Dagmar Kročanová: Repairing the World in Gejza Vámoš´s Writing

Dagmar Kročanová is associate professor of Slovak literature at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, where she also earned her PhD in theory and history of Slovak literature. She is currently working on an anthology of Slovak modernist and avant-garde drama. Professor Kročanová is currently a Weiser Professional Development Fellow at the University of Michigan working on her project, “Modernism in Slovak Literature between 1900 and 1948,” in cooperation with Benjamin Paloff, associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures and comparative literature.

Gejza Vámoš (1901, Hungary – 1956, Brazil), a Slovak writer of a Hungarian Jewish origin, was once described as an Enfant terrible of Slovak literature. A physician with a PhD in philosophy, Vámoš challenged traditional values of bourgeois society represented by religion, family, and nation. His fiction dealt with issues that were considered shocking and incompatible with the Slovak cultural tradition, such as sexuality, diseases, and women´s emancipation. Vámoš strove to find a unifying principle of universe that would heal the current broken state of mankind. But as his novel Broken Branch (1934) shows, the gap between his dream of repairing the world and the actual state Europe was too deep to be bridged.

The event will start at 6:30pm with a light supper followed by the presentation at 7pm. Please RSVP to slavic@umich.edu.

If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact the Slavic department (slavic@umich.edu or 734-764-5355) at least 4 days in advance. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for U-M to arrange.