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Arts & Entertainment

"Accessible, witty and humorous:"Canadian thinker John Ralston Saul coming to TRU

Rebekah Hammond - Science & Tech Editor

Next week, one of Canada's most renowned political and philosophical thinkers will be coming to TRU to speak.

John Ralston Saul, is speaking as part of TRU's President's Lecture Series on March 31 at 7 p.m. in the Grand Hall.

"I think of him as one of our country's most profound and fascinating and creative thinkers about Canada," said Ginny Ratsoy, a TRU Canadian studies professor who described him as being, "Accessible, witty and humorous."

Saul is well-known both internationally and nationally for his writing and ideas. He has written many literary works with philosophical and political themes about Canada's identity. One of Saul's books, The Unconscious Civilization, won a Governor Generals award and is about the loss of individualism and democracy.

John Ralston Saul was invited to speak as part of TRU's President Lectures series for his academic viewpoint as well as philosophical, economical and political ideas, said Christopher Seguin, vice president of advancement.

"We want people who have an effect on Canada. We want people who effect Canada on a national level," he said about why Saul was chosen to speak at TRU. "He's one of the highest esteemed people in the nation."

While Saul tackles many complex and intricate issues in his speaking and literary works, he does so in an interesting, engaging way.

"He examines myths about Canada, he deconstructs many of those myths and he does a great job of incorporating poetry, excerpts of fiction, into his work," Ratsoy said. "You don't have to be a political science major, or a Canadian history major, or anything like that to understand his work."

Saul's most recent book, A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada, "unveils 3 founding myths. Saul argues that the famous 'peace, order, and good government' that supposedly defines Canada is a distortion of the country’s true nature," read a summary of the book on his website. The book also describes how Canada is a Metis nation. Ratsoy encourages students to attend the lecture with Saul because he has refreshing ideas and approaches to ideological material that has already been looked at before. Additionally, he he also brings up ideas that haven't been paid much attention to. "I would think [students] would get a lot of value because he's a very accessible speaker," she said. "He's very much against elites. He has a kind of egalitarian, democratic approach to things that I think would sit well with students from whichever discipline that they're in. He's very witty and often very humerous."

Students and community members will be able to hear Saul speak for free, said Brenda Kiland from the office of the president. She expects there will be a large crowd attending. With limited seating available, she encourages people to come early for a good seat.

"We're very excited to have a person with such a plethora of knowledge to come and speak," Seguin said. "We're excited that Kamloops has a chance to hear him."