All authors enlist. Some enlist in favor of the world as it is; others, to change it. The essence of a fundamentally subversive or revolutionary literature, as urgent as it may be today, often collides with the dominant terms of construction in the literary field, with the overwhelming superiority of a framework that is receptive to the “image of upheaval” but not to its essence and, of course, with the ever-growing shrinking of the reading audience.

In this context, how can we struggle –through writing but also through our stance– for another society, without deluding ourselves? This question is what Joséph Andras and Kautar Arsi attempt to answer here. The discussion, as analytical as it is confessional, draws on the history of literature and social struggles and reaches topics concerning the present of cultural criticism (post-colonial theory, political identities, woke culture, etc.), exploring the possibility of a writing dedicated to building a society of equals.

“I believe that by starting to write, I write against. […] I write against a certain order, a certain violence, a certain group of people. Then, this antagonism fades. I start to write in favor. I think about what could have been different, what could do no harm. And I like this. I want it. I am in favor.” Kautar Arsi

“Let us fight from within the Idea to carry it to the end. Instead of adding adjectives to adjectives […] and inventing neologisms every day, we would be better off positively investing in this simple, total, unifying idea. To say a big yes. We are not ‘against’: we are socialists, communists. Therefore, unassimilable.” Joséph Andras