Oct. 22, 2008

RENOWNED LITERARY SCHOLAR GONTARSKI IS FSU’S 2008 LAWTON LECTURER

Florida State University will host its annual Lawton Lecture at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28, in the Chemistry Auditorium. This year’s speaker is Professor of English Stanley E. Gontarski, FSU’s 2008-2009 Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor and an internationally acclaimed scholar and critic, influential editor, innovative dramatist, and inspiring teacher and colleague. Gontarski’s forthcoming lecture is titled “Literature and the Marketplace of Ideas.” (Hint: If it’s not visible to all readers, imagine the “of Ideas” portion of the title crossed out).

The Lawton Lecture is free and open to the public. The lecture is presented annually by the current Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor -- a title signifying the highest honor bestowed by the FSU faculty on one of its own.

• “LITERATURE AND THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS”
• 2008 ROBERT O. LAWTON DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR STANLEY E. GONTARSKI
• TUESDAY, OCT. 28, 2008
• 3 P.M.
• CHEMISTRY AUDITORIUM, CHEMISTRY SCIENCE LABORATORY, FSU CAMPUS (LOCATED ON CHIEFTAN WAY, JUST NORTH OF SCOTT SPEICHER TENNIS CENTER)

To contact Gontarski prior to the Oct. 28 event, e-mail him at <sgontarski@fsu.edu>.

Among his prolific array of scholarly, literary, editorial and teaching achievements, Gontarski is considered the world’s foremost authority on the writings of acclaimed Irish author, poet and dramatist Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). Gontarski’s peers call him the “dean of Beckett studies” who has made Tallahassee the world capital of Beckett scholarship. He has provided the scholarly introductions to the standard editions of many of Beckett’s major works, including “Waiting for Godot,” and has served as editor of many of Beckett’s previously unavailable texts and as publisher of the principal journal devoted to Beckett’s study. He also is an influential director and dramatist who has overseen productions of Beckett’s plays both in major U.S. cities and abroad.

Colleagues have described Gontarski as an intellectual ambassador who superbly, and frequently, represents FSU on an international stage. He has produced a vast list of published works, many of which have been translated into as many as eight languages. In addition to the four university awards for outstanding teaching that he has won since he arrived at FSU in 1988, Gontarski has been the recipient of two Fulbright professorships and more than 20 grants and fellowships, including five from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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