Shorts: The Arts

'Odyssey to America' is topic of talk

John Stoessinger, an internationally recognized political analyst and prize-winning author of 10 books, will deliver the annual Rabbi Joseph Asher Lecture at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco on Thursday, May 18.

Stoessinger fled from Nazi-occupied Austria to Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. Three years later, he fled again via Siberia to China where he lived for seven years. In Shanghai, he served with the International Refugee Organization.

Stoessinger was chief book review editor of foreign affairs for five years and is presently distinguished professor of international affairs at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

His talk, titled "Odyssey to America: Reflections of a Survivor," will be 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 18 at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F. Free admission.




Philip Roth gets literary award

new york (jta) | Philip Roth won the prestigious PEN/Nabokov literary award.

Roth, whose most recent novel is "Everyman," won the $20,000 biennial prize given to "a living author whose body of work, either written in or translated into English, represents achievement in a variety of literary genres and is of enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship."

The PEN American Center works to advance literature, defend free expression and foster international literary fellowship.




Exhibit critical of Palestinians to go on

state college, pa. (jta) | A student art exhibit critical of Palestinian terrorists will go on at Pennsylvania State University, after it initially was blocked.

The cancellation of Joshua Stulman's exhibit proved controversial, and after several days of debate, university president Graham Spanier told the Faculty Senate last month that the exhibit would take place.

"Penn State does not and will not censor artwork," Spanier said. "I wanted to make this perfectly clear to everyone. Crossing that line would compromise so many of the fundamental values of academe."

The director of the School of Visual Arts at first called off the show — which includes paintings on Palestinian leaders, terrorism's impact on Israelis and the way suicide bombers' mothers are honored by Palestinians — because he said it didn't promote diversity and could violate school regulations against harassment and discrimination.