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York University Moveable Millennial Wisdom Symposium to Bring Together 20 World-Renowned Novelists, Historians, Archeologists to Answer Fundamental Questions About this Century and Next ... Anne Michaels/Alberto Manguel/Guy Vanderhaeghe/Ron Wright/Tomson Highway/ etc. ...
Susan Swan, celebrated novelist, York University professor and Robarts Centre Scholar, has assembled an impressive cast of luminaries to tackle those social, political and literary questions during ten public events which run from October 1999 through to April 2000. Sponsored by York's Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, in co-operation with the Royal Ontario Museum, "Making Up the Past: The Archeology of Fiction" will profile prominent novelists, historians and archeologists who will talk about the way we re-create the past in popular culture through literature, archeology and history.
"Is the past a fiction?" asks Swan, who conceived of the symposium as the focus of her one-year appointment to the prestigious Robarts Chair. "Do we ever learn from the past, and if so, what wisdom does the past have to offer us as we enter the 21st century? In an era of globalization, there is constant pressure on Canadians to adopt cultural benchmarks that are not our own. Now, more than ever, we need to share our academic wisdom with the wider community and show how the force of the literary imagination can shape how we think socially and politically about the past and the future. The past is a novel with many different authors, but alas, only one or two of its authors finds a publisher," adds Swan.
The symposium is an innovative, first-time collaborative effort featuring major archeologists, historians and international writers such as: Anne Michaels, acclaimed international author of Fugitive Pieces; Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading, published in 26 countries; Ronald Wright, award-winning travel and history writer; Guy Vanderhaeghe, author of The Englishman's Boy; Carol Christ, U.S. feminist thealogian and author; Rosalind Miles, British historian and novelist; Karen Connelly, winner of the Governor General's non-fiction award for Touch the Dragon; Tomson Highway, celebrated native writer and playwright; Dionne Brand, award-winning poet and author; Greg Gatenby, artistic director of the Harbourfront Reading Series; and the Royal Ontario Museum's head of Anthropology Dr. Mima Kapches and Near Eastern and Asian Civilizations head Dr. Edward Keall.
The writers on the rostrum with new books this year are: Alberto Manguel, My Last Anthology--God's Spies and an updated The Dictionary of Imaginary Places; Dionne Brand with her novel At the Full and Change of the Moon; Greg Gatenby, author of non-fiction work, Toronto: A Literary Guide; and Rosalind Miles, author of novel, Guenevere. Carol Christ and Ron Wright have just released paperback versions of Rebirth of a Goddess and A Scientific Romance respectively.
Swan was struck by the idea of a millennial wisdom symposium while researching her next novel, What Casanova Told Me, whose theme deals with receiving wisdom and inspiration from the past. It traces the travels of a female Canadian archeologist who is influenced by the journals of her ancestor, a Puritan Yankee who travelled the Mediterranean with Casanova at the end of the legendary Venetian's life. Swan is the author of five books of fiction including the widely acclaimed Stupid Boys Are Good to Relax With (Somerville House, 1996) and The Wives of Bath, (Knopf, 1993) which was a finalist for the UK Guardian Fiction Award and is being made into a film, along with her first novel, The Biggest Modern Woman of the World, which was nominated for Canada's Governor General's Award.
The public is invited to all the events, which are free. The York University events will be held in the York University Bookstore, which is located at the north end of York Lanes, except for the Nov. 25th event which will be held at the Vanier College Dining Hall and the March 21st Robarts lecture which will be held in York's Senate Chamber.
The Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at York University, under the direction of Prof. Daniel Drache, undertakes research on Canadian cultural policy in a comparative and hemispheric perspective. Currentresearch includes cultural policy and trade liberalization and international standards-setting and auditing public domains in contrasting market economies. The Robarts Centre is also engaged in a series of seminars on the Canadian family at the beginning of the new Millennium.
The Royal Ontario Museum, an Ontario Government agency created in 1912, is Canada's largest international museum of natural and human history, with six million objects in its collections and over 40 galleries showcasing art, archeology and science. For general information, please call (416) 586-5797.
For more information about the symposium, members of the public can call Cheryl Dobinson at the Robarts Centre at (416) 736-5499 or visit www.robarts.yorku.ca.
