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Ken and Krassin Himmersky, Sofia friend and poet-colleage,
talking to Sofia giudar before statue of Sveti
Klimenti across from Sofia University.
Ken as a visiting professor at the University of Plovdiv,
preparing to give a lecture on the poetry and poetics
of the American modernist poet, Wallace Stevens.
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"Nothing I encountered in Bulgaria corresponded even remotely
to my expectations," says Professor Kenneth Rosen about his first
visit to this small Balkan country in 1997. He was happy to return
in the fall of 1998 as a Fulbright Scholar at Sofia University
for an experience, which he describes as "inspiring, disentangling
and tangibly productive" and "the most profound of my personal
and professional life."
A professor and a poet, Rosen teaches poetry writing and literary
modernism at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. While
in Sofia, he taught English and American Studies, focusing on
modernism in American poetry and short fiction. He sought to integrate
major themes in contemporary American and European literature
with issues facing Bulgarians as they struggle to combine the
norms of a traditional culture with the demands of a rapidly transforming
society. Professor Rosen was fascinated by the complexities and
paradoxes of the Bulgarian culture and the Balkans altogether.
He traveled to Macedonia and has worked with colleagues from other
Balkan countries in exploring the literary realms of this area
of the world.
Professor Rosen complemented lecturing at the Sofia University
with collaborating with Bulgarian poets and scholars on activities
such as translating and editing texts to and from English and
presenting at various literary and education forums. Rosen worked
on a bilingual/bicultural version of Euripides' The Bacchae with
his Bulgarian counterpart Bogdan Atanason and developed a bilingual
anthology of Bulgarian poetry together with his department head
in Sofia, Alexander Shurbanov.
Back in Maine, he is offering a course on "magic realism", which
draws on texts and materials from Eastern Europe in exploring
Balkan nationalism and a so-called "culture of poverty". As a
poet, Rosen has written many poems based on his observations and
experiences in Bulgaria, some of which he has presented at poetry
readings and published.
Professor Rosen has a wealth of impressions and invaluable advice
to share about his experience in Bulgaria: "I would advise my
successors to be intrepid and exploratory. There's no place like
the Balkans for making impossible things work, at least for a
while or the time being."
He will be happy to share his experience in Bulgaria with other
Fulbrighters and can be contacted via e-mail at krosen@mail.maine.edu.
His insightful comments range from finding one's way around downtown
Sofia, its restaurants and the ways of its residents to the Bulgarians'
perception of Americans and vice versa, invariably emphasizing
Bulgaria's "extraordinary mountains and rivers" and delicious
cuisine.
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