The 75th anniversary of the birth of U-M Professor Carl R. Proffer (1938-84), will be celebrated through the Sept. 20-21 symposium “Ann Arbor in Russian Literature: Revisiting the Carl R. Proffer and Ardis Legacies.” It is sponsored by the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.
Proffer is known as an outstanding scholar celebrated for his books on Gogol and Nabokov. Over 46 years, he contributed to the field of Russian literature as an author, translator, editor and publisher, and connected Ann Arbor to Russian literature. In 1971 with his wife Ellendea, also a scholar, author, and translator, he founded Ardis. It became a prominent Western publisher of Russian and Soviet literature, including reprints, translations and works banned by the Soviet authorities.
Key symposium events are: Ardis Publishers and the Russian Literary Canon, a 2-5 p.m. Sept. 20 workshop, at the Koessler Room, Michigan League; and Ann Arbor on the Map of Russian Literature: A Tribute to Carl R. Proffer, from 1-5:30 p.m. Sept. 21 in Rackham Amphitheatre. Also, “Ardis: Safe House on Russia’s Literary Underground Railway: An exhibit of items from the University Library’s Ardis Archive” is presented from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. both days in the Clarke Library, Hatcher Graduate Library.
Symposium presenters will explore Ardis Publishers’ role promoting Russian literature, and U-M’s legacy as a center for the study of dissent in the Soviet Union and as a refuge for Soviet writers and artists. They included Joseph Brodsky, poet-in-residence at U-M, 1972-81.
Mysterious universe explored in lecture
Rocky Kolb presents the lecture “Mysteries of the Dark Universe” at 7 p.m. Sept. 23 at Room 2140 in the Edward Henry Kraus (Natural Science) Building.
Kolb, of the University of Chicago, says most of the mass and energy in the universe are in mysterious forms called dark matter and dark energy. Unlocking their secrets will illuminate the nature of space and time.
Refreshments will be available starting at 6:30 p.m. For more information, go to www.umich.edu/~mctp or contact Angela Milliken at 734-763-9698. The Michigan Physics Department hosts the lecture.
