10:00 CONFERENCE OPENING (COFFEE AND PASTRIES)
THE SLAVIC DEPARTMENT ANTHEM PERFORMANCE

10:10 – 11:40 SESSION 1. MEDIEVAL SLAVIC CULTURE

Shannon Meyerhoff
Epic Themes and Characterization in Byliny and Beowulf

Megan Curtiss
Crusade and Conciliation: Responses to Heresy in Eastern and Western Europe

Anastasiya Osipova
Holy Foolishness as Performance: a Divine “Test Drive”

11:40 – 11:50 COFFEE BREAK

11:50 – 12:30 KEYNOTE LECTURE

Joseph Benatov
Who’s Afraid of Eastern Europe?

12:30 – 1:20 LUNCH

1:20 – 3:00 SESSION 2. NINETEENTH-CENTURY RUSSIAN LITERATURE (TOLSTOEVSKY)

Bimol Karmaker
The Two Fools: Tolstoy’s Ivan and Dostoevsky’s Ridiculous Man

Neil Nardi
A Ridiculous Paradise

Julia Rubalevskaya
Dysfunctional Characters in Tolstoy

Jonathan Richter
Pierre’s Fantastic Truth-Reflecting Spectacles

3:00 – 3:30 CONFERENCE CLOSING AND REFRESHMENTS.