One of the best experiences of my life

I attended IWL in 2021, the second year when it met online. The online option, although necessary, was very interesting: in this way, we did not have to skip one year and – although attending it in person would have probably been different – I enjoyed the program a lot.

Being a PhD candidate at the Graduate Center of CUNY, I have heard about IWL since my first year of studying there (2016). Listening to the experiences of colleagues who had attended it made me determined to apply for it. I am very thankful to professors Giancarlo Lombardi and Bettina Lerner, who accepted my application.

My experience of the IWL was very positive. Every new class of the seminars I attended (with professors Damrosch and Claviez) was amazing: the contributions made by the professors and other students were all very interesting and, more importantly, useful for my own career. Having the opportunity to discuss literary and philosophical topics in an environment with people from all over the world, and from many different disciplines, helped me to put my own research in a different perspective.

Also, I found the workshops – during which each of us presented his or her own research project, and another student responded to it – very helpful. This informal discussion was very productive, and it gave me the opportunity to discover other research and projects, all of them very interesting. And the student in charge of the workshops was brilliant and available.

Finally, the events and talks with scholars and authors provided us with new opportunity to listen to people who have greatly contributed to their field of research or writing.

Although we were all online, in our own apartments or bedrooms, attending IWL in 2021 has been like being physically all in the same room. So far, it has been one of the best experiences of my life as a PhD student, a researcher, and a scholar. For this reason, I strongly suggest perspective students to take the opportunity of attending it.

Iuri Moscardi

2021 IWL alumnus

PhD Candidate

The Graduate Center CUNY (New York)