Literature Is a Voyage of Discovery - Tom Bishop in Conversation with Donatien Grau

Tom Bishop has, for over sixty years, helped shape the literary, philosophical, cultural, artistic, and political conversation between Paris and New York. As professor and director of the Center for French Civilization and Culture at New York University, he made the Washington Square institution one of the great bridges between French innovation and a New York scene in full transformation. Bishop was close to Beckett, championed Robbe-Grillet in the United States, befriended Marguerite Duras and Hlne Cixous, and organized historic public encounterssuch as the one between James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. He was also a scholar, a recognized specialist in the avant-garde, notably the Nouveau Roman and the Nouveau Thtre. In 2012, Bishop invited Donatien Grau to give a talk at NYU. This invitation led to conversationsmany of which are presented in this bookand a friendship. Literature Is a Voyage of Discovery gathers their dialogues, retracing Bishops career, his own history, his departure from Vienna, his studies, his meetings, his choices, his conception of literature and life, his relationship to the political and economic world, and the way he helped define the profession of curator as it is practiced today, offering a thought-provoking look into one of the leading minds of our time.