Close Reading: Claudia Rankine
Together with Pelumi Adejumo we delve into the work of Claudia Rankine through her recently published play The White Card. This short play was written as a way to address whiteness in conversations about race through a brilliantly crafted conversation around a dinner table. Through its characters we are given the opportunity to reflect on the positions we take in conversations on anti-racism and the limits of empathy and sentimentality. Posing the question: can (American) society progress when whiteness remains invisible?
Reading, a lonely occupation?
Curling up with a good book is something you generally do on your own, right? But reading doesn’t have to be an individual, let alone lonely activity. Like our new ‘Leesclubdelecture’, this series of ‘Close Readings’ proves the opposite.
A ‘Close Reading’ is a reading club without any preparatory reading work. During a close reading a central guest reads excerpts from a work close to their heart. Together with this passionate moderator, a small group of participants dives into the text, discussing literary forms and political issues that matter today.
Painful listening
Claudia Rankine’s play The White Card stages a conversation that is both informed and derailed by the black/white American drama. The scenes in this one-act play, for all the characters' disagreements, stalemates, and seeming impasses, explore what happens if one is willing to stay in the room when it is painful to bear the pressure to listen and the obligation to respond.
Composed of two scenes, the play opens with a dinner party thrown by Virginia and Charles, an influential Manhattan couple, for the up-and-coming artist Charlotte. Their conversation about art and representations of race spirals toward the devastation of Virginia and Charles's intentions. One year later, the second scene brings Charlotte and Charles into the artist's studio, and their confrontation raises both the stakes and the questions of what--and who--is actually on display.
ism Rile*
Binnenkort bij
Close reading Lou Sullivan
At this close reading session we will enter the world of pioneering queer activist and author Lou Sullivan.
Négar Djavadi opnieuw in de arena
De Iraans-Franse finaliste van de National Book Award komt opnieuw naar Brussel, deze keer naar aanleiding van de publicatie van Arène. In deze langverwachte tweede roman beschrijft Négar Djavadi een grootstedelijke chaos in een wereld waarin fictie alomtegenwoordig is.
La Nuit des écrivains, 4e édition
Myriam Leroy et Pascal Claude reçoivent Constance Debré, Alexandre Jardin, Lisette Lombé, Nicolas Mathieu, Vanessa Springora et Nathalie Skowronek.