Abedelwahab Meddeb

Presentation

 

Writer and poet Abdelwahab Meddeb was born in Tunis but has lived in Paris for 30 years where he currently teaches comparative literature at the University of Paris-Nanterre. He is the producer of a show called « Cultures of Islam, » which is broadcast on the radio station France-Culture. He also directs the international journal Dédale, which he founded in 1995.

Abdelwahab Meddeb is one of the leading authorities in France on the culture of Islam. He is particularly interested in relations established since the Middle Ages between Islam and Europe, between eastern and western cultures. This field of study has led him to analyze North/South relations from a cultural point of view, and especially through the prism of the different literatures. This approach, based on a genealogical and archeological method, dares to cross many disciplines: It concerns putting poetics and aesthetics to the test across different fields, which would have to behave according to the intermediary of cross-generic, cross-cultural, and cross-historical advances.

Abdelwahab Meddeb has expounded this perspective through the publication of over 20 books (essays, fiction, poetry), over a hundred articles, the translation of books from Arabic to French, the organizing of colloquiums, exhibitions, as well as collaborations on films and television shows.

 

Lectures

 

1. Between East and West, Islam Beyond the Turmoil