The author discusses “The World and All That It Holds,” his recently published novel that spans decades and continents and cements his status as one of the boldest voices in fiction.
In this epic and intimate story set in 1914 Sarajevo, gentle-souled Rafael Pinto pounds herbs in his pharmacy until war explodes with Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination and Pinto finds himself in the trenches, falling in love with fellow soldier Osman. Together, they escape the gruesome realities of battle and travel over mountains and across deserts, from one world to another.
This event will feature a reading by the author and a conversation with Esther Schor about the novel followed by an audience Q&A.
About the Author:
Aleksandar Hemon is the author of “The Lazarus Project,” which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award; the memoir “My Parents: An Introduction/This Does not Belong to You,” and of three books of short stories: “The Question of Bruno,” “Nowhere Man,” also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and “Love and Obstacles.” He teaches at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.
About the Moderator:
Esther Schor, the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Professor of American Jewish Studies at Princeton, is a scholar, biographer, poet and essayist. Her 2006 biography “Emma Lazarus” won the National Jewish Book Award. Her most recent book is “Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language”, a cultural history/memoir of the Esperanto movement, and she is currently writing a biography of the philosopher Horace M. Kallen.
This event was recorded on March 6, 2023.