Littérature et vagabondisme
14.15 - 17.00 Uhr: Workshop für Doktorierende und Interessierte
Dr. Louis-Philippe Dalembert, Schriftsteller, Haiti
Prof. Dr. Thomas Claviez, Universität Bern
17.30 - 19.00 Uhr Öffentliche Lesung
Dr. Louis-Philippe Dalembert, Schriftsteller, Haiti
Wendy Law-Yone, Schriftstellerin, Burma
Prof. Dr. Virginia Richter, Universität Bern
Marijke Denger M.A., Universität Bern
To define the aesthetic dimension of his work as a writer, Louis-Philippe Dalembert has coined the concept of vagabondage. The idea of vagabondage is born out of the experiences of displacement that marked his childhood in Haiti. Vagabondage, for him, is based on personal choice and freedom, and is intrinsically linked to the individual’s sense of humanity and its ephemeral nature. This explains why, in his novels, characters travel, come back, and leave again; why languages and genres mingle. They provide necessary tools for the vagabond, allowing him to communicate with and go towards the other. Therefore, the idea of vagabondage relates to, but also helps differentiate between such concepts as wandering, nomadism, or exile. In this workshop, one of the author's primary texts will provide the basis for a critical interdisciplinary discussion of vagabondage/vagabondism.
The workshop is followed by a public reading by Louis-Philippe Dalembert and an invited guest, Wendy Law-Yone. Wendy Law-Yone’s work is shaped by and represents experiences of migration and exile, of life between the ‚East’ and the ‚West’. In her critically acclaimed novels, such as The Road to Wanting (2010), and her recent family memoir, Golden Parasol (2013), Law-Yone also reflects on Burma’s tumultuous (recent) history, which has, for better or worse, turned many members of the country’s multi-ethnic population into ‚vagabonds’ of some sort. As the joint reading by Wendy Law-Yone and Louis-Philippe Dalembert will show, the concept of vagabondage provides a compelling framework for the discussion of such multifaceted issues as individual identity and personal agency as well as their expression in various literary texts.
Louis-Philippe Dalembert né à Port-au-Prince, Haïti, est l’un des écrivains majeurs de sa génération. Auteur d’une vingtaine d’ouvrages, il vit depuis une trentaine d’années entre la terre natale et d’autres pays comme la France, l’Italie, les États-Unis, l’Allemagne et Israël. Ancien pensionnaire de la Villa Médici à Rome, chevalier des Arts et des Lettres en France, son travail d’écrivain a été récompensé par plusieurs autres distinctions dont le Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD, le Prix Casa de las Américas à Cuba etc. Ses ouvrages, salués par la critique, sont traduits dans une dizaine de langues. Louis-Philippe Dalembert est par ailleurs diplômé de l'École normale supérieure de Port-au-Prince, de l'École supérieure de journalisme de Paris et auteur d'une thèse de doctorat en littérature comparée sur l'écrivain cubain Alejo Carpentier (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle). Il a été Visiting Professor à l’Université Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2013) et O’Brien Distinguished Visiting Scholar (2014) à Scripps College, en Californie.
Wendy Law-Yone was born in Mandalay, Burma, and grew up in Rangoon, but fled from the country’s military dictatorship at the age of twenty. She went on to settle in the US, where she worked as a journalist for, amongst others, The Atlantic and the Washington Post and published two critically acclaimed novels, The Coffin Tree (1983) and Irrawaddy Tango (1993). Following a David T.K. Wong creative writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia, she relocated to the UK in 2002, where she has since also taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her third novel, The Road to Wanting (2010), was longlisted for the Orange Prize. In 2001 and 2012, Law-Yone was able to return to Burma after more than 30 years in exile. Subsequently, she completed her latest work, Golden Parasol: A Daughter’s Memoir of Burma (2013). The memoir, which has recently become the first of Law-Yone’s books to be translated into Burmese, traces the life of her father, notable Burmese publisher and politician Edward Law-Yone.
