Mesterklasse med Marina Warner: "Living in Words: The Question of Myth"

Årets Holbergprisvinner, den britiske mytologen, historikeren, forfatteren og kritikeren Dame Marina Warner inviterer nordiske doktorgradsstudenter til ordskifte på Litteraturhuset i Bergen. Temaet for samtalen vil blant annet være immateriell kultur og hvordan menneskers historie og kultur påvirkes som følge av konflikt, migrasjon og økonomisk uro.

Spørsmål til diskusjon i årets Masterclass:

• In times of conflict, migration, and economic tumult; what happens to the culture and history of people who have lost their homes?
• What are the processes that remember the lost or disfigured home?
• How important is it to keep hold of your mother tongue and its cultural manifestations?
• What role can the legacy of mythology play?
• The French classical scholar Jean-Pierre Vernant argued for 'the reason of myth', against detractors who point to such stories' irrationality. But experience reveals that mythic stories and tradition often deepen grudges and excite atavistic forms of nationalism. Can myths enlighten and can literature informed by myth be strong enough to help?

Det er satt opp en leseliste for samtalen, som følger:

• Jean-Pierre Vernant, 'The Reason of myth' (essay)
• Seamus Heaney:  The Cure at Troy (translation of Philoctetes by Sophocles)
• Alice Oswald: Memorial ('excavation' of the Iliad)
• The final one of the Marina Warner Reith lectures: "Managing Monsters"