SUCCESS STORIES

Bulgarian Fulbright Visiting Researcher Katherina Kokinova shares her experience of studying comparative literature at New York Public Library and University of California - Berkeley. She has an encouraging message for future applicants, as well.

        

         

       





                        Fulbright Metafiction

        
         You may ask what metafiction is. Well, just follow me in my story to find out…

It all started in June 2014. It actually started more than a year before that but to make a long story short, there were a lot of difficulties, changes, hard decisions to be made, all resulting in my miraculous turning into a Fulbrighter.

One bright morning in June 2014 I took a plane to New York City. Arriving there, as expected I found a whole new world, which still made me feel like Alice in wonderland. I stayed at the New York Public Library and its Berg Collection, researching the Vladimir Nabokov archive for 2 months. It was hard work in freezing conditions; a struggle with manuscripts and with Nabokov’s handwriting but also an opportunity to find more evidence for my thesis, to revise it and to meet other interesting researchers, working at different study rooms and archives of the library.

                            

During my stay in NYC I saw the fireworks for July 4^th and visited the lovely Columbia University and the Chehov Publishing House archive there. I even managed to briefly go to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale to research the Witold Gombrowicz archive and to meet a couple of Nabokovians. New Haven looked magical to me. Thanks to the kind permission of the Fulbright Commission and to an accepted application, I had the chance to fly over to Buenos Aires for the First World Gombrowicz Congress in August. There I had the marvelous chance to meet many Gombrowiczians from all over the world and to discuss my project with them.

It all seemed great thus far and only later would I have realized that it had only been the beginning of a metafictional adventure. After my return to NYC, I flew to the West coast for the most incredible fall semester at University of California, Berkeley. There, at the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, I was supervised by an incredibly responsive and inspiring Nabokovian: Eric Naiman, who also generously invited me to take part in his classes on “Lolita” and with whom I had extremely fruitful discussions on my dissertation project. I had the wonderful chance to audit a course on the novel in theory and to discuss novel reader’s studies and other theory issues with Dorothy Hale. I had also very stimulating meetings with Irina Paperno, who advised me on methodology and guided me in academic life at Berkeley. Thanks to the Slavic kruzhok of graduate students I could get some feedback on my work in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. In addition, I had my first university teaching experience when one of the graduate students invited me to teach “The Vane Sisters” by Vladimir Nabokov in her class. This experience, apart from being very helpful in many respects, further advanced my research and conclusions on the reader response to this short story.

I am that kind of person that primarily works rather than goes sightseeing. You may call it a demerit but I had only four months at Berkeley and had to make my choices. However, I did manage to go to an amazing Sunday afternoon string quartet concert on campus for a study break. I was also really enchanted by Berkeley’s nature. All those beautiful flowers, bushes and trees, wonderful sunsets, view to San Francisco and the bridges, all fluffy squirrels that were too cute, too fat, and too Pninian and unfortunately loved only by non-locals.

 

My first flabbergasting meeting with hummingbirds also took place there. 

I also went to my first authentic Halloween party and signed my first rental agreement and my first payment check there. One sunny day (not that there are many non-sunny days there!) we went to Stanford for a conference on the form in the novel, organized by graduate students from both universities. It was a very nice informal academic event and a great chance to meet more PhD students at different stages of their studies but all interested in researching the novel. I could also take a brief walk on campus and to see the famous Rodin sculptures all over the place.

Probably one of the most stimulating things that happened to me at Berkeley was my communication with other PhD students at the Slavic library and the way that I was instantly integrated in the department life. There was a weekly Slavic colloquium with intriguing guest lecturers and all kinds of other seminars organized by and aimed for graduate students. Unbelievable as it may seem, the doctoral students at Slavic manage to balance hard work and joyful gatherings and moreover, they are extremely self-conscious. That is probably why I saw the department as metafiction: fiction (i.e. something unreal, miraculous), which is reflecting constantly on itself, providing self-commentary and reflecting on itself. By no chance UCB’s motto is “Let there be light” for Light is there, tons of it, literally and spiritually.

                           

I think I found my peers in there so I’m working on getting them someday to visit Sofia…

There were many interesting meetings with other Fulbrighters from all over the world. During my brief stay in the Bay area we got to know some interesting Mexican traditions, to see the San Francisco murals and to visit Mission Dolores. I appeared to have much more in common with these visiting researchers than expected. We had a nice welcome breakfast meeting and a walk, as well as another dinner event.  

                        

I even got the chance to participate in a bachelorette party of a charming Fulbright student from Peru. Most Fulbrighters in the Bay area still go to sports events or opera together, but the connection stays even after all are back home. 


Eventually, when you consider everything over, there comes time to rethink the overall experience once more. And indeed, after some hardship, along with hopes and dreams that have come true, you know that you will be a Fulbrighter forever because giving means receiving. Fulbright is all about people and knowledge beyond boundaries. This experience can be compared with fiction, but actually it’s more than that: it is self-conscious and inspiring; it is metafiction… Be sure that Magic exists and everything is achievable – it’s only up to you!