NEUSLETIER

Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

The University of Kansas

Volume V, Number 2 Janua ry 1979 ,Editor: Stephen Parker

Deadli ne Dates:

CIEE Summer Russian Language Program, application deadline : February 2.

App 1 i cation for Department nomi nati on for Graduate School Fe 1l0~Jshi ps and llDFL Fellowships: ~1arch 1. Information on application procedures ~Ji 11 be forthcomi ng.

Application for Department TAIAI Academic Year 1979-80 : t1arch 1. will be forthcoming.

positions for Summer 1979 and for Information on application procedures

CIEE Fall 1979 Semester Russian Language Program application deadline : Narch 5.

Last day for Ph . D. Comprehensive examination for those desiring October 1979 Ph.D. degree : April 9.

Last day for Ph. D. Defense of Dissertation Examination for r1ay 1979 degree: April 9.

Last day for ItA. examination for t1ay 1979 degree: April 13 .

Last day to file dissertation for May 1979 degree : April 13 .

Department meetings are scheduled this semester on February 6, March 6, April 3, f1ay 1, at 2:30 p.m. in the Governor's Room , Kansas Union.

The Soviet Hriter-in-Residence for this spring semester will be the Russian poet, singer, and novelist Bulat Okudzhava. He will be on campus February 11 - 23, during which time he will read his poems, sing, and lecture on contem­porary Soviet literature .

In Fall 1979, our guest Soviet Writer-in-Residence ~Iill be the Russian poet, p~0se writer, and essayist Vladimir Soloukhin. His visit is tentatively s·: :-.2duled for October 14 - November 4.

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The visit by Viktor Sergeevich Rozov as Soviet Hriter-in-Residence from October 15 - November 5, 1978 was an immense success. ~1r. Rozov I s leCtures on contemporary Soviet dramaturgy were exceptionally well attended, as was his public lecture on the state of the theatre in the Soviet Union today. His play, From Eveni n9 Ti 1 ~1i dday, gi ven its Ameri can premi ere in the Wi 11 i am Inge Theatre, ~Ias very we 11 recei ved by enthusi asti c audiences.

t1r. Bogdan Popovit, Yugoslav literary critic and publishing house director, was on campus for three months this past semester under the sponsorship of the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars. Hhile here he con­ducted a series of eight seminars on contemporary Yugoslav literature.

Dr. Rudof Fi1ipovit, former Dean of the Philosophical Faculty of Zagreb University and now Director of the Institute for Linguistics at Zagreb Uni­versity, lias on campus for two months this past fall semester while conduct­ing a research project on the Croatian language as spoken by Croatians living in the Kansas City, Kansas area .

Slavic Club activities this past semester \~ere highlighted by a Pan-Slavic Night of gastronomic delights and entertainment.

Student and Alumni Ne~ls

The department welcomes our new graduate students:

Linda Linden - B.A., Maca1ester College

Thomas Starker - B.A. , Florida State University

New half-time Teaching Assistants in the department this semester are Stanley Bark and 11ichae1 Biggins .

Congratulations to the following students who have successfully passed graduate examinations:

r·1ark Clark, awarded an r1.A., concentration in Russian culture.

~4aia Kipp, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination; major in Russian literature, Dinor in German literature.

Robert Mann, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination; major in Russian literature, minor in folk literature.

Alexander Prus-Bogus1awski, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination; major in Russian literature, minor in Byzantine art.

Leonard Stanton, Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination, a~/arded an 11. Phil.

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Peter Aikman resigned his Assistant Instructor position for the spring semester to accept a position as Instructor of Advanced Russian at the De­fense Language Institute, Nonterey, California.

Slava Yashemsky directed the American premiere performances of Viktor Rozov's From Eveni n9 Til Mi dday in the Hi 11 i am Inge Theatre. He and Len Stanton reworked the only English translation of the play, and the production under Slava's direction was judged a great success by both audiences and reviewers.

Halina Filipovlicz-Find1ay has two recent revievls of HO\~ to Read a Film: The Art Technology Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media, by James ~lonaco in Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 30, October 1978, pp. 440-441 and, ~Iith Robert Findlay, of Tomaszewski's I·lime Theatre, by A. Hausbrandt in SEEJ, Vol. 22, Fall 1978, pp. 394-396. Between December 26 - January 19, Ha 1 i na Vias i n ~Jarsaw, Poland negoti ati ng the Facu1 ty and Student Educational Exchange agreement bebleen K. U. and IJarsal-1 Uni vers i ty . Her efforts were highly successful.

Cheryl Berry's success in introducing an elementary Russian language course at Shavmee ~lission tJorth High School has resulted in the school district's authorization for Cheryl to offer both first and second year Russian classes next fall semester.

Elaine Fitzback (~1.A. 1972) has obtained a position as I-later Quality Program Analyst for the Environmental Protection Agency, l~ashington, D.C.

Michael Roberts (I'1.A. 1973) who is employed with HEH in Independence, Missouri has been taking Russian courses at the K.U. Regents' Center in Overland Park.

The new post-~.A . representative to the department (replacing Peter Aikman) is Leonard Stanton.

