Ithaca College

Provost Benjamin Rifkin will present a bilingual Russian poetry reading at Ithaca College today, Wednesday, February 24, at 4pm in Job Hall, room 160.  The presentation is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, and the Department of English.

Provost Rifkin will read a selection of shorter works by 19th and 20th century Russian poets – including works by Pushkin, Akhmatova, Pasternak, and Brodsky – in Russian with English captions projected so everyone can hear the beauty of the Russian poetry while understanding its meaning.  He will contextualize the work of each poet.

Not well known in the US is the fact that Boris Pasternak, Nobel Prize recipient and author ofDoctor Zhivago, was best known in Russia for his poetry and translations.  Rifkin will read two works by Pasternak at this event, one a poem entitled “Hamlet,” that was included in the novel Doctor Zhivago, as well as Hamlet’s soliloquy in Pasternak’s translation.

Provost Rifkin's presentation is free and open to the public.  All are welcome to attend.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Dan Breen at dbreen@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1014. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.