Join Evenings with an Author (in-person and online*) to discuss
The Plateau
with author Maggie Paxson
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Winner of the American Library in Paris 2020 Book Award Maggie Paxson’s The Plateau is motivated by a simple question: “how to be good,” or “when it’s hard to be good.” To find an answer, Paxson travels to the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon in Southern France, a region with a history of being about as good as Paxson can find. During World War II, the village was known for taking in hundreds of strangers (children and adults) fleeing Nazi persecution. Today, the region houses asylum-seekers as they wait for the outcomes of their cases.
Paxson’s decision to travel here is informed by her training as an anthropologist. She hopes to conduct a field study of a geographic region whose population has committed itself to practicing decency. As the book develops and Paxson moves deeper into this site of kindness, however, the scholarly distance begins to dissolve. Instead, she is forced to confront the moral limits of observation and the moral weight of action. From following the thread of a relative who was murdered by Nazis for sheltering children, to speaking with refugees, Paxon’s pilgrimage adopts as its stakes the state of her own soul. Rather than a clinical study of the human, the result is a moving and personal story of humanity. Paxson will be in conversation with Programs Manager Alice McCrum.
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About the speaker:
Maggie Paxson is a writer, anthropologist, and performer. She is the author of Solovyovo: The Story of Memory in a Russian Village (2005) and The Plateau (2019). The latter was awarded the American Library in Paris 2020 Book Award and was named a Best Book of 2019 by BookPage. Paxson’s writing has been featured in Time, Washington Post Magazine, Wilson Quarterly, and Aeon.
Registration required. Free and open to the public.
*The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (Paxson and McCrum will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
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Important: on-site information regarding COVID-19
In compliance with French law, a valid Pass Vaccinal (ages 16+) or Pass Sanitaire (ages 12–15) is required to enter the Library. Masks remain strongly recommended, per the French Ministry of Health.
