Friday, November 14, 2003
Maxim D. Shrayer, author and professor of Russian and English at Boston College, will join his father David Shrayer-Petrov in discussing their collaborative work "Jonah and Sarah: Jewish Stories of Russia and America" at Boston College on Nov. 19.
David Shrayer-Petrov is a well-known contemporary Jewish-Russian writer and medical scientist, whose poignant short stories in "Jonah and Sarah: Jewish Stories of Russia and America" evoke art, love and survival in Russia and in diaspora.
After he declared his intention to emigrate in 1979, Shrayer-Petrov was unable to publish in the Soviet Union, and spent nine years as a refusenik before he moved with his wife and son to the United States in 1987. This collection of his stories, edited and co-translated by his son Maxim, is an expression of family love and the power of literature to transcend time and culture.
"The publication of 'Jonah and Sarah' is the happiest event of my literary and academic career," said Maxim D. Shrayer. "As a retrospective of my father's vibrant fiction in English translation, this book validates my experience as a cultural transplant from Russia to America."
In "Jonah and Sarah: Jewish Stories of Russia and America," love, talent and magic oppose - and sometimes vanquish - anti-Semitism and totalitarianism. Three stories deal with love and marriage between Jews and Gentiles.
Maxim D. Shrayer is a professor of Russian and English at Boston College. His books include "The World of Nabokov's Stories;" "Russian Poet/Soviet Jew," and "An Anthology of Jewish-Russian Literature, 1800-2000."
David Shrayer-Petrov is considered to be a powerful presence in Russian and Jewish literature. He has published 16 other books, including "Herbert and Nelly," which was longlisted for the Booker Russian Prize. His recent work includes a novel, "Töstemaa Castle," and a poetry collection,"Form of Love."
Part of the Boston College "Writers Among Us" series, the upcoming event is free and open to the public. It will take place Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Devlin Hall, Room 101, on BC's main campus in Chestnut Hill. The venue is handicapped accessible. For more information, call 617-552-4820.