Conference
Nexus Conference 2015 -
14 November 2015
9.45 – 16.00
National Opera & Ballet, Amsterdam
Waiting for the Barbarians
In ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’ (1898), the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy portrays a fictional city grown decadent in times of plenty within a Roman Empire, in which the emperor, senators, rhetors and citizens almost eagerly look forward to the arrival of the barbarians. Then the barbarians do not come, and the disappointment is felt deeply. Cavafy’s description of this imaginary city ends with the following haunting lines:
And now, what’s to become of us without barbarians.
Those people were a solution of some kind.
(Translated by Daniel Mendelsohn)
The arrival of the barbarians would have offered a way out of the spiritual emptiness, lethargy, boredom and laziness that the city had fallen prey to. Poetically, Cavafy has illustrated the argument put forward by Edward Gibbon in his superb historical epic The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1788): that Roman civilization primarily withered as a result of decay from within, waiting for the barbarians that eventually came. The Nexus Conference 2015 addressed this theme within our society: how powerful is our current ideal of civilization?
In his keynote lecture, Amos Oz elaborates on the fruitfulness of going on early morning walks, on what makes good literature, and on curiosity.
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Full videos
Published in
Nexus 71
Wachten op de barbaren
Nexus 71
Wachten op de barbaren
Speakers

Amos Oz

Anne Applebaum

Azza El-Kholy

Ahmed Gâaloul

Amine Gemayel

John Haldane

Robert D. Putnam

Donald Sassoon

Michael Shermer

Abderrahmane Sissako

Bettina Stangneth

Zeev Sternhell

Marian Turski

Leon Wieseltier
A discussion with Amin Gemayel, Donald Sassoon, Anne Applebaum, Bettina Stangneth and Abderrahmane Sissako.
Anne Applebaum, Bettina Stangneth, Marian Turski and Donald Sassoon discuss the question ‘Does Evil Exist?’
Listen to what happened when Turski was beaten up and lost his glasses. A poor eyesight is equivalent to death in concentration camps, but Turski is still with us to share his insights.
A discussion with Zeev Sternhell, Ahmed Gâaloul, Michael Shermer and Leon Wieseltier.
A discussion with Leon Wieseltier, John Haldane, Michael Shermer, Azza El-Kholy, Robert Putnam and Zeev Sternhell.
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