Can stories hold a multicultural society together? Alberto Manguel proposes to answer that question in this year's Massey Lectures, and I can't wait to hear what he has to say. For those who don't know, the Massey Lectures are an annual Canadian lecture series featuring a prominent contemporary thinkers. They are broadcast on CBC radio's illustrious (though lately underfunded) Ideas program every November. The roll of past lecturers is stellar: Northrop Frye, Martin Luther King Jr., Claude Levi-Strauss, Carlos Fuentes, Doris Lessing (who, as you probably know, was just awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature), Noam Chomsky, Jean Vanier... the list goes on.
Here is the description of this year's lectures:
The end of ethnic nationalism, building societies around sets of common values, seems like a good idea. But something is going wrong. In the 2007 Massey Lectures, writer Alberto Manguel takes a fresh look at some of the problems we face, and suggests we should look at what stories have to teach us about society. “How do stories help us perceive ourselves and others?” he asks. “How can stories lend a whole society an identity...?” From Gilgamesh to the Bible, from Don Quixote to The Fast Runner, Alberto Manguel explores how books and stories hold the secret keys to what binds us together.
The lectures will be broadcast November 5th to 9th, at 9pm local time. As always, you can listen to CBC radio online, in the time zone of your choice.
