May 1997 News

• Alain J.-J. Cohen, "Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible in Chess Ecstasy," Semiotics around the World: Synthesis in Diversity. Proceedings of the Fifth Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies, ed. I. Rauch and G.F. Carr. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1997: 603-607.

• Stephen Cox, "Mysteries of the Titanic," Liberty, 10.5 (May 1997): 13-28, 42.

• Roy Harvey Pearce, gen. ed., Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Vols. XXI and XXII, The English Notebooks, ed. Thomas Woodson and Bill Ellis. The Ohio University State Press. (The edition is now complete.)

• Roddey Reid, "Foucault in America: Biography, 'Culture War,' and the New Consensus," Cultural Critique (Winter 1996-97): 179-211.

• Wai-lim Yip, Chinese Poetry: An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres. Duke University Press, 1997. Paperback edition of Chinese Poetry: Major Modes and Genres, revised and reformatted with a new Preface.

• Wai-lim Yip, Three Poems ("Viata Omuli," "Calatoria de Primavara," and "Legenda Pasarii de Pin") in Antologie de Poezie Chineza Contemporana, ed./trans. Zhang Xianghua and Radosav Pusic. Romania: Editura de Vest, 1996.

• Wai-lim Yip, The Quest for Red Leaves (Lyrical Prose). Taipei: Dongda, May 1997. Recipient of a pre-publication award of special merit from the Information Office of the Provincial Government of Taiwan.

• To Gema R. Guevara who has been awarded an American Association of University Women Educational Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for the 1997-98 academic year.

• To Wm. Arctander O'Brien who the Revelle College Class of '97 has selected as one of two "Outstanding Teachers of the Year." The award will be presented to Professor O'Brien at the Revelle Commencement, Sunday, June 15, at 2:30 p.m.

The Department of Literature is pleased to announce that Chancellor Dynes and the Advisory Committee on Naming have approved the naming of Seminar Room 3437 in honor of Carlos Blanco-Aguinaga and Room 3138, the Faculty/Staff Commons, in memory of Reinhard Lettau. Naming ceremonies will take place in the near future at which time engraved plaques and photos will be installed in each room.

• VICTOR MAGAGNA, Department of Political Science, UCSD
  "Explaining Imperial Equilibrium: the Microfoundations of Roman Rule"
  Monday, May 5, 4:00 p.m.
  deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building

• HELENA GOSCILO, Chair, Department of Slavic Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, University of Pittsburgh
  "Canvassing Gender: Recent Russian Women's Art"
  Thursday, May 8, 7:00 p.m.
  deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building
  Sponsored by the Program in Russian and Soviet Studies.
  Professor Goscilo has published numerous articles and books on issue of gender in contemporary Russian culture. Her most recent books are Dehexing Sex: Russian Womanhood During and After Glasnost (1996) and The Explosive World of Tatyana N. Tolstaia's Fiction (1996). She is also the editor of Lives in Transit: A Collection of Recent Russian Women's Writing (1995) and, with Beth Holmgren, of Russia-Women-Culture (1996), in addition to seven other anthologies of essays and translations of Russian fiction.

• ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE, a feature length documentary film which examines problems of race, poverty, dissent, and the inevitable conflict of "the haves versus the have nots," will be shown on Thursday, May 8, 5:00 p.m., in Room 101 Center Hall. Lee Lew-Lee, producer and director, will answer questions following the screening.

• MICHEL SERRES, Paris-Sorbonne/Stanford University
  "Science and the Humanities: The Case of Turner"
  Thursday, May 8, 5:00 p.m.
  University Center Conference Room 111A
  Sponsored by the UCSD Center for the Humanities.

• ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION: "THE PAINTER, THE PHILOSOPHER, THE COMPUTER AND US", with presentations by Harold Cohen (UCSD), Roger
  Guillemin (Salk Institute), and Lev Manovich (UCSD); questions by Michel Serres (Paris-Sorbonne/Stanford) and Andrew Feenberg (SDSU); and mediator, Marcel Hénaff (UCSD)
  Friday, May 9, 2:00 p.m.
  Salk Institute, East Building, Auditorium, Meeting Center
  Sponsored by the UCSD Center for the Humanities.

• NEW WRITING SERIES, SPRING QUARTER 1997
  OJENKE, poet and performer, is the author of The Mind Is a Circular Blade: Selected Poems and the play, The Ping Pong Game. Wednesday, May 14, 4:30 p.m., Visual Arts Facility Performance Space. The series is sponsored by University Events, the Literature Department, the Archive for New Poetry, and the Division of Arts and Humanities.

• AMIRI BARAKA will join the Department of Literature as a Visiting Professor from May 5-15 during which time he will offer an upper-division Writing workshop (details available from the Undergraduate Office) and present a public lecture. The lecture, "Revolutionary Art and Culture," will take place Wednesday, May 7, at 5:00 p.m. in the Cross-Cultural Center. Baraka is well known for his poetry, plays, fiction and nonfiction writings, as the founder of Totem Press (1958), and as the editor of The Black Nation.

