Paris in the Present Tense

The Boivin Center for French Language and Culture at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, proudly announces its first program of the fall semester, Paris in the Present Tense, featuring the author of this great novel, Mark Helprin. The program will take place on Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 at 4 PM in the Grand Reading Room of the Claire T. Carney Library on the UMass Dartmouth campus.

Mark Helprin is a best-selling New York Times novelist, short story writer, journalist and conservative commentator. He is married to Lynn Kennedy. He and his wife have two daughters and live on a farm in Virginia.

Mr. Helprin was educated at Harvard University (BA) and at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (MA). He has also done post-graduate work at Princeton University, Magdalen College and the University of Oxford. His novels include: Refiner’s Fire: The Life and Adventures of Marshall Pearl, a Foundling; Winter’s Tale; A Soldier of the Great War, Freddy and Frederick and Sunlight and Shadow.

Helprin’s latest book, Paris in the Present Tense, is set in present day Paris and depicts the life of seventy-four year old, Jules Lacour, a maître at Paris Sorbonne, a cellist, widower, veteran of the war in Algeria and a child of the Holocaust. In the twilight of his life, he struggles to find a balance between his strong obligations to the past and the attractions and beauties of life and love in the present.

A Q&A will follow the lecture as well as a book signing and light reception. The program is free and open to the public. Parking is available on campus in lot 13.