Great Barrington — Dr. Joachim Frank, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will speak at a showing of the movie “The Trip To Greece” at The Triplex on Saturday, May 17, at 3 p.m. The event is a fundraiser for The Triplex and will include a discussion with Frank about Greek culture.
Frank, who resides in Berkshire County, is a professor of biochemistry, molecular biophysics, and biological sciences at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 along with Jacques Dubocher and Richard Henderson for their work in developing new ways of assembling three-dimensional images of biological molecules taken from electron microscopes. These included images of DNA and RNA and have helped scientists understand viruses including Ebola, Zika, and the SARS-Cov2 virus which causes COVID-19.
Frank also writes fiction, and his novel “lerapetra, or His Sister’s Keeper” was published last year by DartFrog Books.
As per the description of the novel:
‘lerapetra, or His Sister’s Keeper,’ is a man’s attempt to overcome grief and guilt through storytelling. Reiner, now retired in the Berkshires, reminisces about the times he spent with his younger sister, Monika, who succumbed to cancer in her early fifties. His memory centers around traumatic events during a trip he took with her to Crete in the 1960s, which left Monika with emotional scars and Reiner with a perpetual feeling of insufficiency and guilt.
Between glimpses of its ancient cultures, Crete comes to life in its spectacular atmospheric light. Its own brand of Greek island music and the vitality of its people are shaped by European echoes of the Vietnam protests and hippies flooding pristine beaches. The siblings’ ensuing trajectories take them through Europe against the background of Chernobyl, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the completion of the Chunnel and the advent of the Internet. In the final chapters, set in Barcelona after his sister’s demise, the growing tension between the truth and Reiner’s revisionist history leads to a breaking point.
Frank told The Berkshire Edge that transitioning from studying science to studying novels and vice versa has always come naturally for him. “The similarity in both fields is in the acuity of descriptions,” he explained. “I tend to be very meticulous in my observations in fiction. This carries some of the excitement that comes across to other people. If something is meticulously described, it produces very close attention to the reader. This kind of acuity of observation is instrumental when it comes to science and in literary work.”
The book is based on Frank’s own experiences with his sister when they visited Crete back in the 1960s and her later passing from cancer.
“Greece, to me, has always been an exotic and exciting place,” Frank said. “In Greece, there is a joyousness and enthusiasm that people have, and it gives me a lot of joy and optimism. Certain aspects of culture in Greece are maintained differently where different tribes keep together more strongly than others. Whenever particular communities stay together, they tend to keep their traditions. Europe has had such a tumultuous history with the borders being shifted around. So each region has a very elaborate history and understanding.”
“Understanding history is truly a way of understanding people,” Frank added. “Without a context of history, you are losing out on understanding people. Americans tend not to pay attention to these things. They don’t pay attention to it [in America], nor do they when they travel. It’s all very superficial, and there’s no lasting experience conveyed.”
Frank said that his novel is “a reimagined journey where I have an opportunity to bring out things in much more striking ways.” “I always had a feeling that I have had unfinished business with [my sister],” he said. “I didn’t have opportunities to exchange many things with her because I was busy, and then she was busy. And then all of a sudden she was gone. That left a big gap. Reimagining this journey allowed for reconciliation and allowed me to amplify the feelings that were somehow underlying and maybe not realized at the time.”
As for the film “The Trip to Greece,” actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play fictionalized versions of themselves as they travel to Greece to retrace the journey of Odysseus, as chronicled in Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey.”
At the time of the interview, Frank had not yet seen the movie.
Matt Tannenbaum, owner of The Bookstore Get Lit Wine Bar in Lenox, will be interviewing Frank for the event. Tickets for the event are $25 and are available at The Triplex’s website.
