On Thursday evening, May 23, 2024, the Western University of Timișoara marked the beginning of the festivities dedicated to the 80th anniversary of its establishment with a memorable cultural event. The special guest was the philosopher and essayist Gabriel Liiceanu.
Liiceanu studied at the Western University of Timișoara PHOTO Ștefan Both
The Western University had the honor of having Gabriel Liiceanu, one of the most important Romanian philosophers and essayists, as a guest. Liiceanu read in front of the audience in Timișoara, for the first time, pages from his latest volume, “Letter to Dorothea”, a “breviary of ideas in love”.
The book, just out of print, could be bought by readers for the first time, in the UVT lobby. The launch of the book will also take place next week, at the Bucharest Bookfest Book Fair.
“I do not hide from you that this book means something in my autobiography, in my spiritual biography. The pages I chose to read, I chose them according to the criterion of attractiveness, put in front of the fear that I might be bored. For any speaker, the greatest misfortune is this, to cause boredom. At some point, I think I won't exceed 50 minutes, I'll apply Patapievici's strategy, I'll stop, I'll tell you to bear with me for another ten minutes, after which I'll read for another hour“, Liiceanu said jokingly.
Gabriel Liiceanu at UVT PHOTO Stefan Both
Hundreds of people listened to the lecture of philosopher writer Gabriel Liiceanu for almost two hours, and at the end he received questions from the audience.
“The prejudices that exist about both philosophy and people drive me crazy. The usual view is that they are cardboard, artificial, living outside society. And I was very excited at 30, people who knew me asked me if I was a sports teacher. This gave me great comfort because I was not perceived as a shadow, as a specter of a man. Believe me that a real thinker is a man who lives to the fullest and he is called the union of body and spirit that we are. No one in this world is pure spirit, no one is pure body. We are condemned to this condition. And if we are also impious, we say it out loud”, Liiceanu also said.
Gabriel Liiceanu at UVT PHOTO Stefan Both
Gabriel Liiceanu also spoke about the writer's condition on earth, but explained that texts are born from a collaboration between consciousness and the unknown within us.
“What we are is the tip of the iceberg. In us 90 percent is the unknown infinity. You don't understand how you ended up writing a text. Our great writers explain when they are amazed by the splendor of their writing, most of them fall into this thing, they don't know how to explain, how they wrote something so divine (…). It's terrible that you can't detect who made you write. I believe in the infinite within us, in the unknown within usGabriel Liiceanu said.
Gabriel Liiceanu at UVT PHOTO Stefan Both
The event was moderated with elegance and insight by the teacher and writer Mircea Mihăieș. After the conference, Gabriel Liiceanu lingered for a good few minutes to sign autographs on his books bought by the people of Timisoara.