Staff News

Department participation in conferences this past semester ~Ias quite extensive, as follows :

Seventeenth Annual Central States Slavic Conference, Manhattan, Kansas, November 3-4.

Tamerlan Sa1aty, Chairman, Russian Language and Teaching Methodology.

r~iluse Sa~kova-Pierce, "The Czechoslovak Emigration of 1968-1970, a Cultural Analysis," in the section Soviet and East European Politics.

Heinrich Stamm1er, Chairman of the section Russian Literature, I.

fla li na Fil i pO~li cz- Fi nd1 ay, "Tadeusz Rozewi cz' s The Card I ndex as an Open Theatre Forn," in the section Russian Literature, I.

Maia Kipp, "Alexander Pushkin as Literary Critic," in the section Russian Literature, I.

Jadwi ga f·1aurer. Di scussant, Russian Literature, I.

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Gerald Mikkelson, "Pushkin's Eugene Onegin: A Tale of Two Cities and a Country Estate," in the section Eugene Onegin Revisited.

David Bethea (Ph.D. 1977), "The Hora1ity of Structure in Crime and Punishment, in the section Russian Literature, III.

~Ja1ter Ko10nosky (Ph.D. 1972), "~Jindo~is in Pasternak," in the section Russian Literature, III.

Stephen Parker, Discussant, Russian Literature, III.

Symposium on Art and Society in Nineteenth-Century Russia, University of r·li nnesota, r·li nneapo 1 is, r·1i nnesota, rlovember 16-17 .

Gera 1 d ~li kke 1 son, invited Observer and Di scussant.

AATSEEL Annual National Meeting, Nevi York City, December 27-29.

Joseph Conrad, "Sensuality in Chekhov' s Prose: 1886-1888, The Develop­ing Years," in the section New Frontiers in Chekhov Scholarship.

Gerald rlikke1son, "Russian Religious Poetry of the 1970's: Voznesensky, Brodsky. and Dragomoshchenko," in the section Russian Poetry. Prof. r~ikke1son was elected chairman of the Russian poetry section for the 1979 AATSEEL meeting in San Francisco.

David Bethea, "Pushkin, Khodasevich, and the Poetics of Irony," in the section Russian Poetry .

Joel fJilkinson (Ph.D. 1977), "Parody in Lermontov's f1ature Lyric Verse." in the section Russian Poetry

MLA Annual National f1eeting, New York City, December 27-30.

Stephen Parker, presided at the Vladimir Nabokov section and at the meeting of the Vladimir Nabokov Society.

Professor Stamm1er has had a number of recent publications: review article of Kenneth Rosenthal, German and Pole: National Conf1 ict and Modern Myth in Zeitschrift fur Ostforschung, XXVI, 1. f1arburg 1978; "Baratynskijs Religion," in Anzeiger fur Slavische Philo1ogie, X, Graz 1978; "1'I.S. Arseniev: An Appreciation of His Life and Hork," and "Vom Idea1ismus zum Positivismus? vJandlungen in des Heltanschaung des Fursten Vladimir F. Odoevskij" in Yearbook of the Association of Russian Scholars in the U.S.A., New York 1978; and a m:n-'."'j" of reviel1s in American and Hest European journals.

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Prof. Parker has had a book which he co-authored accepted for publication. Russian on Canvas - Ilya Repin will be published by the Pennsylvania State University Press in IHnter 1979-1980. Prof. Parker has also put out the i naugura 1 number of The Vl adimi r Nabokov Research ['lel'/s letter, 36 pages, December 1978.

Prof. Maurer is on sabbatical leave this semester while continuing v/ork on her book on Polish Holocaust Literature.

Prof. Conrad, as Chairman of the CIEE-consortium Russian Language Program Committees, participated in the annual negotiations with Leningrad State University and the USSR Ministry for Higher and Specialized Secondary Education in Leningrad and r10scovl, October 8-21. Prof. Conrad also chaired the annual CIEE meetings in New York City, November 14. Prof. Parker re­presented the Uni versity at the r·1embershi p and Policy Committee meeti ngs.

Prof. r~ikkelson visited Hashington, D.C., December 1-4, in order to consult with officials of Voice of America, the International International Com­munication Agency, the U.S. Office of Education, and the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies regarding various programs and events at the University.

Prof. Stammler attended the special session of the Bulgarian Studies Group at the Annual Convention of the AAASS in Columbus, Ohio, October 1978. ,Jhile there he gave tvJO interviews: for Radio OSU about the history of Germanic­Slavic relations and for Radio Liberty, in Bulgarian, with Mr. B. Chcukanoff, about the state of Bulgarian studies in the USA. Prof. Stammler also attended the meeting of the aoard of Directors of the Conference on European Problems (CEP) at Park College, Parkvi lle, ~1issouri, December 16.

[-Jew University Committee assignments, spring semester: Prof. Mikkelson, Chairman, Foreign Language and Area Studies Proposal Revie~/ Committee of the University General Research Fund. Prof. Parker, member of College Task Force for Revie~/ and Revi s i on of Undergraduate Degree Requi rements .

SJP : mn