Simon(e) van Saarloos

Following on from Philipp Blom and Safae el Khannoussi, Simon(e) van Saarloos has the honour of opening the new season.The Dutch-American philosopher debuted in 2015 with the much-discussed book The Monogamous Drama. Since then, numerous publications have followed, including Etc. The Wilders Trial (2018) - a meticulous account of the criminal trial against Geert Wilders - Remembering Remembered (2019), and Against Ageism: A Queer Manifesto (2023). Currently, they are a doctoral candidate in rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley. In this lecture, van Saarloos takes a critical look at the season theme ‘Be Embraced’. What (false) promise emerges from Friedrich Schiller’s Seid Umschlungen, set to music by Beethoven in the choral finale of his Ninth Symphony? With sharpness and intelligence, van Saarloos turns the theme on its head, shedding new light on the possible meanings of friendship.