Join Dr. Gene Homel for a timely presentation on George Orwell and Albert Camus. His discussion analyses the ideas and politics of two key writers of the 20^th century. George Orwell (1903-1950) of England is best known for his last novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which encompassed many of his lifelong concerns: the use and abuse of language in politics and society at large, Soviet Communism, democratic socialism, class relations, the value of the natural world, and the dangers of imperialism and colonialism. Albert Camus (1913-1960) of France is mistakenly considered an existentialist philosopher, a label he denied. Camus, like Orwell, was preeminently a voice of truth, morality and humanism in the face of war, exploitation and mass murder. Camus explored issues of colonialism (in particular, his native Algeria), Soviet Communism, and the dangers of nihilism in the face of the Absurd. Camus’s novel The Plague can be read as a plea for human solidarity. Both men had much in common, including premature deaths at the age of 46, and left their powerful marks on the literature, politics, and philosophy of our time.

 Date: Tuesday, October 17

Time: 6:30PM Central, which is 7:30PM Eastern and 4:30PM Pacific

Location: Zoom Videoconference

Cost: Free

About Dr. Homel: Gene Homel has taught history and politics since 1973 at universities and colleges in Ontario and British Columbia. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and has written and presented extensively on history and culture. He is a former chair of the liberal studies department at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.