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Conférence,
Conférence, a word which dates back to Montaigne, also outlines the living tendencies and aims of words, moving from one sphere of thought to the other, stepping across the borders of different subjects and tastes. It releases, from one sphere to the other, the same resonances of a need for meaning : hence, its task of discovering, through the proximity of our concerns, that which means so much to us. Through the variety and unity of its constituents, Conférence would like to pass on this outlook on the world which directs and authenticates our presence. Not one amongst a hundred readers of the same review will have read the same pages, seen, found and remembered the same details. But everyone would have felt a sense of belonging to a world in common and that he could not be a part of this community unless he sought its meaning and questioned its actuality.
Themes. The theme of the first part of the review is a subject chosen for the range and the process of defamiliarisation it entails ; something which, pertaining to existence, is worth more than argumentative discussion, at the core of which it can effectively be found. Within the framework of different well-known forms of writing, from the poem to the essay, from political analysis to the translation of old texts, from painting to philology, these objects of study naturally avoid all preconception : they displace words and their meaning and test our feelings and our knowledge. In this way, since its first issue, Conférence has been trying to describe some significant pillars of human existence : " The Beauty ", " Scandal ", " Compromise "... Consequently, humanity is given the allure of an innate, ongoing task of deeper study, reconciliation and dwelling. The review also reminds us that, due to its dipping into social and juridical relations like friendship and politics respectively, its main role is to acknowledge in others a joint-authorship in that which makes the world alive and well-lived in. " An idea of litterature ", " Example " and " Joy ", themes tackled in following issues, open the way to forthcoming reflection.
Images. Every number welcomes and introduces painters, engravers and photographers. Their works, further dwelt on by authors, inscribe the themes discussed in the domain of the visible, hence becoming an essential part of a confidence to the world.
Cahier. This is the most literary part of the review. It aims at focalising our sensibilisation on to our readiness when it comes to the symbiosis of our intimate, interior life and the shared experience of reading. To achieve this result, it touches several levels of thinking and language. This apparent seriousness does not aim at astonishment. The essential is hidden so that it can be discovered. It is not a series of subjective opinions but, rather, texts open to exchange, texts wanting to describe the relationships we have with the appearance of objects and the characteristics of objects and people.
Translations and unpublished works. The review awards a substantial space to translations and unpublished works, seeing in them a sign of inscription into the most contemporary of times. The choice of works, be they the production of contemporary authors, old writers or great thinkers, more famous by name than read, involves us in a story which does not boil down to the cult of the fleeting moment.
Amidst all these, Petrarch occupies, for Conférence, a unique position. The idea of a high level of conversation together with a questioning of the world, are defined by his freedom of expression and his tone, the quality of which is suited to his wise experience and vigorous judgement. Hence, the contiguity of these qualities to the example set by Montaigne and quoted as a threshold to every issue : " The most fruitful and natural exercise of the mind is, in my opinion, the act of conferring... The search of truth should be the common cause ".
A review has a particular ongoing relationship with the present. It exists through it ; its only target is to give it all its attention, taking into consideration the state it is in, the future it unveils and the humane content it reveals. What allures us in the present apart from directives or private fancies? Conférence considers the present infinitely vast ; no form of knowledge can, according to this review, overpower its inner characteristic of life if not through illusion or falsehood. It takes up the description of the present as a task and a source of bliss : the rendering of current issues and, indeed, of reality, is a give and take process.
Doubt and confidence alternately nourish a review : will the latter be able to convey the meaning of the immediate quality of life ? It can, at least, denounce the instances of oppression in a present influenced by our own personal interests. That the world, as we conceive it, might be imposing its limits on the variety of the present, might effectively be the case. Similarly, one might consider the world's tendency towards incoherence, refusing to reveal the potential of words in that which concerns interpretation and communication, and refraining from conveying the consistency of objects.
It is, nevertheless, useless to announce a poor interaction with the present if one has no faith in other signs. The latter constantly appear in forms other than those proposed by our hectic life. Thus the importance of reading, translating, listening and drawing from this well of humanity which gives vent to the freest and, maybe, the only exchange of this kind ; hence, a conference with the depth of present times successively, or, at once, old and new - a present which conveys truthful reasons of being and which traces the way to the world of tomorrow.