God, suffering and death: how poetry helps us deal with them June 25, 2010

The Richard Holloway Address

In 1897 in Tahiti, Paul Gaugin the painter heard that his daughter Aline had died back home in Holland. In response he created an enormous painting that was a cry of anguish at the riddle of existence, and on the top left hand corner he slashed three questions: what are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? These questions come with our humanity, and we have poured out oceans of ink and blood in answering them. In his lecture Richard Holloway will show how poetry has helped him wrestle with these questions.

Richard Holloway is a Scottish writer and broadcaster and was formerly Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He was made an Honorary Graduate of the University of Dundee in 2009 and we’re delighted to be welcoming him back to give this lecture. His last book, Between the Monster and the Saint, was published by Canongate in 2008.