Ending ethnic nationalism, building societies around values that all citizens can get behind — it sure sounds like the way to go. But news reports remind us that it’s no easy task to find common ground, what with riots in France, bombings in Britain and political assassinations in the Netherlands.
Are these and other events symptomatic of a multicultural experiment gone awry?
In his 2007 CBC Massey Lectures, writer Alberto Manguel took a fresh look at these problems, and looked at how we might set things right. He believes that solutions can be found between the covers of books.
Manguel suggests we listen to the stories of our ancestors and also look to contemporary visionaries, lecturers, writers and filmmakers to see what they have to say about forming cohesive and inclusive societies.
His lectures, brought together under the title The City of Words were published by a book of the same name by House of Anansi Press.
Manguel is an internationally known anthologist, essayist, writer, translator, editor — and reader. His books include A Dictionary of Imaginary Places, A History of Reading and A Library at Night (all published by Vintage).
Manguel, who lives in France, travelled across Canada last fall to deliver the lectures, and along the way took part in a Studio One Bookclub at CBC Vancouver. He talked about The City of Words with radio host Sheryl MacKay and Georgia Straight columnist John Burns.
Listen to their conversation here.
First aired October 15, 2007 on the Studio One Bookclub.
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