Human Rights Program, Division of Languages and Literature, and Arabic Studies, Translation Studies Present
TIME CHANGE: Through the Syrian Looking-Glass
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Olin Humanities, Room 102
Optics, Politics and Surveillance in Samar Yazbek's In Her Mirrors and Rosa Yasin Hasan's Rough Draft
Please note: The end time is now 7:30 rather than 9pm
A lecture by special guest Max WEISS (Princeton)
Contemporary Syrian literature bears unmistakable traces of more than four decades of authoritarian Baʿthist rule. This talk explores two recent Arabic novels--In Her Mirrors by Samar Yazbek and Rough Draft by Roza Yassin Hassan--that shed unique light on Syrian cultural politics. In addition to offering a close reading of both texts, I argue that by attending to representations of vision, surveillance and the political in novels—specifically the structure and function of mirrors and screens, eavesdropping and surveillance—literary critics, historians and political scientists may gain important insight into key (albeit under-appreciated) aspects of Syrian culture.
A lecture by special guest Max WEISS (Princeton)
Contemporary Syrian literature bears unmistakable traces of more than four decades of authoritarian Baʿthist rule. This talk explores two recent Arabic novels--In Her Mirrors by Samar Yazbek and Rough Draft by Roza Yassin Hassan--that shed unique light on Syrian cultural politics. In addition to offering a close reading of both texts, I argue that by attending to representations of vision, surveillance and the political in novels—specifically the structure and function of mirrors and screens, eavesdropping and surveillance—literary critics, historians and political scientists may gain important insight into key (albeit under-appreciated) aspects of Syrian culture.
For more information, call 845-758-7506, or e-mail [email protected].
Location: Olin Humanities, Room 102