Desire, in terms of writing, most often conjures images of bodice-rippers and the Harlequin romances. Or, perhaps, of erotic fantasies and books better read late at night, with pay-cable adult films playing softly in the background.
For newly arrived writers from the UI International Writing Program, desire comes about in much different ways.
On Friday, the IWP will hold a panel discussion titled “Literature of Desire” at noon in Iowa City Public Library Meeting Room A, 123 S. Linn St. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.
“Desire is the very essence of poetry,” visiting Croatian poet Milos Djurdjevic said. “It’s one of the main engines that drives poetry writing and poetry reading.”
For several of the panelists, writing about desire means something different from just discussing sex or lust.
Djurdjevic, who also works as an editor, essayist, and translator, said desire, for him, is contained in the text itself.
“When you try to approach it, it’s always the desire of the other. You want that other to desire you,” he said. “Your goal is just to project some of your energy, some of your thoughts and emotions, into desire of the other.”
Djurdjevic, who considers himself a reflexive poet, finds that while desire is often the subject of poetry, it is truly felt in how the words are put together.
“With poetry, it is the sound,” he said. “You’re waiting, trying to catch that specific sound. It is the sound that drives the verses. You’re trying to keep it in your verses, and you really feel it completely in your entire body.”
While some may choose to focus on the more sensual side of desire, focusing on intense feelings, Austrailian writer Alice Pung chooses to focus on the lighter side.
Pung, a nonfiction writer who said her work is geared toward young adults, said that she tries to focus on the humorous parts of desire.
“Usually, when we think about desire, we associate it with very intense feelings. You don’t usually think this could be funny,” she said. “People think, ‘Well, if it’s funny, it’s not desire, it’s just humor.’ You can incorporate both into writing, I think.”
Some of the moments where we may feel intense desires for the first time are not only emotional, she said, but can also be funny as well.
“I deal with a lot of growing up in Austrailia,” Pung said about her writing. “That’s the time you experience many firsts. Usually, the first time is very awkward, the first time you feel desire, the first time you act on it. That’s what I’ll be focusing on.”
Desire may feel forbidden for some. In some cases, even expressing it in writing may cause problems. This is especially true for Uzbek writer and filmmaker Salomat Vafo. In Uzbekistan, she said, works considered to be erotic are usually banned. Works dealing with desire, even if not intended to be erotic, can be banned for this reason.
Vafo, who does not consider herself to be an erotic writer, has had work banned in Uzbekistan because of this. She plans to speak about that, as well as about how youth in the country have better access to such materials than their predecessors did because of the rise of the Internet.
Other speakers will include Jamaican poet Millicent Graham and Chinese fiction writer and essayist Ge Fei.