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Jan Kott

Jan Kott was a theater critic, scholar, and dramaturge. The author of Shakespeare, Our Contemporary, he was heavily influenced by Greek tragedy, the plays of modernists SI Witkiewicz and Slawomir Mrożek, as well as the theater of Tadeusz Kantor and Jerzy Grotwoski. Born in Warsaw in 1914, Kott was drafted in 1939 to serve in the Polish army in World War II. After teaching for some years at the University of Wroclaw and the University of Warsaw, he traveled to the United States on a Ford Foundation Scholarship in 1965. There he held visiting professorships at Yale, UC Berkeley, and Louvain. Rather than return to the political turmoil of Poland, he was granted asylum in the US, became a full-time professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and became an American citizen a decade later. He died in 2001.
Shakespeare, Our Contemporary

Books

Shakespeare, Our Contemporary

Books for LGBTQIA+ History Month

For LGBTQIA+ History Month in October, we’re celebrating the shared history of individuals within the community and the importance of the activists who have fought for their rights and the rights of others. We acknowledge the varying and diverse experiences within the LGBTQIA+ community that have shaped history and have led the way for those

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Books for National Depression Education and Awareness Month

For National Depression Education and Awareness Month in October, we are sharing a collection of titles that educates and informs on depression, including personal stories from those who have experienced depression and topics that range from causes and symptoms of depression to how to develop coping mechanisms to battle depression.

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Horror Titles for the Halloween Season

In celebration of the Halloween season, we are sharing horror books that are aligned with the themes of the holiday: the sometimes unknown and scary creatures and witches. From classic ghost stories and popular novels that are celebrated today, in literature courses and beyond, to contemporary stories about the monsters that hide in the dark, our list

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