Grand entretien with Antoine Compagnon : « If you don’t innovate, you die »

CEFRES and the French Institute in Prague invited Antoine Compagnon to give a “Grand Entretien” on the occasion of his participation in the conference „Proustian perspectives“ organized by the Departement of Czech and Comparative Literature and the Department of Romance studies of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (ÚČLK & ÚRS FF UK) in partnership with CEFRES.

Where: French Institute in Prague
When: Wednesday, March 22nd 2023, 6pm
Language: Czech and French (simultaneous interpretation)
Contact : cefres[@]cefres.cz

Antoine Compagnon (Collège de France / Académie française)
Modération: Eva Voldřichová-Beránková (UK)

Summary

‘The new, which is however perishable by essence, is for us a quality so eminent that its absence corrupts all others and that its presence replaces them,’ wrote Paul Valéry. The speed at which fashion is changing is constantly increasing. Innovation is the imperative of the digital revolution. Are there any inventions in literature? In the world of planned obsolescence, is literature doomed to become the refuge of reaction?