About the Seminar

 

What sins are hidden among the pages of a book? What temptations are nested between its covers? From 411 B.C. with destruction of  Protagoras' work until 1966 when the Index librorum prohibitorum was repealed by Pope Paul VI, the hand of the censor has intervened "institutionally intercepting temptations and sins" in a considerable amount of texts that the reader of today finds not only interesting but also pleasant and even desirable.

The idea that reading is dangerous has spanned throughout centuries and continents: think for a second of the censorships of Lazarillo, Os Lusiads, Madame Bovary or Orwell's 1984, and even (although seemingly harmless) Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood. Could it be that, as Oscar Wilde said, "books that the world considers immoral are showing you your own shame"?

 

The International Seminar on Literature and Sin analyzes, from a multidisciplinary and inter-cultural perspective, how the deadly sins are depicted in literature, film, music and other areas of culture.

One of the most original features of the seminar is its multilingualism in an effort to propose and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the coexistence of four diverse languages ​​and cultures: Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

 

Once a year, scholars from around the globe meet in Palma de Mallorca with the purpose of sharing their own research in the field of the arts and letters. The carring out this (completely free) project is only possible thanks to the support of various institutions that, like us, are committed to the global diffusion of a qualitative public culture.