ROME, APRIL 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- For the second “Poetics and Christianity” congress, there’s no place like home.
The two-day congress, this year entitled “The Way Home,” will analyze characters such as Ulysses, Don Quixote, and Hobbit hero Frodo Baggins, whose objective is, precisely, the way home.
The event, organized by the School of Communication of the University of the Holy Cross, begins Thursday.
Among the speakers are Italian writer and film director Susanna Tamaro, Spanish writer Juan Manuel de Prada, American historian Susan Hanssen, and Polish linguist Bogdan Piotrowski.
Some of the lectures will focus on personalities such as Chekov, Homer, Eric Emmanuel Schmitt, Charles Peguy, Karol Wojtyla, Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Graham Greene, Emily Dickinson, Philip K. Dick and Jorge Luis Borges.
According to Juan José García Noblejas, an organizer of the congress, “The project ‘Poetics and Christianity’ is an international forum of study of the convergence between artistic culture and expressions of faith, with particular attention to the narrative and dramatic arts.”
It is open to professionals of the arts, especially the literary, theatrical and audiovisual. It also welcomes academics, not only of communication, but also of philosophy and theology.
John Wauck, a professor at the school, told ZENIT that “‘Poetics and Christianity’ is an initiative designed to analyze and recover the profound connection between Christianity and the culture of art, especially literary art. ‘Poetics and Christianity’ aspires to serve as both a reminder of the riches of the past and a source of inspiration for the future.”
