Please join us at the launch of On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times, with author Michael Ignatieff in conversation with Arjun Appadurai, Avishai Margalit, Elzbieta Matynia, and James E. Miller.
“When we lose someone we love, when we suffer loss or defeat, when catastrophe strikes—war, famine, pandemic—we go in search of consolation. Once the province of priests and philosophers, the language of consolation has largely vanished from our modern vocabulary, and the places where it was offered, houses of religion, are often empty. (…)
How do we console each other and ourselves in an age of unbelief? In a series of lapidary meditations on writers, artists, musicians, and their works—from the books of Job and Psalms to Albert Camus, Anna Akhmatova, and Primo Levi—esteemed writer and historian Michael Ignatieff shows how men and women in extremity have looked to each other across time to recover hope and resilience” (from the publisher).
Speakers:
Michael Ignatieff, Rector Emeritus and Professor of History, Central European University (CEU)
Arjun Appadurai, Emeritus Professor in Media, Culture and Communication, New York University
Avishai Margalit, Philosopher, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
James E. Miller, Professor of Liberal Studies and Politics, The New School for Social Research
Moderated by:
Elzbieta Matynia, Professor of Sociology and Liberal Studies; Director of Transregional Center for Democratic Studies, The New School for Social Research
