2025 Summer Lecture Series

The Dessy-Roffman Myth Collaborative Lecture Series is back and you are invited!

Co-hosted by the Literature and Criticism program, we are delighted to offer a Yiddish Language and Literature Summer Seminar Series. We hope you can attend some (if not all) of the following five sessions. The presentations will take place on Zoom, from 2:00 pm EDT to 2:45 pm EDT, on Tuesdays. Every is welcome and no prior knowledge of Yiddish is needed.

Tuesday July 8

2:00-2:45 EDT —Panel Discussion 

You Are Probably Wondering How I Got Here: Transmission, Relevance, and Trajectories in Yiddish Studies

Tuesday July 15

2:00-2:45 EDT —Marrisa Herzig , University of Toronto

From Dismembered Zombie to Bejeweled Prince: The Golem in Yiddish Folklore

Tuesday July 22

2:00-2:45 EDT —Rachel Martin, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

So Much Sutzkever, So Little Time: Translator Selection and the Image of the Poet

Tuesday July 29

2:00-2:45 EDT —Joshua Calandrella, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Legendary Lovers and Musical Mythopoetics: Two Twentieth Century Yiddish Films from the Other Side

Tuesday August 5

2:00-2:45 EDT —Dr. Michael T. Williamson, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

The Yearning Sea: Diasporic Tropes in Hebrew and Yiddish Poetry from the 12th Century to the 20th Century

Each session will stand alone and there is no homework or preparation needed. Our goal is to stimulate your imaginations while introducing you to literature in a language other than English. As you can see from the titles of our lectures these presentations range from discussions of zombies, princes, and golems, to the consequences of the choices that translators make, to the world of Yiddish film, and the transmission and reception of diasporic tropes in poetry across many centuries. These are passion projects for us and we hope they will be though-provoking and horizon-expanding for you.

The Zoom link has been shared in IUP internal emails. 

If you did not receive the link to sign up, please contact Rachel Martin [kcbfc @ iup . edu].

We are looking forward to seeing you!

And if you have a topic for a future lecture series, please reach out and share it.

All the best,

Dr. Williamson

Rachel Martin

Joshua Calandrella