October 17, 2018

Jenny Davidson:

For the Love of Broken Things
Reid Hall | 4 rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris
Free and open to the public
For the Love of Broken Things: My Father, Edward Gibbon, and the Ruins of Rome

It was in the eighteenth century that historians first fell in love with the idea that one of the best ways of understanding the past must involve studying its broken remnants. Ruins and fragments, monuments and traces: a fascination with broken things has much to do with how Edward Gibbon came to write his magisterial History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Institute Fellow and Columbia University in the City of New York Professor of English and Comparative Literature Jenny Davidson will read two short excerpts from her book in progress, which interweaves some of her own family history with Gibbon’s story and the story of Rome and its ruins. The talk will conclude with a close look at some passages from Decline and Fall to show how much it has to offer readers today.

UPCOMING EVENTS

DECEMBER 11, 2023
Invisible Consequences: Climate Disaster Recovery
DECEMBER 14, 2023
How to Read Others: Fiction as Interpretation of Real People
Juan Gabriel Vásquez
SNF RDV
JANUARY 18, 2024
Shifting sensibilities: Anne Lister’s Diaries as a Challenge
Maria Stepanova
SNF RDV
We use cookies to enhance your experience of visiting this website. Find out more.
REJECT