La Maison Française, World Poetry Books and Deutsches Haus at NYU present “Feminist Surrealism: Joyce Mansour and Meret Oppenheim in Translation” with a reading and conversation with the translators Kathleen Heil and C. Francis Fisher, moderated by Effie Rentzou ( Princeton University). C. Francis Fisher will read from her recent translation of Joyce Mansour’s In the Glittering Maw: Selected Poems (World Poetry, 2024) and Kathleen Heil from her translation of Meret Oppenheim’s The Loveliest Vowel Empties (World Poetry, 2022). A moderated conversation will delve into the lives and work of these two important and often overlooked Surrealist poets and the many ways in which their lives and life work overlap and intersect.

About the authors:

The Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim (1913–1985) was born in Berlin-Charlottenburg and died in Basel. Best known for Object, her fur-lined teacup from 1936, her expansive body of work included painting, works on paper, and object constructions, as well as jewelry designs, public sculpture commissions, and poetry. From 2021–2023 her work was the subject of a major exhibition, the first transatlantic retrospective of her work, a collaboration between MoMA, The Menil Collection, and Kunstmuseum Bern.

One of the most important female Surrealist writers, Joyce Mansour (1928–1986) was born in England to Syrian-Jewish parents. Soon after her birth, the family moved to Cairo, where Mansour lived until she was forced to emigrate. She settled in Paris in 1953, where she continued writing and became a key member of the postwar Surrealist milieu. Mansour published sixteen books of poetry in her lifetime as well as prose and theater pieces. She died of cancer in Paris in 1986.

Date and Time: Thursday, October 10th, 6:00–7:30 PM

Location: Deutsches Haus at NYU, 42 Washington Mews, New York, NY 10003

More Information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/feminist-surrealism-joyce-mansour-and-meret-oppenheim-in-translation-tickets-1015430819917