Critical Conversations: 2022–23 with Analog Sea

In partnership with Analog Sea, an offline publisher of printed books, we’re delighted to announce the fourth season of Critical Conversations, an expert-led discussion series that allows Library members to ponder the most important issues of our time. We will discuss questions such as: What do we gain from disconnecting, and how can we do it? How can we sharpen our senses and redirect our attention in order to change our thoughts and actions? And most of all, how can we live in contemporary society with nuance and intention?

Whether in France or America, debate is central to healthy democracy. Critical Conversations encourages both disagreement and agreement through thinking, talking, reading, and actively participating in community. Since the series’ inception in 2020, we have tackled race in America, the climate crisis, and migration. Across seasons, participants have challenged themselves, their peers, and the world in which we live.

Some Details:

The 2022–23 series will unfold over nine sessions, from November 2022 to July 2023. Conversations will begin at 19h00 CET and run for two hours, in person, at the Library; technology of all description is happily forbidden. Each participant will receive copies of all four Analog Sea Review volumes published so far. Course reading and discussion will, for the most part, be based on work published in The Analog Sea Review. Jonathan Simons, founding editor of Analog Sea, will begin each meeting with some opening remarks, before guiding a group discussion.

Meeting One: Overstimulated in a Hyperstimulated World on Thursday 17 November 2022

Meeting Two: The Cult of the Image on Thursday 8 December 2022

Meeting Three: The Society of the Spectacle on Thursday 12 January 2023

Meeting Four: Wonderment on Thursday 16 February 2023

Meeting Five: A Life of Reading and Writing on Thursday 23 March 2023

Meeting Six: Leisure on Thursday 20 April 2023

Meeting Seven: Art in Dark Times on Thursday 11 May 2023

Meeting Eight: Solitude on Thursday June 15 2023

Meeting Nine: Freedom and Civility on Thursday 6 July 2023

Please review the 2022–2023 Critical Conversations Syllabus for more details about all meeting dates and readings.

How to Join:

This series will take place in person at the Library and is open to both Library members and non-members.

Advance payment and registration is required:

Reduced rate (as of 17 January 2023): 100€ per participant.

Please email Emilie Biggs, Programs Assistant, biggs@americanlibraryinparis.org with any questions.

About the Series Leader:

The series leaders for 2022-23 is Jonathan Simons.

Jonathan Simons is the founding editor of offline publishing house Analog Sea and its literary journal, The Analog Sea Review. As a poet and essayist, he has written for publications including The London Magazine, PN Review, El País, subTerrain Magazine, and The Analog Sea Review. His work has been covered by, among others, the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, the Washington Post and La Vanguardia. He researched Buddhist poetics at Naropa University and McGill University and was formerly a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for Humans and Machines, in Berlin.