A conversation with translator Russell Scott Valentino about his new translation of Miljenko Jergović's novel Kin.
Joining Valentino for discussion are Angelina Ilieva and Nada Petković.
The event takes place on Monday, November 1 2021 at 6PM
Online registration at https://uchicago.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-ucgYXB1QCaM_yPwGMUW1Q
About the Book
In this intrepid narrative spanning the entire twentieth century, Miljenko Jergović peers into the dusty corners of his family’s past, illuminating them with a razor-sharp eye. Ordinary, forgotten objects–a grandfather’s beekeeping journals, a rusty benzene lighter, an army issued raincoat–become signals from the past, traces through which Jergović investigates the joys and sorrows of a family living in a century of war. Kin is, in many ways, an ode to Yugoslavia – through the devastation of the First and Second World War, the Cold War, and the Balkan War of the 90s, Jergović draws out a potent, terrifying history.
About the Translator
Russell Scott Valentino is a writer, literary scholar, and translator. He is the recipient of multiple NEA Literature Fellowships and a PEN/Heim award. He currently teaches Slavic and Comparative literature at Indiana University.
About the Interlocutors
Angelina Ilieva is Instructional Professor of Balkan and South Slavic Literature for the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on the role of trauma and sublimity in the emotional power of national identity.
Nada Petković is Instructional Professor of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian for the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures at the University of Chicago. Her work focuses on the languages and literatures of the Former Yugoslavia, cultural anthropology of the region, and urban studies with a particular interest in recent state and city branding.
