SOUTHEAST ONE OF 30 REPRESENTED AT WORLDWIDE CONFERENCE OF SCHOLARS

Southeast one of 30 institutions represented at worldwide conference of scholars

Southeast Missouri State University was one of 30 universities around the world represented at the "Mask and Masquerade" conference last month in Venice, Italy.

Jim Biundo, assistant vice president for university relations at Southeast, was among the group of more than 30 international scholars who presented papers and participated in discussions during the event, held Feb. 1-4. It was sponsored by the Leeds Metropolitan University Cultural and Education Studies Centre for the Arts and Contemporary Studies.

Biundo's paper, titled "Pirandello's Masks," grew out of a book Biundo wrote in 1990 titled "Moments of Selfhood." The book, published by Peter Lang Publishers, contains analyses of major characters in three Pirandello works, "Six Characters in Search of an Author," "Right You Are If You Think You Are" and "Henry IV."

The book examines how Pirandello explored relativity of truth and the stripping away of masks. "It is a study of identity and self," noted Biundo.

The conference was held in Venice prior to the city's large, annual carnival. Venice was also selected as the site for the conference because it has a substantial number of mask and costume artisans.