsbury Theatre

4 November 2014, Bloomsbury Theatre

Circa 150 people attended the event, amongst whom representatives of the Dutch and Belgian Embassies in the U.K., several literary institutions and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Media.