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CORVALLIS - Inga Clendinnen, whose 1999 book, "Reading the Holocaust," was a New York Times Book of the Year, will deliver the 2002 Carson History Lecture at Oregon State University.

Her talk, "Representing Suffering," will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15, in the Construction and Engineering Auditorium of OSU's LaSells Stewart Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.

One of Australia's most prominent historians, Clendinnen has built her reputation with a distinct literary style and bold interpretations of human character. In many of her works, she has written about suffering - from her own perspective as well as those of "conquered" or invaded peoples.

Clendinnen has written several books and numerous articles on the Aztecs and Maya of Mexico and their encounters with invading Spaniards in the 16th century, which garnered her numerous international awards.

"Reading the Holocaust" offers not only a look at Nazi Germany, but re-examines the effect on people who look at the horrors of the Holocaust. She also explores how the Holocaust has been portrayed in poetry, fiction and film, and how each medium offers different ways of understanding the events.

In 2000, she wrote "Tiger's Eye," her deeply personal account of struggling with acute illness, liver failure and, ultimately, the liver transplant that has prolonged her life. The book has received critical acclaim and won Australia's National Award for Innovation in Writing.

Clendinnen is an emeritus scholar at LaTrobe University in Melbourne. She has been a visiting fellow at the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Research at Princeton University.

The Carson Lecture series is named after the late George Carson, a long-time professor of Russian history at OSU, and his wife, Dorothy. It is sponsored by the OSU Department of History.