Events

A dramatic reading by actor Viggo Mortensen of a speech by Albert Camus, and roundtable discussion with Viggo Mortensen, Alice Kaplan and Souleymane Bachir Diagne.

Event Location:  Miller Theatre, Columbia University, 2960 Broadway (at 116^th street)

RSVP required at www.maisonfrançaise.org.

Albert Camus originally delivered this lecture on “La Crise de l’homme” on March 28, 1946, to a very full house at Columbia’s McMillan Theatre, on his first and only trip to the United States.  70 years later, to celebrate Camus’s visit to New York and Columbia, his lecture will be delivered in a dramatic reading by the actor Viggo Mortensen, in a version newly translated into English by Alice Kaplan.

The event will be introduced by Souleymane Bachir Diagne and by Alice Kaplan, who will share new research from her forthcoming book, Looking for the Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic, to bring alive Camus’ U.S. visit and provide a context for his lecture. Following the reading there will be a panel discussion about Albert Camus in New York. After the reading, Bachir Diagne and Alice Kaplan will be joined by Viggo Mortensen and Madeleine Dobie for a panel discussion about Albert Camus’ influence, his impressions of the U.S., and his reception in this country as a leading voice of the postwar generation of French intellectuals.

Participants:

Viggo Mortensen is an actor, poet, and musician, whose films include The Lord of the Rings, A History of Violence, The Road, and Far from Men, an adaptation of Albert Camus' short story The Guest. Souleymane Bachir Diagne is Professor of Philosophy and French and Chair, Department of French, Columbia University. Alice Kaplan is the John M. Musser Professor of French and chair of the Department of French at Yale University.

This event is organized in partnership with The Albert Camus Estate and is part of a series of events taking place in New York on the theme of "Camus : A Stranger in the City" (March 26 – April 19 / @camusnyc2016) commemorating the 70^th year anniversary of Camus’ visit to the United States.