Anemones: A Simone Weil Project

Robertson’s research "wide rime" on troubadour poetry–the first European poets to write in their spoken regional vernacular–yields this experiment in thinking ‘near and with’ philosopher and political activist Simone Weil. Moving between the epistolary, poetry, performance, and scholarly research, "Anemones" is centred on a new translation of Weil’s 1942 essay ‘What the Occitan Inspiration Consists Of’ (1942) that elevates the troubadour concept of love to a practice of political resistance rejecting force in all its forms. Robertson dwells on the transhistorical potential of this concept from the violent context in which it emerged to the troubling conditions of the present. Embracing actualised and suppressed histories, the work testifies to words, friendship, and readership as resistance across distances.

The event will begin with a conversation with Yoon Sook Cha, a Vancouver-based writer, photographer, and scholar of Simone Weil, and will be followed by a reading by Robertson of her translations of three troubadour poems, and a Q&A period with the audience.

The event will be livestreamed here.

Accessibility

The Grand Luxe Hall is located on the second floor, which is accessed by a flight of 26 stairs. The second floor is not currently accessible to wheelchair users. Further details about accessibility at Western Front can be found here.

Acknowledgements

Presented in partnership with If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution.

Host or Publisher Western Front