Natalia Pylypiuk will be the first University of Alberta scholar to benefit from the exchange with the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.
She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University where she studied Ukrainian, Spanish and Polish literatures. Her research has focused on early-modern Ukrainian writings, especially the philosopher Hryhorij Skovoroda (1722-1794) and the mystery plays of the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium. She has won special awards from the American Association for Ukrainian Studies for her analysis of the portrayal of Wisdom during the hetmancy of Ivan Mazepa (1687-1708) and of
the mystical poetry of the dissident Vasyl' Stus (1938-1985). She is co-author and principal investigator of An Online Concordance to the Complete Works of Skovoroda, which -if printed-would consist of 16 volumes of 500 pages each. This work has received many accolades and is referenced by the Intute Consortium.
At the University of Silesia Professor Pylypiuk will deliver three lectures. Two of these will be in English and addressed to colleagues in the Institute of English Cultures and Literatures: (1) "The Christian Epicureanism of Andrew Marvell and Hryhorij Skovoroda"; (2) "The New York Group and other Ukrainian Authors in the Diaspora." The third lecture, to be delivered in Polish before the Institute of Slavic Cultures and Literatures, will focus on "The Rhetoric of Golden Liberty in a Mohylanian Play about Catherine of Alexandria (1703)."
Professor Pylypiuk will deliver a fourth lecture in Ukrainian at the University of Cracow, devoted to "The Mystical Narcissism of Vasyl' Stus."
During her stay in Poland (May 6-29, 2016), Natalia will consult with colleagues about Polish Jesuit plays devoted to the martyr Catherine of Alexandria, and about the impact of the Frankfurt School's philosophical narcissism on Polish poets of the 1970s and 1980s.
Natalia is a passionate Thespian lover. As this photograph attests, she recently saw at The Citadel "Other Desert Cities" by Jon Robin Baitz, and found the play absolutely brilliant.