Mark Thompson
The at the University of 91³Ō¹Ļ has awarded the 2016 to Mark Thompson for his book āā published by Cornell University Press. , director of the Nanovic Institute, praised the book as āan extraordinarily imaginative book that shows us how biography can provide a lens into understanding major historical crises.ā
The $10,000 Laura Shannon Prize has been described as āa major landmark in the world of humanities research and publishingā in the Anglophone world by Sir Christopher Clark, Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge. It is awarded annually to the author of the best book in European studies that transcends a focus on any one country, state or people to stimulate new ways of thinking about contemporary Europe as a whole, and recognizes alternately books in the humanities and in history and social sciences. This cycle considered books in the humanities published in 2013 and 2014.
The jury commended Thompsonās book, stating:
āMark Thompsonās āBirth Certificateā is an eloquent biography of a major Yugoslav writer too little known in the Anglophone world. Impressive, eccentric, at times controversial, Danilo KiÅ” (1935-1989) belonged to many cultures and traditions. He is best known for his playfulness with literary form. Thompson traces his career with an eye toward KiÅ”ās literary significance. What is remarkable about this biography is how skillfully it relates literary significance to shifts in the history of central Europe. The biography is itself a formal tour de force, combining journal fragments, photographs and interviews with Thompsonās own beautifully written prose. Richly informative, āBirth Certificateā is a brilliant case for KiÅ”ās importance in cultural history. As Thompson concludes: āFrom Kosovoās ethnic tyranny to Diderotās enlightenment and beyond ā to Joyce, Borges and a reunited Europe ā is almost too far to measure; but it is there, along that spectrum, that KiÅ”ās writing shines most brightly.ā This book illuminates that brightness, and we hope that this imaginatively printed volume will introduce more readers to this complex figure.ā
Thompson is Reader in Modern History at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. His career has included various positions with United Nations missions, with civil society organizations and in journalism. Thompson will accept the award and present a lecture in the fall semester of 2016 at the University of 91³Ō¹Ļ. During the visit, he will engage in discussions with undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty members in a variety of departments.
The jury also chose to award honorable mention to two books: Joy Calicoās ā,ā published by the University of California Press, and Krisztina FehĆ©rvĆ”ryās ā,ā published by Indiana University Press.
The jury commended Calicoās āArnold Schoenbergās A Survivor from Warsaw in Postwar Europeā as a searching exploration of the way in which one of the great musical reflections on the Holocaust had been received in the communist countries after the Second World War. The book brought much new information to light, and was particularly illuminating concerning the status of Jews and of art devoted to their suffering during the communist years.
The jury also commended FehĆ©rvĆ”ryās āPolitics in Color and Concrete: Socialist Materialities and the Middle Class in Hungaryā as an unusually imaginative study of life in a bleak Hungarian monotown. The book depicts the populationās attempt to express an emerging middle-class identity during the communist years. The jury praised the book as both a contribution to the phenomenology of aesthetic deprivation and a fascinating essay in the history and sociology of modernist vernacular architecture.
The members of the final jury were as follows: Karl Ameriks, McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy, University of 91³Ō¹Ļ; John Hare, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale Divinity School; Anne Lake Prescott, Helen Goodhart Altschul Professor of English Emerita, Barnard College, Columbia University; Ingrid Rowland, Professor of Architecture, University of 91³Ō¹Ļ; and Roger Scruton, fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
The Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of 91³Ō¹Ļ is committed to enriching the intellectual culture of 91³Ō¹Ļ by creating an integrated, interdisciplinary home for students and faculty to explore the evolving ideas, cultures, beliefs and institutions that shape Europe today. The institute is an integral part of 91³Ō¹Ļās . For additional information about the Nanovic Institute and the Laura Shannon Prize, visit .
Contact: Monica Caro, 574-631-3547, mcaro@nd.edu