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Proffer Tribute

Ann Arbor in Russian Literature: 
Revisiting the Carl R. Proffer and Ardis Legacies

A Symposium at the University of Michigan, Ann 

September 20-21, 2013

The University of Michigan’s Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREES) and Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED) are pleased to host a symposium, “Ann Arbor in Russian Literature: Revisiting the Carl R. Proffer and Ardis Legacies.”

The symposium will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the birth of U-M Professor Carl R. Proffer (1938-84), an outstanding scholar renowned for his books on Gogol and Nabokov. In his brief 46 years Carl Proffer not only contributed tremendously to the field of Russian literature as an author, translator, editor, and publisher, but also put Ann Arbor on the map of Russian literature in perpetuity. In 1971 with his wife Ellendea, also a scholar, author, and translator, he co-founded Ardis which became the foremost Western publisher of Russian and Soviet literature, including reprints and translations of classics as well as works banned by the Soviet authorities. Symposium presenters will explore Ardis Publishers’ consequential role as a citadel of Russian literature and U-M’s rich legacy as a center for the study of dissent in the Soviet Union and as a refuge for Soviet writers, artists, and political dissidents (including Joseph Brodsky, poet-in-residence at U-M, 1972-81).

The symposium opens with a workshop, "Ardis Publishers and the Russian Literary Canon," from 2-5 pm on September 20 in the Koessler Room, Michigan League. The session on September 21, "Ann Arbor on the Map of Russian Literature: A Tribute to Carl R. Proffer," will be from 1-6 pm in the Rackham Amphitheatre, Rackham Building. A related exhibit of items from the University Library's Ardis Archive, "Ardis: Safe House on Russia's Literary Underground Railway," will be on display from 10:30 am-12:30 pm on September 20-21 in the Clarke Library, Hatcher Graduate Library. For more information, see the symposium schedule.

This program is part of an ongoing CREES/WCED Pluralism in Politics and Culture initiative focusing on contemporary cultural, legal, political, and economic manifestations of political pluralism, past and present.

University of Michigan sponsors: Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies; Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures; College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; Department of English; Department of Comparative Literature; Department of English; Institute for the Humanities; International Institute; Office of the Vice President for Research; Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Collection, University Library; Special Collections Library, University Library; and Zell Visiting Writers Series.