Chargé d’Affaires Visits Szczecin for Tall Ships and Herman Melville & Joseph Conrad Conference

Charge Hillas addresses opening of Melville-Conrad conference (more photos)

Chargé d’Affaires Kenneth Hillas visited Szczecin on the occasion of the Tall Ships Races and the Melville Society’s major international conference.  Both events are running from August 4-7.  The literary conference entitled “Hearts of Darkness: Melville and Conrad in the Space of World Culture”  is being held under the patronage of Polish President Lech Kaczyński, Ambassador of United States Victor Ashe, and Rector of the University of Silesia in Katowice Janusz Janeczek.  In keeping with the nautical themes prevalent in the literary works of Herman Melville and Joseph Conrad, the City of Szczecin arranged for Tall Ships Races to take place during the same period and for the official opening ceremonies of the conference to be held on board the Dar Młodzieży. The American Embassy has supported preparation for the events over the past two years in a variety of ways.  During the four days of the conference, films based on the writings of Melville and Conrad will be shown in Szczecin’s Pioneer Cinema.
Chargé d’Affaires Kenneth Hillas and Cultural Attaché James Wolfe sailed into Szczecin August 3 for the conference on the tall ship Kapitan Głowacki with Poland’s Honorary Consul in Boston Marek Lesniewski-Laas and a group of Polish-American sailors.  Embassy support for the conference has included, among other items:

• co-financing the publication of two new books on Herman Melville (Melville w Kontekstach and Płynność i egzystencja) by conference co-organizer Professor Paweł Jędrzejko of the University of Silesia;
• funding the travel of American conference co-chair Professor Milton Reigelman of Centre College in Danville, KY, and conference keynote speaker Professor John Bryant of Hofstra University in New York; and
• covering costs for the films based on Melville’s works that will be shown for the public.