A Celebration of Burton Pike

Burton Pike (1930-2022) was a translator of German and French, known particularly for his work on Robert Musil, including the translation, with Sophie Wilkins, of The Man Without Qualities (1996). He was, as well, a scholar of literature, culture, and translation, author of Robert Musil: An Introduction to His Work (1961) and The Image of the City in Modern Literature (1981), which was translated into Japanese. A beloved and influential professor and mentor, who numbered Paul de Man and Tomi Ungerer among his friends, Burton was for many years chair of Comparative Literature and German at the CUNY Graduate Center. A Guggenheim, American Council of Learned Societies, and Fulbright Fellow, he was awarded the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize in 2012 for his translation of Gerhard Meier’s Isle of the Dead, and later received the Friedrich Ulfers Prize for his work championing German literature in the United States. He was also awarded the Medal of Merit by the City of Klagenfurt, Austria, for his work on Musil.
Friends, colleagues, former students, and admirers of Burton Pike will gather to pay tribute to his memory and celebrate the newly published Underlying Rhythm, an anthology of writing and translation that honors his life, work and friendship.
Participants will include Esther Allen, Susan Bernofsky, Roger Celestin, Peter Constantine, Robert Cowan, Genese Grill, and others.
Free and open to all.
Please Register to attend.