Lubbock On line
March 19 2004

Literature symposium deals with genocide
By RAY WESTBROOK
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
4042.shtml

The 37th annual Comparative Literature Symposium, scheduled Thursday
through March 27 at Texas Tech, will offer sessions for the general
public.

A theme of “Memory and History: Cultural Representations of Genocide
and Displacement,” will deal with atrocities of the 20th century.

“This is the first time for this topic and the first time that we’ve
had public events specifically designed to go along with the more
academic events,” co-director Ingrid Fry said.

For the academic side, more than 60 presenters from around the world
– including Canada, Israel, France, Germany and the United States –
will discuss topics ranging from the Holocaust and displacement of
people in Europe during World War II, to the African and Armenian
genocides.

Details of the academic program are available on the symposium’s Web
site,

Events will be free, except for theater productions, which will cost
$2.

A highlight for the public will be exhibit of the paintings of Samuel
Bak that will be introduced formally at 10 a.m. March 27 in the third
floor conference room of the main library at Tech. It will open with
a lecture by Lawrence L. Langer, widely known scholar of Holocaust
representation.

The exhibit, titled “Landscapes of Jewish Experience,” will be in
place Thursday through April 13. Display hours will be 9 a.m. to 8
p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends.

Bak’s paintings in the exhibit depict symbols of people amid ruins,
inanimate objects in a tragic world.

“Probably religious groups – synagogues and churches – would be
interested in seeing this exhibit and going to the main lecture,” Fry
said.

A public reading will be presented at 5 p.m. Thursday in Room 1 of
the English building by Stephen Graham Jones, English professor at
Tech. And at 7 p.m., a theater production of “America Shows Her
Colors” will be in the International Cultural Center.

Fry plans to introduce a session at 2 p.m. Friday called
“Representing a Vanished People: Samuel Bak’s Landscapes of Jewish
Experience” by Langer in English building Room 1.

A repeat of “America Shows Her Colors” will be at 7 p.m. Friday in
the International Cultural Center.

Fry said the symposium’s purpose is an exchange of ideas.

“It’s important for us to reflect upon our own world and the way we
interact with the world.”

Literature symposium

Thursday – 5 p.m., English building Room 1, public reading by Stephen
Graham Jones. Free. 742-0564.

– 7 p.m., International Cultural Center, “America Shows Her Colors.”
$2. 742-0564.

– Friday – 2 p.m., English Building Room 1, “Representing a Vanished
People: Samuel Bak’s Landscapes of Jewish Experience.” Free.
742-0564. 3:15 p.m., English building Room 1, excerpts from the drama
“Anne Frank.” Free. 742-0564. 7 p.m., International Cultural Center,
“America Shows Her Colors.” $2. 742-0564.

– Saturday – 10 a.m., Texas Tech Library Gallery, opening of Samuel
Bak Exhibition. Free. 742-0564.

ray.westbrook@lubbockonline.com 766-8711