University Open Air: In Search of Lyricism
In lyric works, emotions are expressed through imagery, musicality, rhythm. Hence, reading and watching lyric works is a highly enjoyable experience. Yet, as the mermaids’ song, lyricism can draw us in to better drown us in what we’d turn away from: pain, grief, injustice, or our daily life. About her beautiful film, Happiness, Varda mentions the worm in the apple. Let’s look at a few lyrical works such as The Gift (Nabokov), The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy), Happiness (Agnès Varda) Paterson (Jim Jarmusch). We won’t shy away from the unspeakable, the overlooked, or the ordinary.
Nadia Bongo is a teaching artist and translator with a PhD in French Language and Literature. Her writing and/or photographs have appeared in African Voices, Litro online, Solstice, The Citron Review, Blue Mesa Review, and elsewhere. A former Brooklyn Poets Fellow, she co-directed a poetic short film with the support of University Open Air presented by BPL. Nadia is the September 2025 Teaching Artist in Residence for the Washington Square Park Conservancy. Find her at https://www.nadiabongo.com/
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University Open Air is generously supported by The Morris & Alma Schapiro Fund.
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