Living forever: eternal desire

Adam Zagajewski, eminent poet and essayist from Poland readis from his work, followed by Ramayana expert Arshia Sattar (India) in conversation with Dutch writer and philosopher Joke Hermsen.

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Information

Date and time Friday 18 January 2019 20:00 tot 21:05 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - Zaal 1

Adam Zagajewski, eminent poet and essayist from Poland, opened Friday Night Unlimited by reading from his work. Subsequently Ramayana expert Arshia Sattar (India) and Dutch writer and philosopher Joke Hermsen spoke about the desire to live longer. Sattar translated and rewrote the ancient story cycle about the mythical struggle of Prince Rama to win back his beloved Sita from the hands of the demonic King Ravana. In her book Stilling Time, Hermsen argues for a slow future in which waiting, restfulness and bordom have their place; in her essay Melancholie van de onrust (Melancholy of Unrest), she elaborates on the blessings of melancholy, among others as source of creativity. With classical Persian music and poetry performed by Balout Khazraei. Fouad Laroui, writer and professor French language and Arabic cultures at the University of Amsterdam, hosted the conversation.

Line-up

Arshia Sattar

(India, 1960) teaches and writes about classical Indian literature and has a deep knowledge of the myths and traditional stories of India. She has a PhD in South Asian languages and literature from the University of Chicago. Sattar translated many text from Sanskrit, including Valmiki's 1996 Ramayana. More recent publications include Lost Loves: Exploring Rama's Anguish (2011) and Uttara: The Book of Answers (2016). She also writes for children: her Ramayana for Children (2017) has been published worldwide. In 2008 she co-founded Sangam House, the first and only completely financially independent writer's residency programme in India. Every year, Sangam House moves to a new location; in 2019 it is in Bangalore.

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Joke Hermsen

(Middenmeer, NL, 1961) is a writer and philosopher specialized in female authors and philosophers. Hermsen debuted as a novelist with Het dameoffer (The Lady's Sacrifice, 1998), about a daughter who discovers her mother's love affair. She followed up with the historical novel Tweeduister (Twilight) about T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf. Her successful volume of 2009 essays Stil de tijd - Pleidooi voor een langzame toekomst (Stop Time: Plea for a slow future) was reprinted 20 times. This was followed by, among others, the novel Blindgangers (Duds, 2014), the essay Melancholie van de onrust (Melancholy of Unrest, 2017), the novel Rivieren keren nooit terug (Rivers Never Turn Back, 2018) and the essay Het tij keren met Rosa Luxemburg en Hannah Arendt (Turning the Tide with Rosa Luxemburg and Hannah Arendt, 2019).
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Balout Khazraei

grew up in an artistic family in Iran and learned early on to express herself in musical and artistic language. In Iran she studied classical Persian music, and in the Netherlands at the Art Academy and later Pabo. Her working method emphasizes creating space for creative and artistic communication between people and cultures. With much enthusiasm, she teaches Dutch to refugees at the Hamrah Institute in Rotterdam. In recent years she has organized various cultural and culinary festivals. As a curator she has worked on exhibitions by refugees. Her most recent exhibition about and with refugees, their art and way of thinking at SeedZ-Rotterdam was opened in 2016 by Mayor Ahmen Aboutaleb.
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Adam Zagajewski

(Poland, 1945-2021) is seen as one of the world's best authors and as pre-eminent representative of the post-war writers generation. He studied psychology and philosophy in Krakow and was a member of the Polish Nouvelle Vague/Generation of '68. After signing a protest letter against the Polish government (Letter of 59), his work was banned in Poland. Zagajewski mostly writes poetry and essays. Recurring themes include the night, dreams, history and time, eternity and infinty, silence and death; he is known as a true "metaphysical poet". Much of his work has been translated into English. He has taught at institutions such as the University of Houston, and since 2007 has been a guest professor at the University of Chicago. His 2016 volume of poetry is titled Airport in Amsterdam.

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Fouad Laroui

(Morocco, 1958) in 2013 won  the Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle for his collection of short stories The Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers. Since his debut in 1996 humor has been his weapon against intolerance, both in his novels and in his other work. In his fiction, such as the collection of short stories Poldermarokkanen (2010), the novels Une année chez les Français (2011) and La femme la plus riche de Yorkshire (2011), Laroui describes time and again the collision between North African culture and Western culture. Laroui grew up in Casablanca and studied econometry, mathematics, physics and architecture in Paris. He lectures French literature and Arab culture at the University of Amsterdam.
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