Stephen Greenblatt: ‘The Swerve Revisited: How the World Became Modern’

On 1st and 2nd February, 2025, the 2016 Holberg Laureate Stephen Greenblatt was featured at two events at the Jaipur Literature Festival, as part of a collaboration between the Holberg Prize and JLF. The first event was called “The Swerve Revisited: How the World Became Modern”. In his Pulitzer-prize winning book The Swerve, Stephen Greenblatt argued that the Renaissance recovery of a single ancient manuscript, Lucretius’ De rerum natura, altered the world. How do settled modes of interpretation, styles of thought, subjects of attention – change direction? What provokes them and how do dominant institutions respond? This conversation will explore the ways in which seismic shifts in human understanding come about. The event featured Stephen Greenblatt in conversation with Scottish historian and art historian William Dalrymple, who is co-founder and co-director of the annual Jaipur Literature Festival. The speakers were introduced by Chair of the Holberg Board Professor Jørgen Sejersted.