FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Masarah Van Eyck, Director of Communications, Division of International Studies, UW-Madison, mvaneyck2@international.wisc.edu, (608) 262-5590
From oral traditions in Northern Europe to modern Turkish-German novels, from an anthropologist’s memoir of India to Kissinger’s impact on the last century, this fall’s “World Beyond Our Borders” series offers a lively and eclectic mix of new work by UW-Madison faculty.
Join the authors for one—or all four—of these free, public events.
The popular series, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of International Studies, the International Institute, and Borders Books, brings together avid readers and UW-Madison faculty for public, lively discussion about topics from around the world.
Tuesday, September 11
B. Venkat Mani (UW-Madison, German)
Cosmopolitical Claims: Turkish-German Literatures From Nadolny to Pamuk (UniversityIowa Press, 2007). Mani explores literary claims of cosmopolitanism in four “Turkish-German” novels to argue that the cultural hyphen signals at best a scrutiny of German and Turkish national identities. of7 p.m. at Borders Books West, 3750 University Avenue, Madison.
Sunday, October 14
Kirin Narayan (UW-Madison, Anthropology)
My Family and Other Saints (University of Chicago Press, 2007). Narayan’s memoir, drawing on the author’s training as anthropologist and folklorist, is both an amusing and affecting portrait of her “immediate, extended, and honorary family living at the crossroads between India and America at a time that spirituality directed much of the traffic.”
2 p.m., Red Gym “On Wisconsin Room,” 716 Langdon Street, Madison (a Wisconsin Book Festival event).
Wednesday, November 7
Thomas A. DuBois (UW-Madison, Scandinavian Studies)
Lyric, Meaning and Audience in the Oral Tradition of Northern Europe (Notre Dame Press, 2006). DuBois draws on lyric songs from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and from medieval to contemporary times, to explore the question of meaning in folklore.
7 p.m. at Borders Books West, 3750 University Avenue, Madison.
Thursday, December 6
Jeremi Suri (UW-Madison, History)
Henry Kissinger and the American Century (Harvard University Press, 2007). A thought-provoking, interpretive study of one of the most influential and controversial political figures of the twentieth century. “This book is different from every other book about Henry Kissinger. [It] is critical to our understanding of how and why Kissinger acquired his positions.” – Melvin R. Laird, former Secretary of Defense.
7 p.m. at Borders Books West, 3750 University Avenue, Madison.
For more information: www.international.wisc.edu/news.