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New edition of “Conversations in La Pedrera”

Top cultural figures will offer their reflections on the challenges posed by contemporary society

Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom, French sociologist Gilles Lipovetsky, Hungarian philosopher Ágnes Heller and Franco-Bulgarian cultural essayist and historian, Tzvetan Todorov, are the guests for the fifth edition of Conversations in La Pedrera.

Organised by the Catalunya – La Pedrera Foundation with the collaboration of Arcàdia, the aim of the series is to create a space for dialog in which top personalities from the world of culture can offer their reflections on the challenges posed by contemporary civilization. Rather than merely adhering to the works and opinions of the invitees, the series will attempt to draw on their perspectives and discourse as a tool for learning ways in which to observe and analyse the world as it is today. In previous editions figures such as David Grossman, Jean-Claude Carrière, Zygmunt Bauman, Yasmina Reza and Tom Wolfe, among others, have revealed their thoughts about the world in which we live.

The series begins on Monday the 29th of September with Cees Nooteboom. Born in The Hague in 1933, he is considered the most importance Dutch writer of modern times. While known mainly as a novelist, he has also cultivated other genres, including poetry, theatre, essays and travel writing and his work reflects both his concerns about the European question as well as his cosmopolitan vocation.

The second session in the series will take place on the 6th of October and will feature French sociologist, Gilles Lipovetsky, one of the great analysts of post-modern society, a society which, in his words, is characterised by a depersonalised public sphere and a series of collective institutions that no longer make sense.

Attendees to the third session on the 27th of October will have an opportunity to hear Hungarian philosopher Ágnes Heller. Born in Budapest in 1929, her experiences during the Second World War, in which she lost most of her family and childhood friends in Nazi concentration camps, and the subsequent totalitarian regime in her country, led to a philosophy that focusses on ethics, the nature of good and evil, and the social projection of radical phenomenon.

The final session, on the 10th of November, will feature Tzvetan Todorov. While the Bulgarian philosopher gained popularity during the 60s as a linguist and literary theorist, his work since the 80s has dealt with ideas relating to historical memory, such as “otherness” and “us and them”, from the discovery of the New World up to the 20th century.

Conversations in La Pedrera will take place on Mondays at 7.30 pm from the 29th of September to the 10th of November and tickets are priced at 3 €. More information is available on the La Pedrera website.

Publication date: Monday, 22 September 2014
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