Word: fanger
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Donald E. Fanger, chairman of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, first approached the 33-year-old Poznan native about a job here in the fall of 1977, after Wiktor Weintraub announced plans to retire from the Jurzykowski Professorship of Polish Languages and Literatures, the only such chair in the United States. The offer of a teaching post to Baranczak--who accepted it in March 1978--was made strictly on the basis of his academic credentials, which include several volumes of poetry, literary criticism and English translation...
...Poland today is a far different country than it was even a year ago, and Polish experts presume that the decision to permit Baranczak's departure reflects the pattern of liberalization sparked by the country's labor unrest. Still, as Fanger noted, letting Baranczak take his message to Harvard "must have been a bitter pill for the government to swallow...
...about two weeks ago, Fanger received an optimistic letter from Baranczak expressing hope that his application for a leave of absence would soon be approved...
...Fanger said no specific plans have been made for Baranczak's work here once he arrives, but it is presumed that he will begin teaching next fall. Since September 1978, Baranczak has been listed in University catalogues as instructing Polish language and literature classes and occupying a Boylston Hall office...
Harvard officials speculated that the Polish authorities' apparent change of attitude may have come out of liberalizing efforts of labor and intellectual unrest in Poland, although Fanger noted that Baranczak, because of his extensive dissident activity, "was one of the hardest pills for [the government] to swallow...