• MANUEL VÁZQUEZ MONTALBÁN, poet, journalist and perhaps Spain's most celebrated contemporary novelist, will be visiting the Department of Literature as a Regents' Lecturer from May 13 through May 23. As a journalist, Vázquez Montalbán is well known for his socio-political analysis of the late years of the Franco dictatorship and as a cultural critic of the post-Franco era. He has also produced a steady stream of fiction since the 1960s, which ranges from a highly popular detective series to experimental fiction. While at UCSD, Vázquez Montalbán will make four presentations to which the public and the university community are invited (please note that all presentations will be in Spanish):
  • "Las líneas imaginarias en la Literatura Española," lecture, Wednesday, May 14, 4:00 p.m., deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building;

  • "Carteles de la Guerra Civil Española: la Vanguardia Democrática contra la Vanguardia Fascista," lecture in conjunction with the Geisel Library's exhibition of Spanish Civil War posters, Thursday, May 15, 4:00 p.m., Seuss Room, Geisel Library;

  • "La izquierda dentro de la postmodernidad," panel discussion with moderator Mari Paz Balibrea (Illinois State University), José Monleón (UCLA), Gonzalo Navajas (UCI) and Pamela Radcliff (UCSD), Wednesday, May 21, 4:00 p.m., deCerteau Room;

  • Poetry Reading, Thursday, May 22, 4:00 p.m., deCerteau Room.

• SYLVIA WYNTER, Professor Emerita, Department of Spanish and Portuguese and African and African American Studies, Stanford University, will spend two weeks as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Literature from May 19-30. She will offer a graduate mini-seminar, "After 'Man': Caribbean Literature, The Cyclops Factor and The Second Poetics of the Propter Nos" (see Graduate Program Announcements, below), as well as a public lecture, "'That the Future May Finally Commence': To Rethink the 'Study of Letters'." The pubic lecture is scheduled at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 28, in the deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building.

• Late Addition:

  Open Forum on "Post Nationalist American Studies"
  The U.C. Humanities Research Institute's Research Group on "Post-Nationalist American Studies" would like to invite all interested administrators, staff, faculty and students to participate in an open forum on the topic of "Post Nationalist American Studies" scheduled for

  Friday, May 23
  3:00-5:00
  deCerteau Room, Literature Building

• STEWART PRIZE IN LITERATURE/SPRING CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS. As part of the annual UCSD Spring Celebration of the Arts, the Literature Department is sponsoring a student reading on Wednesday, May 21, at 2:00 p.m. in the deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building. The winner of the Stewart Prize in Literature will be announced and presented with a $200 cash prize. The event will conclude with a reception in the Reinhard Lettau Faculty/Staff Commons, 3138 Literature Building. All students are invited and faculty and staff are also encouraged to attend.

Intersections: An Interdisciplinary Conference, UC San Diego, May 17 and 18, 1997. This spring's AGLS (Association of Graduate Literature Students)-sponsored conference is set for Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18, on the UCSD campus. The conference, expressly designed to promote cross-disciplinary dialog, will feature a wide range of panels on a variety of topics. Representing the humanities, social sciences, pedagogy, and visual arts, participants include undergraduates, graduate students, professors, artists, local activists, and independent scholars. AGLS is particularly pleased to welcome to UCSD Arturo Arias, novelist, screenwriter, and Professor of Humanities at San Francisco State University. Professor Arias will deliver the keynote address on Saturday, May 17, at 2:15 p.m. in the Cross-Cultural Center. A full schedule of thirteen panel sessions (two sessions running concurrently throughout) is planned, as well as a Saturday evening reception in downtown San Diego. For details, contact Démian Pritchard, or Kristi Wilson.

University of California Humanities Research Institute (HRI) Call for Program Proposals.

• 1998-99 Conference Proposals. HRI's Advisory Committee will consider conference proposals for the 1998-99 academic year at its fall meeting. Proposed conferences should foster an intellectual community among UC scholars, across campus and disciplinary boundaries. National and international participation of scholars is also encouraged. Grants range from $5,000 to $15,000 (rarely exceeding $10,000) and require at least 50% in matching funds from campus or other sources. Proposals must be postmarked by October 15, 1997.

• 1998-99 Seminar Proposals. The seminar program supports events smaller in scale, usually one or two days in length, focussing on a research problem within a discipline. An interdisciplinary discussion on a seminar scale would also be appropriate. Grants range from $3,000 to $5,000, with the expectation of a 50% match from other sources. Proposals must be postmarked by October 15, 1997.

• 1999-2000 Research Group Proposals. HRI is currently seeking proposals for research groups to be in residence in Irvine during 1999-2000. Research groups bring together scholars to work in collaboration on interdisciplinary topics which advance the Institute's commitment to promote new and exciting scholarship in the humanities. Proposals must be postmarked by December 15, 1997. During Fall 1998, applications will be solicited from UC faculty to work in the research groups selected.

For further information contact (714) 824-8177 or UCHRI@uci.edu. Potential organizers are strongly encouraged to discuss their ideas both with Patricia O'Brien, the HRI Director, and with their campus representatives on the Advisory Committee.

• Sylvia Wynter, Mini-Seminar. Sylvia Wynter, Professor Emerita, Stanford Unversity, will offer a two-unit mini-seminar (LTCO 297), entitled "After 'Man': Caribbean Literature, The Cyclops Factor, and The Second Poetics of the Propter Nos," from 4:00 to 6:50 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, Tuesday, May 27, and Thursday, May 29, in the Roy Harvey Pearce Room, 3455 Literature Building. Enrollment information and an extensive reading list (available for copying) may be obtained from the Graduate Office.

• Commencement. The 1997 Graduate Studies Commencement will be held at 12:00 noon on Sunday, June 15, in the Price Center Ballroom.