Michael Stone to Give Lecture at the Library of Congress
on October 23

"A Hidden Treasure: The Armenian Adam Epic
by Arakel of Siwnik Is Topic"

Michael E. Stone, Senior Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, will present a lecture titled "A Hidden Treasure: The Armenian Adam Epic by Arakel of Siwnik" at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 23, in the Mumford Room, sixth floor of the Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is sponsored by the Library's John W. Kluge Center and the Near East Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia. The public is invited to this free event. A reception will follow.

Michael E. Stone is Professor of Armenian Studies and Gail de Nur Professor of Religious Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Stone, a scholar with impeccable credentials in Judaica, Hebraica, Biblical, and Armenian Studies, is the author of numerous books and articles. In addition, he is a poet with a longtime interest in the "Adam" literature, who, at the Library of Congress, is focusing his research on an original extended Armenian poem, the Adamagirk' (Book of Adam) written by Arakel of Siwnik'.

Arakel of Siwnik (ca.1350 - ca.1421) stood at the end of two traditions. He was abbot of the Monastery of Tat'ew, the last of Armenia's university monasteries and the last to write an Armenian biblical epic. Adamagirk' exhibits a combination of brilliant poetic narrative with homiletics. Michael Stone is preparing an annotated and literary translation of the work which will be accessible to both scholars and the lay community. His talk will set it into the context of literature, religious thought and history when Armenia was under Mongol domination.

Through a generous endowment from its namesake, the Library of Congress established the John W. Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world's best thinkers to stimulate, energize, and distill wisdom from the Library's rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington, D.C. The Kluge Center houses five senior Kluge Chairs (American Law and Governance, Countries and Cultures of the North, Countries and Cultures of the South, Technology and Society, and Modern Culture); other senior-level chairs (Henry A. Kissinger Chair, Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in American History and Ethics, and the Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education and Technology); and nearly 25 post-doctoral fellows.

For more information about fellowships, grants and programs offered by the John W. Kluge Center, contact the Office of Scholarly Programs, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington, DC 20540-4860; telephone (202) 707-3302, fax (202) 707-3595, or visit the Web at http://www.loc.gov/kluge. Visit the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division on the Web at http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/.