ARTISTS ON LOVE

January 28, 2025 | Blue Gallery

Lecture by Ulrich Baer

That till I loved / I never lived—Enough
Emily Dickinson

Perhaps the greatest of all human achievements - to truly love another person - at once elevates and humbles our sense of self.  Poets, musicians, novelists and playwrights have tried to arrest that uncanny feeling, whether happy, tragic, requited, or deferred, sometimes with a specific person in mind, and sometimes certain that the other person is out of reach. This evening we will consider some writers, among them Dickinson, Rilke, Kafka, Woolf, and Hemingway, who masterfully recreate in our mind love’s transport, ecstasy, confusion, longing, and regret.

Writer, translator, and scholar Ulrich Baer believes in the transformative power of ideas and books, and that real conversations play a key role in our evolution as conscious, responsible and compassionate people. His publications cover a range of topics, including poetry, photography, September 11, and free speech (What Snowflakes Get Right: Free Speech, Truth, and Equality on Campus, 2019), as well as a dystopian novel (We Are But a Moment, 2017), and a collection of stories (Beggar’s Chicken: Stories from Shanghai, 2012). Many distinguished guests have appeared on his podcasts to discuss big ideas and great books. He is a Professor at NYU, where he teaches literature and photography, and serves as Director of its Center for the Humanities.