Edward J Czerwinski

Edward J. Czerwinski (1929-2005) was a specialist in Slavic literature and culture and held two doctorates, one in English and American literature from Emory University and one in Russian and Polish literature from the University of Wisconsn-Madison. He began his teaching career in 1957 at the Georgia Institute of Technology and ended it as a full professor of Slavic languages and literature at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he taught from 1979 to 1993. As founder and director of the Slavic Cultural Center in Port Jefferson, New York, Czerwinski introduced many important Eastern European artists to American audiences, presenting theater, dance, concerts, readings, and exhibitions by such artists as Witold Gombrowicz, Ivan Klíma, Jószef Szajna, and Jerzy Grotowski. He wrote and published many articles and books. Fluent in Polish, Russian, Croatian, and Czech, he also translated many Eastern European and Russian works into English.