See the wrap-up article about the 2021 Midwest Slavic Conference on the Center website here.
keynote
Metamodernism — moving toward the proverbial “happy end”?
Super interesting presentation about Metamodernism in Ukraine. “Modern enthusiasm and postmodern irony” — metamodernism seems to be located somewhere on this spectrum. It is certainly true that in our day many readers have lost patience with “incredulity toward meta-narratives,” in Lyotard’s formulation of postmodernism. Tetiana Grebeniuk suggests that metamodern art and literature want to “help us learn to live happily again” — which resonates with what Yvonne Howell will tell us this evening at the keynote. It will be interesting to compare Alex Dubas’s project with those of the Ukrainian novelists Tetiana writes about (Andrij Bondar, Oksana Zabuzhko, Serhiy Zhadan).
Information on Keynote and Registration Posted
You can now find a full abstract and the registration link for the Thursday, April 15 keynote address by Dr. Yvonne Howell. Dr. Howell’s talk, “The Geography of Joy: Alex Dubas, Voices of Russian Happiness, and the Art of Translation”, will officially open the conference, and its theme of happiness will then connect with the plenary panel scheduled for the morning of Friday, April 16. Both events will be held as Zoom webinars and are free and open to everyone. You must register in advance to receive the link and information on how to join the webinar.
New Details on Keynote and Plenary
We are excited to announce details for the keynote and plenary for the 2021 conference! The theme of the keynote and plenary will be “happiness”. Professor Yvonne Howell will discuss her forthcoming book, a translation of Alex Dubas’s Moments of Happiness. Professors Hannah Chapman, Smoki Musaraj, and Karen Petrone will then discuss happiness or the pursuit of it based up on their own research and disciplinary fields.
Please check out the Special Events page for more details.