Federman Tribute to Be Held At UB April 8-9

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo French Graduate Student Association (FGSA), as part of its Second French Spring Conference, will hold "A Tribute to Raymond Federman" on April 8-9, 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 UB 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 UB North (Amherst) 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.

The Federman tribute will begin at 4 p.m. April 8 with 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."

At 1 p.m. April 9 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."

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 then 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 roundtable discussion and talks by several "marginal" French writers, including Suzanne Crosta, Christian Onikepé, Jonathan Ngaté.

An exhibition featuring Federman's work is currently on display on the second floor of Lockwood Library on the UB North Campus. Library hours are 8 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Federman's experimental writings have been widely translated in Europe and he has a significant following among American university audiences. The French-born novelist's literary work has been the subject of much international critical acclaim. 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 currently accepting contributions for the gift.

For more information, contact Therese Tseng at 992-2134 or via email at voltaire@buffnet.net.