Mighty Minds and Muses to Open York University MILLENNIAL WISDOM SYMPOSIUM; Alberto Manguel, Dionne Brand and Archeologist Edward Keall to Place Past in Perspective

TORONTO, September 17, 1999 -- As we see this century out -- be it with a bang or a whimper -- we should carry with us some comprehension of how our past, and the knowledge it can yield, informs our future. Three remarkable minds will try to place that past in perspective as they open the York University Millennial Wisdom Symposium on Mon., Oct. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Royal Ontario Museum Theatre.

Sponsored by the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at York University, in co-operation with the Royal Ontario Museum, the Millennial Wisdom Symposium will get off to a rousing and reflective start with acclaimed critic and anthologist Alberto Manguel, author of the internationally renowned bestseller A History of Reading, speaking on why we are haunted by the past. Manguel, who offers two new books this fall, an updated The Dictionary of Imaginary Places and My Last Anthology -- Gods' Spies, will be joined by award-winning poet, novelist and essayist, Dionne Brand and Royal Ontario Museum archeologist Dr. Edward Keall.

Is the past a fiction? Can we ever really know the past except as a world we see through the point of view of the present? "We are the past," writes Manguel, one of the few Canadians to win the French literary prize, Prix Medicis. "It is literally with us with every step we take, even when we try to ignore or deny it. Each moment of the present, as we live it, is becoming the past, showing us our haunting dependance on what has gone before, and our deeply entwined metaphysical relationship to time and place."

Brand, whose seven volumes of poetry include Land to Light On (winner of the GG Award and the Trillium Award in 1997) and No Language is Neutral (nominated for the Governor General's Award), will speak about the dilemmas she faced in recreating a history of dispossession which spans two wars and six generations. Who owns the past and who gets to tell its story? Recreating a past that has been invisible -- literally a fiction -- to the dominant white culture of North America is the subject of Brand's new novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon.

Keall, Royal Ontario Museum archeologist, will speak about narrating the ancient past using story telling and creative insight as opposed to the exclusive use of scientific tools and historical records. Keall will tell the story of the Castle of Yazdigird, which legend suggests was built in the seventh century as a stronghold for the last king of kings of the Sasanian Empire of Iran. Keall's follow-your-nose method includes clues found in folkloric tales along with rugged in-the-field work, and puts Keall in the realm of those archeologists who prefer to tackle frontier sites.

"Is the Past a Fiction?" is the first in a series of 10 free public events, a virtual feast of intellectual fare by novelists, historians and archeologists which will be held at York University and the Royal Ontario Museum. Celebrated novelist and York Professor Susan Swan ( The Wives of Bath, Stupid Boys are Good to Relax With) will host the evening as part of her one-year appointment to the prestigious Robarts Chair in Canadian Studies at York University. The Millennial Wisdom Symposium, which is Swan's brainchild, will profile 20 insightful and creative people who together will assess, on the eve of the 21st century, whether we have learned anything from our past, and how we are recreating that past in popular culture, using science, historical research and creative imagination.

The Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at York University, under the direction of Prof. Daniel Drache, undertakes research on Canadian cultural policy in a comparative and hemispheric perspective. Current research includes cultural policy and trade liberalization and international standards-setting and auditing public domains in contrasting market economies. The Robarts Centre is also engaged in a series of seminars on the Canadian family at the beginning of the new Millennium.

The Royal Ontario Museum, an Ontario Government agency created in 1912, is Canada's largest international museum of natural and human history, with six million objects in its collections and over 40 galleries showcasing art, archeology and science. For general information, please call (416) 586-5797.

For more information about the symposium, members of the public can call Cheryl Dobinson at the Robarts Centre (416) 736-5499 or visit www.robarts.yorku.ca

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For more information, please contact:

Sine MacKinnon
Director, Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
sinem@yorku.ca

Prof. Susan Swan
Robarts Millennial Scholar
York University
(416) 323-0870
sswan@yorku.ca

Royal Ontario Museum
Media Relations
(416) 586-5858
YU/091/99