Exhibition
to Showcase Anti-War Writings
Ingeborg Bachmann |
The Campus Center will be the site of a multimedia exhibition
on the antiwar writings of Ingeborg Bachmann, an Austrian
poetess who has long been considered one of the leading writers
of German-speaking Europe after World War II.
Much of her poetry, prose and dramatic writings have been
translated into English and many other languages. They will
be on display from Monday, March 23, to Sunday, April 12,
in the Campus Center upper lounges.
The turbulent times in
which Bachmann (1926-1973) lived and wrote were hallmarked
by wars, unrest and human suffering on an almost unimaginable
scale and her writings as a whole are a response to this
experience of humankind’s often
destructive nature.
The opening of the exhibition,
on Monday, March 23, at 4:30 p.m. in the Campus Center
Carroll Room, will feature Ingeborg Bachmann’s brother, Dr. Heinz Bachmann, who will speak
on his sister’s experience of war as a young girl in
Carinthia, Austria.
This will be Dr. Bachmann’s only appearance with the
traveling exhibition in the United States. Also presenting
at the opening will be Bachmann scholar Sara Lennox, professor
of German studies and director of the Social Thought and
Political Economy Program at the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst; and Peter Filkins, a poet and award-winning translator,
who will read some of Bachmann’s poems in the original
and in English translation.
The Department of German Studies and the Poetry Center of
Smith College are hosting the event, and a reception will
follow the presentations.
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