Cardiff BookTalk: The Mandarins - 70 Years Later

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the publication of Simone de Beauvoir’s Les mandarins. Winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1954, Les mandarins is an evocation of French intellectual life during the aftermath of World War II. It deals with some of the main questions that concerned artists and intellectuals at the time, such as the relation between art and politics, as well as the conflict between ideology and intellectual integrity. For contemporary readers, the novel also raises important questions about gender, aging, feminine pleasure, structures of power, heterosexual relations and sexual morality.

At the event, Cardiff BookTalk will join forces with the UK Sartre Societyto deliver a series of short talks highlighting how Les mandarins is not only important for understanding the development of Existentialist philosophy in general, as well as Beauvoir’s specific philosophical approach and literary project, but that it can also shed light on today’s political climate and cultural challenges.

Confirmed speakers:
Juliana De Albuquerque (University College Cork)
Mary Edwards (Cardiff)
John Gillespie (Ulster University)
Dianna Taylor (John Carroll University)

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Cardiff BookTalk

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