Al-Jasra Cultural and Social Club issued the 54th Edition of Al-Jasra Cultural Magazine, which celebrated many diverse cultural topics, and devoted a special file for the Coronavirus pandemic, which the world is currently undergoing.
Mr. Ibrahim Al-Jaida, Chairman of the Club, started the issue with an editorial entitled “The First Look”, stressing that this release come under special circumstances that the world is going through for the first time in history, that is the Coronavirus pandemic that has completely paralyzed the world in various aspects of life. Despite the spread of epidemics throughout human history at different stages and in certain places of the world, he continued, this is the first time that the epidemic affects most countries of the world, culturally, economically, intellectually, and socially. “Therefore, in this issue, we allocated a complete file to the Coronavirus pandemic, with the participation of a group of writers, creators and thinkers in Arab and international culture, as well as other topics in which many writers have participated in their writings in the various fields of cultural, intellectual, artistic, and life studies.
The magazine conducted an interview with one of the local pioneers of plastic art, the plastic artist, Wafiqa Sultan, in which she was shared her artistic experience, style, sources of inspiration and creative experience between the scientific discipline of Interior Design and the aesthetic and social dimensions of plastic art. During the interview, she emphasized her concern that her works are the products of the combination between modernity, experimentation and development, noting that the simplicity of the idea of the painting and its spontaneity in dealing with topics is the most important attraction of the viewer.
Within the pandemic file, an interview with the international thinker Noam Chomsky – the founder of modern linguistics – conducted by the American radio reporter Mark Steiner through video conferencing, in which Chomsky presented his new book “Internationalism or Extinction” was translated in the magazine. The file also touched on other topics related to the global epidemic through articles and analyses, including the impact of the pandemic and its repercussions on culture, art and creativity.
Among the various topics covered by the magazine were a critical study, which revolved around “The other in the Arabic Novel”, in addition to what the magazine dealt with in terms of the creation of the body in the narrative text, the possibilities of the untold in the text, the golden age of oriental music by Sayed Darwish, among others cultural and intellectual topics. The issue closes with an article by Dr. Hassan Rashid, entitled “An epidemic that shook the universe”, in reference to the Coronavirus epidemic.