Armen Zakharyan in Brussels. Lecture: “30 Seconds to the Renaissance: The Last Novel of the Middle Ages” 18 September 2026

Armen Zakaryan is a philologist, educator, and the creator of the literary channel “Armen and Fyodor.” 
Today, we live with the feeling that the old world is coming to an end, while the new one has not yet begun. This isn’t something unique to us; humanity has already experienced such a turning point.

So, the end of the 15th century. The medieval worldview is cracking at the seams: values, rules, language—everything is changing. People feel confusion and disorientation. They are earnestly searching for something to hold onto. At this moment, the imprisoned knight Thomas Malory writes *Le Morte d’Arthur*—the last novel of the Middle Ages.

In this lecture, we’ll discuss the last novel of the Middle Ages, trace the evolution of medieval literature, and journey from Geoffrey Chaucer and Leonardo da Vinci to the main focus of this lecture, Thomas Malory, and discover how and under what conditions a new era was born and how this was reflected in literature.

You don’t need to be familiar with the work. You don’t need to be an expert on the Middle Ages.
The lecture is structured so that everything is clear and accessible even without prior preparation.