Victoria Benedictsson
Sweden's George Eliot
March 10-11, 2000
VICTORIA LIVES!
The date March 6, 2000, marks the 150th anniversary
of the birthday of Swedish author Victoria Benedictsson (1850-1888), and
in her honor -- and also in celebration of Women's History Month this
March and of International Women's Day on March 8 -- the Swedish Program
at Columbia University will present a series of programs devoted to "Swedish
Women's Writing -- Then and Now."
The events will be held on March 10 and 11 at Deutsches Haus on the Columbia University campus, at 420 W. 116th Street,
NYC.
The program will open and close with staged readings of two plays by Benedictsson:
at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 10, we will offer a three-act play entitled
Spellbound (in Swedish, Den bergtagna, written with Axel
Lundegård), and at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 11, there will be a staged
reading of a three-act comedy called Theories (Teorier).
The plays are in English translation by Verne Moberg and will be directed
by Robert Greer.
On the afternoon of Saturday, March 11, we will examine the heritage of the writing of Benedictsson and other early women writers in Sweden as it has affected today's women authors in the country. The program will began with a talk by the editor of Benedictsson's diaries, Prof. Christina Sjöblad of Lund University, followed by a slide show on women artists from the late 19th century, with a commentary by Dorothy Berinstein of the art history department at New York University.
At this point a sampling of current-day
Swedish women's writing will be offered by three leading Swedish novelists:
Marie Hermanson, Elisabeth Rynell, and Anna Karin Palm: Hermanson will
read from her novel Musselstranden (The Mussel Shore, 1998);
Rynell from her novel Hohaj (1997), and Palm from her novel
Målarens dvttrar (The Painter's Daughters, 1997).
All staged play readings and talks will be presented in English.
The events on March 10-11 are sponsored by the Swedish Program at Columbia,
the Swedish Institute, the American-Scandinavian Foundation, SWEA - New
York Chapter, the Swedish Information Service, and the Columbia Institute
for Research on Women and Gender.
FOR RESERVATIONS, PHONE (212) 854-7859 BY MARCH 8.
The Swedish Program will sponsor a staged reading of Night Walkers (originally, Nattorienterarna) by Kristina Lugn. Translated by Verne Moberg, directed by Robert Greer. Co-sponsored by SWEA - New York Chapter.
April 19, 2000 at 7:00 p.m.
A special program entitled "Reykjavik 2000 - Contemporary Icelandic Poetry and Music" will feature poetry and guitar music by Iceland's foremost living poets and composers. Includes readings in English and Icelandic of recent poems by the youngest generation of poets in Reykjavik and first performances of new works for solo guitar. Poetry will be read by Icelandic playwright Hrafnhildur Gudmundsdottir Hagalin and guitar music will be performed by Petur Jonasson. Sponsored by the Swedish Program with the assistance of the American-Scandinavian Foundation and Icelandair.
For further information, call the Swedish Program at (212)854-7859; fax (212)854-5381; or e-mail vam1@columbia.edu.
For
Further Information... 