Institute for Global Understanding
Bilingual Poetry Reading and Q&A with Salgado Maranhão and Alexis Levitin
Great Hall 104 (Julian Abele Room).content .bio img { margin: 0 auto; float: none; } @media (min-width: 500px) { .content .bio img { width: 300px; height: auto; float: right; margin: 0 0 2rem 2rem; } […]
Saint Omer
Pollak TheatreRama, a literature professor and novelist, travels from Paris to Saint-Omer to observe the trial of Laurence Coly and write about the case. Coly is a student and Senegalese immigrant accused of leaving her 15-month-old daughter on a beach to be swept away by the tide in Berck. Rama, who is four-months pregnant and, like Coly, is in a mixed-race relationship and has a complex relationship with her own Senegalese immigrant mother, feels a personal connection to Coly. She plans to write a modern day retelling of the Greek Medea myth about the case. As she learns more about Coly’s life and the isolation Coly experienced from her family and society while living in France, Rama becomes increasingly anxious about her own life and pregnancy.