News Release
October 2005
Bethlehem, Pa. October 24, 2005—René Steinke, whose novel Holy Skirts was
just nominated for a National Book Award, will read from her work for an art history
class at Moravian College on November 7. Steinke’s novel is about Baroness Elsa
von Freytag-Loringhoven, an activist and art dealer of the Dada period. Dada was a protest
movement of the early 1920s by French and other European artists against the carnage
and waste of the recently ended World War I. This is the period that will be under study
in Modern Art, taught by Diane Radycki, assistant professor of art and director of the
Payne Gallery at Moravian College.
According to one review, Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven “treated
the streets to inventions from her closet that reflected her uninhibited sexuality
and unconventional, to say the least, worldview: things like a bustle with a flashing
taillight, a brassiere made from tomato cans, and a vegetable-grater brooch. If you
saw someone around town with a shaved head lacquered scarlet, with postage stamps on
her cheeks, that would be Elsa.”
Steinke’s novel is a finalist for the NBA fiction prize. The
other finalists are The March by E.L. Doctorow; Veronica by Mary Gaitskill; Trance
by Christopher Sorrentino; and Europe Central by William T. Vollmann.
Steinke is the sister of Krista Steinke Finch, assistant professor of art (new media),
at the College. She also is editor of Literary Review, a trade magazine for writers.
She has a previous novel called The Fires.
The class meets from 2:20 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Room 330 of the Priscilla
Payne Hurd Academic Complex. For further information, please call Michael Wilson at 610
861-1365.
