Reading with Navid Kermani
On October 26, German writer and scholar Navid Kermani will read from his book Wonder Beyond Belief: On Christianity in the Media Lounge at Goethe-Institut. The reading will be followed by a discussion between AUB associate professor Sonja Mejcher-Atassi and Navid Kermani.
Navid Kermani, born 1967, studied Orientalism, Philosophy and Drama in Cologne, Cairo and Bonn where he also received both the doctoral degree and the post-doctoral degree. He gave lectures on Poetics in Frankfurt, Göttingen and Mainz, and he was visiting professor at the University of Frankfurt and at the Dartmouth College, NH. Navid Kermani lives in Cologne.
For both his literary and academic work, Navid Kermani received various prizes including the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Publishers´ Association in 2015 for his contribution to the ideals of peace and cross-cultural understanding. Kermani is best known for his publications on Islam, the Middle East and Christian-Muslim dialogue and is considered to be among the most important intellectual voices in Germany. In Wonder Beyond Belief: On Christianity Kermani engages with Christian art in its great richness and diversity referring to artworks by Botticelli, Caravaggio or Rembrandt. Several publications have been translated into English, including: The Terror of God (2011), God Is Beautiful: The Aesthetic Experience of the Quran (2014), Between Quran and Kafka: West-Eastern Inquiries (2016).
Sonja Mejcher-Atassi is associate professor of Arabic and comparative literature at the American University of Beirut. She was a fellow in residence at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin in 2017-18. Her research centers on modern Arabic literature, book history and art, museum and collecting practices, cultural history and memory, and aesthetics and politics.
Her publications include Rafa Nasiri: Artist Books ed. with May Muzaffar (2016); Reading across Modern Arabic Literature and Art (2012); Museums, Archives and Collecting Practices in the Modern Arab World ed. with John Pedro Schwartz (2012).
The reading will be in German with English subtitles. The panel discussion will be held in English.
Details
Goethe-Institut Libanon | Media Lounge