Posted on May 4, 2015 by PLT Staff

Recording of a lecture by Carlos Eire at the Virginia Seminar in Charlottesville, Virginia. Eire begins by sharing his experience of writing his book Waiting for Snow in Havana, a memoir of his childhood in Cuba during Fidel Castro’s revolution, which caused him to be sent to the United States and leave his family behind. He then discusses the paradox of being a historian and writing a personal, subjective book, and the difficulties of writing about religion in an age where personal belief can make others uncomfortable. A Q&A session follows the lecture.

Excerpt: “The theology that I work out in Waiting for Snow is one of divine providence. As I said in the preamble, all of the characters are created in God’s imagination, and all the events are preordained. I followed that up in the second memoir, which is even more theological and more religious…. It’s a better book, much better, as a literary work, the theology is clearer, I have an even clearer message to get across. But the book didn’t do very well.”

• Video Information
• Date Recorded:June 18, 2014
• Location Recorded:Charlottesville, VA