L.A. Narrative of the Late 20th Century. Panel discussion, followed by a reception. The Getty Center will not officially open to the public until December 1997. Attendance at this event is by advanced reservation only, and reservations must be made by Thursday, April 24.
Parking is limited and carpooling is encouraged.
This series provides an opportunity for public conversation on topics that have emerged through research on archives and collections representing the rich cultural inheritance and plurality of the Los Angeles region. In this final quarter of the 20th century, the apocalyptic literary genre of the L.A. narrative has intensified. The evidence is found in the abundance of storyline prophecy and social critique of the impending destruction of Los Angeles by a range of plausible forces including earthquakes, ecocatastrophe, invasions, social implosion, and contemporary weapons of war. Simultaneously there has been a distinct decline in the utopian purview of the L.A. narrative. Carolyn See, Adjunct Professor of English at UCLA, author of various novels including Making History and Golden Days, recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction and the Los Angeles Times Robert Kirsch Body of Work Award, and current Visiting Scholar at the Getty Research Institute.