April 26, 2006 | Hemmerdinger Hall at NYU | New York City

With Faith Adiele, Azhar Abidi, Alaa Al-Aswany, Richard Rodriguez, and Colm Tóibín; introduced by Mary Gordon.

Discussed: maintaining faith as a postmodern writer; why we need religion; unreason as the writer's muse; the American protestant experiment; the gift of the first-person singular and the dream of the "we"; the anxiety of the lonely American; and blasphemy as literary tradition.

LISTEN
• Entire event (1:25:25)

LISTEN TO SEGMENTS
• Mary Gordon offers introductory remarks (4:57)
• Faith Adiele discusses the role of faith in her life and work (5:15)
• Azhar Abidi discusses religion and reason (4:21)
• Alaa Al-Aswany discusses the need for and the dangers of religion (5:50)
• Richard Rodriguez discusses unreason (7:22)
• Colm Tóibín discusses secularism in Europe (7:55)
• Discussion (49:35)