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"Lire en Fête - 2002"
Kandy celebrating the Bicentenary of
VICTOR HUGO...
200 years ago was born in Besançon (France), Victor-Marie Hugo, who was to become the most important figure in the French world of the 19th Century.
Through the "Victor Hugo Week", coinciding with the Festival of Books-2002, Alliance française de Kandy pays homage to the "Ocean Man".
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When we speak of Victor Hugo, the titles like "Les Misérables", "Notre-Dame de Paris" come into our minds ; also the image of a bearded grandfather so fond of his grandchildren.
He, who enriched this Century with his many writings, those that question our minds and yet touch our hearts. |
Victor Hugo, the poet. Poet of love and of death ; poet of childhood and of old age ; poet of nature but also poet of resistance, a crusader.
Fighting for the freedom of women and for the equality of genders.
Fighting for the cause of women also for children for whom he invented the concept of the "Children's Rights".
Fighting for the Republic, for its universal recognition.
And Victor Hugo, the visionary, is the first person to talk about "The United States of Europe" as far back as 1849.
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Fighting against the death penalty, this fight which he carried on from his youth only sees the light of day in France in 1981, the death penalty he calls a "legal murder"...
This continuous fight reflects through his work, since the publication of "Le Dernier jour d'un condamné" - "The last day of a condemned man" in 1829. Victor Hugo speaks out strong...
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Countrymen, let us not forget, the social strains weigh heavy on peoples heads. No food in the family, no intelligence in man : mistakes, degradation, crime.
One evening, at sunset, I saw the guillotine, which had just completed its duty ; two posts held the blade, still smoking. I asked the first post : what is your name? It replied me : "Misery". I then asked the second post : what is your name? It replied me : "Ignorance".
May the next Revolution uproot these two posts and destroy this guillotine !
The VICTOR HUGO WEEK
(from October 18 to 26, 2002) |
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Alliance française de Kandy,
412, Peradeniya Rd,
Kandy, Sri Lanka.
tel : 00 94 8 22 44 32
e-mail : allikdy@sltnet.lk | |
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18th
19th
20th
23rd
25th
26th
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6h30 p.m.
2.30 p.m.& 5.30 p.m.
2.30 p.m. & 5.30 p.m.
6h30 p.m.
6h30 p.m.
6h30 p.m.
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Inauguration of the "Victor Hugo Week"
Evocations
Opening of the exhibition
(Exhibition continues till 25th)
Cinema : "Les Misérables", by Bille August (1998)
Cinema : "Notre-Dame de Paris, musical film" (1999)
Posters drawing Festival
Evening of poetry and music with Victor Hugo
Chief-Guest : Monsieur Jacques Charrier, Délégué général de l"Alliance française de Paris au Sri Lanka.
"The last day in death row" a stage monologue from
the Victor Hugo's novel "The last day of a condemned man", adapted and interpreted by Mark Amerasinghe.
This evening will be honoured by the presence of Her Excellency Madame Marie-France Pagnier, Ambassador for France in Sri Lanka.
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Read also : Our page "Death Penalty"
www.lire-en-fete.culture.fr
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