FGSA plans tribute to Raymond Federman
French Spring Conference to celebrate retirement, contributions of author, scholar

By MARA McGINNIS
News Services Editor
The UB French Graduate Student Association (FGSA), as part of its Second French Spring Conference, will hold "A Tribute to Raymond Federman" on April 9, followed by a session on "French Marginal Writers" on April 10.

Federman, a groundbreaking experimental novelist, poet, critic, translator, Samuel Beckett scholar and SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, has retired after 35 years at UB.

The conference will celebrate Federman's retirement from UB and his contributions to UB's English, French and comparative literature departments, says Therese Tseng, coordinator of the FGSA conference.

All events will be held on the North Campus and will be free and open to the public.

On April 7, in addition to the conference events and as part of the Wednesdays at Four Plus Literary Series, Federman and renowned French poet Michel Deguy will present a poetry and prose reading at 4 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Screening Room.

Federman exhibit, lecture part of Holocaust remembrance events An art exhibit titled "The Federman Cycle (A Portion Thereof)," featuring mixed media works by Harvey Breverman, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Art, is on display through April 29 in the Bunis Family Art Gallery at the Jewish Community Center Benderson Building, 2640 North Forest Road, Getzville. Hours are: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 12:30-6 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Breverman's exhibit, presented by the Holocaust Resource Center, charts a moment in the life of UB Distinguished Professor Raymond Federman, who is a Parisian Jewish Holocaust survivor. In the first volume of Federman's autobiography, "A Version of My Childhood: The Early Years," he explores his own survival in the face of his family's death during the Holocaust, an experience that has deeply informed his literary work. Federman will speak on his Holocaust experiences on April 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jewish Community Center Benderson Building. He also will read the text "Design and Debris of the Holocaust." The lecture, sponsored by the Arts Subcommittee of the Holocaust Resource Center, in cooperation with Jewish Community Center Adult Services, will be free and open to the public.

Also, at 4 p.m. April 8 will be a film presentation in the Center for the Arts Screening Room. The film, titled "Project X," or "Tanzfabrik," is a mixed composition of narrative, choreography, music and still-life images based on Federman's novel "A Voice in the Closet."

The Federman Tribute will begin officially at noon on April 9 with a luncheon, followed by opening remarks by President William R. Greiner. At 1 p.m. in 120 Clemens Hall, Gérard Bucher, UB professor of French and comparative literature, will give a bilingual presentation titled "Voice in the Closet: To invent you Federman," followed by a 1:30 p.m. presentation by Federman on his book "Aunt Rachel's Fur," in which he will discuss "critification and the relation of fiction to autobiography." Federman will be introduced by long-time friend Bruce Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences and Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture.

At 2 p.m., there will be an informal panel discussion by Douglas Rice, University of Kent-Salem; Thomas Hartl, University of Salzburg; Larry McCaffery, San Diego State University; and journalist Bob Riedel, all editors of a recently published biography on Federman titled "Federman: From A to X-X-X-X."

A talk in English by Reneé Hubert on "Removable Boundaries: Illustration and Bookarts" will follow at 3:30 p.m. Her husband, Judd D. Hubert, one of Federman's former professors, will speak at 4 p.m. in French on "A Marginal Genre: The theme on ridicule in poetry from such authors as Dassoucy, Scarron and Richer." Both speakers are professors emeriti at the University of California, Irvine.

Events scheduled for April 10 will be conducted mostly in French and will feature a student round-table discussion and talks by several "marginal" French writers, including Suzanne Crosta, Christian Onikepé and Jonathan Ngaté.

Federman's writings have been widely translated in Europe and he has a significant following among American university audiences. He won the Frances Steloff Fiction Prize, the German National Book Award and the Panache Experimental Fiction Prize for his novel "Double or Nothing." His novel, "Smiles on Washington Square" won the American Book Award in 1985.

During the tribute event, Federman will be presented with a gift of art that symbolizes his life achievements created by UB student artists Kelly Myers and Matt Coleman. The FGSA is accepting contributions for the gift.

For more information, contact Therese Tseng at 992-2134 or via email at .