For more information, please contact:
Sine MacKinnon
Prof. Susan Swan
Royal Ontario Museum
I. MON., OCT. 4, 1999, 7:30 p.m., Royal Ontario Museum Theatre: Is the Past a Fiction?
Two celebrated Canadian writers ALBERTO MANGUEL and DIONNE BRAND and ROM archeologist DR. EDWARD KEALL discuss why we are so haunted by the past. Manguel is author of the popular A History of Reading, published in 26 countries. Brand is an award-winning poet and novelist (At the Full and Change of the Moon). Keall is an expert on the Near East.
II. TUES., OCT. 5, 1999, 5 p.m., York University Bookstore: Follow-up talk with Alberto Manguel
III. MON., NOV. 8, 1999, 5 p.m., York University Bookstore: Millennial Wisdom: Is the only thing we learn from history that we never learn? Speakers will discuss what wisdom the past has to offer the new century.
Acclaimed novelist and former archeologist RONALD WRIGHT (A Scientific Romance); Canadian historian and York Professor MARLENE SHORE (co-organizer of an international conference at York, "Historians and their Audiences"); Balkan scholar, York professor and ROM archeologist TIM KAISER ("Archeology and ideology in the Balkan Killing Fields".)
IV. WED., NOV. 24, 1999, 7:30 p.m., Royal Ontario Museum Theatre: Excavating the Feminine Past: Do Women Make a Better World? Women discuss how researching and writing about the past has affected them as writers and women.
British historian and novelist ROSALIND MILES; Feminist thealogian CAROL CHRIST seminal figure in the late 20th Goddess movement; Trent University archeologist SUSAN JAMIESON; Toronto mystery author LYN HAMILTON.
V. THURS., NOV. 25, 1999, 5 p.m., York University, Vanier College Dining Hall: Follow-up reading featuring SUSAN SWAN, ROSALIND MILES, LYN HAMILTON, RISKA ORPA SARI AND CAROL CHRIST. Event is co-sponsored by The Robarts Centre, The Centre For Feminist Research, and Vanier College's Annual Women's Writing Conference.
PLEASE NOTE: The Toronto Women's Bookstore is holding a book launch for Rosalind Miles and Carol Christ on Nov. 26/99 at 7 p.m.
VI. TUES., JAN. 11, 2000, 5 p.m., York University Bookstore: Excavating ๋the Other': Writing about a culture or a gender that isn't your own.
Award-winning writer KAREN CONNELLY (Touch the Dragon) will discuss her new novel, The Lizard Man, written in the point of view of a Burmese political prisoner; Governor General Award winner; TOMSON HIGHWAY(Kiss of the Fur Queen) will explain why women figure prominently in his plays and novels about native life on and off Canadian reserves, and the importance of women in native mythology.
VII. TUES., FEB. 1, 2000, 5 p.m., York University Bookstore: Big, Big Solitudes
Quebec novelist MONIQUE PROULX; Toronto playwright MICHAEL HOLLINGSWORTH
VIII. THURS., MARCH 2, 2000, 7:30 p.m., Royal Ontario Museum Theatre: Making Up Toronto: Literary Invention; Archeological Reality?
Two writers and an archeologist delve into the past to reconstruct a city. Internationally acclaimed novelist, ANNE MICHAELS, author of Fugitive Pieces; GREG GATENBY, artistic director, Harbourfront Reading Series, poet and author of the newly released, Toronto: A Literary Guide; and ROM archeologist DR. MIMA KAPCHES, author of Before they came, which describes how Toronto looked before the arrival of white settlers.
IX. TUES., MARCH 21, 2000, 3 p.m., York University Senate Chamber: The Robarts Lecture: Making Up the Past
SUSAN SWAN on history and the novelist and millennial wisdom symposium insights. As part of her tenure as Robarts Millennial Scholar, Swan is offering a course in the fictionalized memoir called Making Yourself Up.
X. FRI., APRIL 14, 2000, 7:30 p.m., York University: International conference of historians, 'Historians and their Audiences'
Governor General Award winner GUY VANDERHAEGHE (The Englishman's Boy) and SUSAN SWAN will talk about history and the novelist. Swan will discuss the recent popularity of historical fiction and why the novelist's approach of 'mythic intent' to the creation of the past can sometimes be more reliable than traditional academic narratives.
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