The Road to Lotus: Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s Magazine Proposal to the Soviet Writers Union

Abstract

Over the last decade, a hitherto forgotten literary magazine, Lotus: Afro-Asian Writings (1968–1991), has become an object of ever-greater scholarly attention. Indeed, whether seen as an instantiation of the Third World project in literature, a pre-history of postcolonial studies, or a distinct vision for world literature, Lotus offers a fresh perspective on many old questions. Before the magazine could be launched, however, many practical questions had to be resolved. Where would the resources for such a publication be found? How could it become a representative journal? In which country should such an international magazine be located and how would it operate in practice? Finally, who would edit or otherwise contribute to it? At least, these are the questions that Faiz Ahmad Faiz considered in his October 1963 proposal to the Soviet Union of Writers. In the process of answering them, he also offers the most fascinating of snapshots of Arab literary, intellectual, and political life ca. 1963. We translate it below along with two other documents that accompanied it in the archival file: the formal proposal the Soviet Writers Union leadership sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, where, basing themselves on Faiz’s letter, they requested permission and funding to establish and run the magazine, and finally, a brief biography of Faiz written by his Russian translator. Beyond illuminating the specifics of Lotus’s history, the publication of these documents should illustrate the immense utility of the Soviet archive for postcolonial or Global South scholarship. There are thousands of such documents there, waiting for their hour.