The Judaic Studies Program of Drexel University presents a lecture and booksigning by Daniel Heller-Roazen Professor of Comparative Literature, and Director of Graduate Studies, Princeton University. He is the author of Echolalias: On the Forgetting of Language (Zone Books, 2005). In Echolalias, Daniel Heller-Roazen reflects on the many forms of linguistic forgetfulness. Just as speech can be acquired, so can it be lost. Individuals can forget words, phrases, even entire languages, and over the course of time speaking communities, too, let go of the tongues that were once theirs. The experience of the passing of speech can lie at the origin of literary, philosophical, and artistic creation. Daniel Heller-Roazen will discuss some of the ways in which the arguments of Echolalias could bear on the case of Yiddish language and culture. Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
