Two engaging thinkers come together at Symphony Space tonight to talk about correspondence: To our left, Thomas Mallon is the author of “Yours Ever: People and Their Letters” – which combines history (e.g., the origins of the U.S. Postal Service) with ephemera (letter snippets from the ages in categories like “Love” and “Prison”). Over here, John Freeman, American editor of Granta, whose book “The Tyranny of Email: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox” is an intervention of sorts for those addicted to their inbox.
The men will discuss the lost art of letter writing, what the speed and volume afforded by technology mean for us as humans (hint: not good), and other sometimes maudlin and doomsdayish scenarios. Symphony Space artistic director Isaiah Sheffer and Jane Curtin (random!) will read a unique assortment of historical letters. Try not to text too much during this one, ok?
Details
Thomas Mallon's Yours Ever: People and Their Letters and John Freeman's The Tyranny of Email: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox
Wednesday, January 20, 7:30PM
Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway; 212-864-5400
$24
More information and tickets here
