On September 7 and 8, 2012, members of the Polish Student Society at Columbia University and Barnard College had the opportunity to participate in the 70th Annual Meeting of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA). The conference took place at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts and gathered a representative cross-section of Polish-American academic elites. Three of our students participated in a panel discussing most recent developments in post-dependent Polish literature after 1989 and its reception among Poles and Polish Americans of the younger generation.
Professor of Polish Literature Anna Frajlich-Zając, Columbia University, chaired the literary panel. The discussant was Professor Izabela Kalinowska-Blackwood of Stony Brook University. Our panelists presented the following papers:
Joanna Caytas: “The Strong and Weak Forces of Otherness in Struggles for Social Control as Reflected in Jerzy Pilch’s Inne Rozkosze.”
Emily Austin Traverse: “What a Bloody Mess! Bodily Functions and Social Critique in Contemporary Polish and Russian Literature.”
Bartlomiej Zelajtys: “Generation “NO” and Lack of Minorities’ Influence in Modern Literature.”
The literary panel gathered truly unprecedented interest among conference participants. Its attendance substantially exceeded any of the preceding sessions at the conference. The ensuing discussion with Polish-American academics was so lively and engaged that it continued long after the official conclusion in the hallways. The literary panel session ended with an impassioned and well-received appeal by Professor Frajlich-Zając to PIASA to support and encourage young scholars in a systematic and sustained fashion.
Joanna Caytas: “The Strong and Weak Forces of Otherness in Struggles for Social Control as Reflected in Jerzy Pilch’s Inne Rozkosze.”
Emily Austin Traverse: “What a Bloody Mess! Bodily Functions and Social Critique in Contemporary Polish and Russian Literature.”
Bartlomiej Zelajtys: “Generation “NO” and Lack of Minorities’ Influence in Modern Literature.”
The literary panel gathered truly unprecedented interest among conference participants. Its attendance substantially exceeded any of the preceding sessions at the conference. The ensuing discussion with Polish-American academics was so lively and engaged that it continued long after the official conclusion in the hallways. The literary panel session ended with an impassioned and well-received appeal by Professor Frajlich-Zając to PIASA to support and encourage young scholars in a systematic and sustained fashion.