2016
Miramar comes to Cork: A Symposium on the Legacy of Ramon Llull
October the 14th – 15:00 to 19:00 – O'Rahilly Building 1.23
Programme
3pm (O’Rahilly Building Room 1.23, UCC) Welcome by Dr Helena Buffery
3.15pm Round-table on the Legacy of Ramon Llull with Dr Amanullah de Sondy, Dr Stefan Reynolds and Professor Cathal MacSwiney Brugha. Chaired by Stephen Boyd.
4.30pm Coffee
5pm Keynote lecture by acclaimed Catalan writer Francesc Serés: Re-Reading Ramon Llull
6pm (Staff Common Room, North Wing, UCC) Poetry Recital with Montse Germán and Ferran Pisà: El Verger de l'Amat
Refreshments will be served.
All Welcome!
Abstract
This symposium will focus on the extraordinary legacy of Majorcan writer, philosopher, theologian, missionary and mystic, Ramon Llull (1232-1316), as part of a year of international activities to commemorate the seventh centenary of his death. Born in Palma de Mallorca just a few years after the conquest of the island by James I of Aragon, Llull is recognised as one of the most important writers in the history of the Catalan language, as a foundational figure committed to disseminating moral, philosophical, theological and scientific writings in the vernacular, with around 20% of the 275 works he composed in his lifetime having been written in part or wholly in Catalan. Because of his commitment to the learning of languages, symbolised in the foundation of the monastery at Miramar in 1276, dedicated to the instruction of missionaries in oriental languages, he has often been held up as a pioneer of multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue. However, the richness and complexity of this dialogue between languages, cultures, disciplines and knowledge systems that is represented within the breath-taking diversity of his work, was in fact part of an overarching mission: conversion to Christianity.
Participants:
Round-table:
Dr Amanullah De Sondy (Study of Religions Department, School of Asian Studies, UCC), 'Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Connections, Disconnections and Competing Claims'; Dr Stefan Reynolds (Independent Scholar), 'The Lover, the Beloved and Love: the Trinitarian Mysticism of Ramon Llull'; Prof. Cathal MacSwiney Brugha (Emeritus Professor in Decision Analytics, UCD), 'Ramon Llull and Islam, the Beginning of Dialogue'.
Keynote Speaker:
Francesc Serés (Saidí, Baix Cinca, 1972) is an acclaimed Catalan writer who has received numerous literary awards, including the Premi Octavi Pellissa, Premi Crítica Serra d’Or, Premi Nacional de la Literatura Catalana, Premi Ciutat de Barcelona and Premi de la crítica de narrative catalana. A social anthropologist by training, his work offers intensely rich and evocative encounters with contemporary life. Some of his short stories have been translated into English, including the inventive Russian Stories, translated by Peter Bush. http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2014/september/russian-stories-francesc-seres
In 2008 he published a play based on the travels of Ramon Llull between Europe and North Africa, in the collection Caure Amunt (Quaderns Crema).
Recital:
Catalan actress Montse Germán and musician Ferran Pisà base their recital on Llull’s exquisite mystical text, the Llibre de l’amic i de l’amat (Book of the Lover and the Beloved).