An Illustrated talk by Mitch Abidor, Writer and Translator
Date: Wednesday December 17th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 ( Tickets Here )

Across the front of the Pantheon in Paris, that most monumental of mausoleums, are the words, “To Great Men, the Grateful Fatherland.” Who are the great men that France is grateful to, and how did they earn that gratitude? Mitch Abidor will examine the history of the Pantheon and the story behind those buried there, focusing on what their choice signifies for French society. He will examine not only why these particular people found their final resting place there, but also the importance of the moment when they were chosen to be moved to the Pantheon. The uses of the edifice have also varied, and these changes and what they say about France’s political structure will also be examined. Mitch will also answer the question, What happens to the bodies of those the Fatherland no longer feels gratitude towards?

Mitch Abidor is a writer and translator. Among his forthcoming books are “Anarchists Never Surrender,”, an anthology of translations of writings on anarchism by Victor Serge; a translation of Emmanuel Bove’s novella” A Raskolnikoff,” and the first English translation of “A Socialist History of the French Revolution,” by Pantheon resident Jean Jaurès. He also frequently lectures on French revolutionary history.