Sinaia, Romania, June 22-25, 2017
Under the Auspices of the Royal Family of Romania
Conveners: Sorin Antohi and Gregory Claeys
Organizer: Asociația Orbis Tertius / A Treia Lume
Partners: Aaylex, export club, Forum Auto, Fundația Spandugino, Niciman, Direcția Județeană de Cultură Iași, Muzeul Municipiului București, Alexandrion, Hotel Bastion, Eurolines, ALIRA, Alcovin Măcin, Clos des Colombes, Trivium. Revistă de gîndire simbolică, Observator cultural.
In 2016, scholars around the world have celebrated five centuries since the publication of Thomas More’s Utopia, the epitome of a timeless (and, self-ironically, spaceless) exercice sur les possibles latéraux (to use Raymond Ruyer’s felicitous phrase). A form of speculative fiction, a social theory, a metahistorical trope, a countercultural discourse, a blueprint, an ideology (pace Karl Mannheim), a practice (and so on) that can be traced back at least to Plato, Utopia as we knew it seems to have run its course, and may be in need of fresh impulses. In 2017, we remember 1917, one of the most complex and momentous of all revolutions, both the consequence and starting point of yet another global quest for utopia which was to end for most in 1989/1991 at the latest, after a tragic encounter with dystopia.
To discuss all of the above and more—such as the kindred streams of history, religion, millennialism, reform, fiction, fantasy, science fiction, etc.–, an interdisciplinary colloquium is convened in Sinaia, under the auspices of the Royal Family of Romania. A related international conference, Humanism and Utopianism. Historical and Critical Perspectives, was held at the same location on June 13-15, 2014.
The Cantemir Annual Award continues the Cantemir Prize, established in 2010 as part of the activities leading to and becoming the Cantemir Institute at the University of Oxford (2011-2013). The Cantemir Prize was handed during annual conferences at the University of Oxford by HRH Prince Radu of Romania, the High Patron of the Cantemir Institute, to Ștefan Lemny (2010), Alison Ashford and Philippa Levine (2011), Martin Dodge, Chris Perkins, and Rob Kitchin (2012).
The Cantemir Annual Award celebrates the legacy of two enlightened princes of Romanian background: Demetrius Cantemir (1673-1723) and his son Antiochus (1709-1744). Their writings, actions, and visions encompass vast spaces, different periods, and various cultures, both Eastern and Western. Demetrius was a ruling prince of Moldavia educated in Constantinople, a member of the Berlin Academy, a prince of the Russian Empire and an adviser to Peter the Great, while Antiochus was a translator, Russia’s first modern poet and first ambassador to Great Britain and France. They were cosmopolitan humanists who, while rooted in particular societies, traditions, and worldviews, transcended borders of many sorts, aspiring to intercultural knowledge and universal horizons.
Schedule
Friday, June 23
8:00-12:00 Trip to Bran Castle
12:45 Awarding of the Cantemir Annual Award, Peleș Castle (Florentine Hall)
13:00 Lunch hosted by HRH Prince Radu of Romania at Peleș Castle (State Dining Hall). Followed by a tour of Peleș and Pelișor Castles.
16:15-18:30 Ideology, (Secular) Religion, and Fiction
Moderator: Sorin Antohi
Gregory Claeys, Utopia and Revolution: The Case of Karl Marx
Moshe Idel, Messianism: Between Evolution and Revolution
Artur Blaim, Utopian Fictions: Before and After Revolutions
18:30-18:45 Break
18:45-19:30 Revolution, Utopia, and the Novel
Stelian Tănase, Old Nick: A Fairy Tale of the Twentieth Century. A novel translated into English by Jean Harris. Introduction by Sorin Antohi, reading by the translator, comments by the author, discussion.
19:30 Dinner
Saturday, June 24
9:00-11:00 Utopias (from the Land) of the Undead
Moderator: Artur Blaim
Ștefan Borbély, Utopian Thinking in Transylvania: German and Hungarian Case Studies
Mariano Martín Rodríguez, What If They Returned? Collective Human Resurrection as an Ambiguously Utopian Revolution in Modern Secular Speculative Fiction
11:00-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-13:30 The 1989 Revolutions and Their Aftermath
Moderator: Stelian Tănase
Tilo Schabert, The German Revolution of 1989-1990: A European Experience
Michael Shafir, Return to Anti-Utopia in Post-communist East Central Europe
13:30-15:00 Lunch
15:00-16:30 Visit of Sinaia Monastery
16:30-18:00 Utopia, Revolution, and History
Moderator: Michael Shafir
Eduardo Nolla, Utopia Realized: Political Theory and Democracy
Sorin Antohi, Utopia and Revolution: (Failed) Escapes from History
18:15-19:00 Concluding Remarks
Moderator: Gregory Claeys
