When the Comparative Literature Luncheon met yesterday in 201 Kern to listen to and discuss literary matters, it focused on Eastern European nature.

This is the fifth of the 13 luncheons. They are held every Monday at 12:20 p.m.

People are encouraged to munch on their lunches as they take in a new topic each week.

"We have a roster of very different speakers, events and people in various genres," said liberal arts professor Dan Walden, coordinator of the Comparative Literature Luncheon.

"Every week is different and exposes students to the range of materials that are available to them," Walden said.

Yesterday's guest speaker was author Igor Klekh.

Klekh is from Western Ukraine, where he was exposed to a mixture of cultural elements that influenced his writing, said professor of Slavic languages Michael Nayden.

Klekh lives in Moscow, where he has resided since 1994.

He is fluent in Russian, Ukrainian and Polish, and also speaks a little English.

During the luncheon, a few of Klekh's essays were read.

The essays touched on a diverse range of topics including domestication, the description and essence of Ukrainian and Russian culture through specific food and the description of a bad hangover.

When asked his motivation for attending the luncheon, one student said Klekh's descriptive essay of explaining the after-effects of a night of drinking was the reason he decided to attend.

"We have been translating some of Igor's texts in class," said Ryan Eron (senior-comparative literature, international politics, Russian and economics).

He also hinted that Klekh's works might be complicated at times.

"Things are positioned in ways you would never really think of them ... it is hard for some Russians to follow in Russian."

Klekh was not only present to share his work with the audience, but he was also there to explain his transition from fiction to non-fiction writing.

"I am famous in Moscow as a person who totally opposes the idea of novels," Klekh said through an interpreter.

The rather stoic author then defended his argument by saying the number of heroes and protagonists in literature is limited.

An adult eventually gets tired of seeing the same characters slightly reworked, Klekh said.

"A novel is a sort of literary machine ... that has basically exhausted its resource," said Klekh.

Klekh closed the luncheon by referring to fiction as a commercial genre and suggested that it will exist forever because people choose to live in their own worlds, despite what is really going on.

Upcoming details and topics for the fall 2005 Comparative Literature Luncheon can be found at the Department of Comparative Literature Web site at complit.la.psu.edu.