The Romain Gary Library hosts the Heritage Readings in its reading room once a quarter. It’s a meeting with literature and the heritage of Nice through readings of texts by an author who has written in or about Nice. Literary world personalities read and comment on the work. Original documents belonging to the library’s collections are exhibited for the public’s enjoyment.
This Thursday at 6 PM, it’s Tobias Smollett, the “Scottish contrarian,” who is being honored.
Scottish doctor, critical, sharp, and pugnacious, Tobias Smollett (1721-1771) traveled through the County of Nice on his way to Italy. Initially planning to stay for a few nights, he remained for two years and described life in Nice in a series of letters: Travels through France and Italy. His testimony is precious because he managed to capture the city at the time of the birth of winter tourism, of which he perceives the essence. He pays homage to Nice, not without critiques, sometimes severe. The people of Nice held resentment towards him for over two centuries, even to the point of removing an “l” from his name when naming the street “Smolett”! His Letters from Nice give us the opportunity to encounter the sonorous, odorous, and genuine daily life in Nice 250 years ago.
And then, I imagined that one day, maybe, the young Nissart will say: “back in the days when Smollett traveled…”
Discussing this will be:
Alex Benvenuto, Doctor of Economic Sciences, former teacher at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, and member of the Editorial Committee of the Nice magazine Lou Sourgentin.
Author of twenty-five books including Tobias Smollett. Nice 7 765, as well as: 100 Words for Nice: A Bit of Nissart; Cuisine of the County of Nice; Henri Matisse, Nice and Vence 1917-1954 prefaced by Jean-Jacques Aillagon or even Secret, Historical, and Secret Lover’s Guide to Old Nice and In the Footsteps of Writers of the French Riviera, prefaced by Raoul Mille.
Christophe Turgie, Actor, director, and theater professor.
Trained at the Nicole Merouze, Joël Desmarty, Jean-Claude Cotillard courses in Paris from 1987 to 1991, Christophe Turgie founded the Compagnie des Cent Causes in 1993 and has since directed both classical and modern plays.
