Module description
Some of the most exciting advances in classical scholarship stem from the realisation that many of the masterpieces of ancient literature had been intended for public performance, either in their original form or in adaptation. This module offers you the opportunity to look at a variety of ancient texts from a “performative” viewpoint, placing particular emphasis on the notion of performers, performance space and conventions, and spectators. The literary pool on which this module draws is large, with a variety of areas covered over two semesters (though, NB, the particular selection of topics may vary from year to year). Indicative (but not exclusive) areas of concentration are: drama; epic, including the “miniature” epic form, the so-called epyllion; the long “rhapsodic” performance tradition of the Homeric epics; ancient lyric and “song culture”; rhetoric in theory and practice; the multiple performance genres of Hellenistic culture (including subliterary performances); school-room performance exercises and the glamorous display performances of the star sophists; performance filtered through the ancient novel; literature associated with the “lowbrow” genres of mime and pantomime. The module will be equally concerned with ancient discourses about elements of performance culture, for example, the tense debates regarding the perceived dangers posed by theatrical performance on morality, culture and the performer's and audience's gender identity.
Teaching pattern
20 x 2-hour class (weekly)
Suggested reading list
Suggested introductory reading
This is suggested reading and purchase of these books is not mandatory.
The module will not take any prior knowledge for granted, but you will find it very helpful to have a good overall understanding of periods, genres and (to a lesser extent) authors of both Greek and Roman literary production. Over the summer you may wish to have a look at, e.g.:
- O. Taplin (ed), Literature in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A New Perspective (Oxford 2000)
- T. Whitmarsh, Ancient Greek Literature (Cambridge 2004)
- O. Taplin, Greek Tragedy in Action (London, 2002)
- E. Fantham, Roman Literary Culture from Cicero to Apuleius (Baltimore and London 1996)
- Barchiesi and W. Scheidel (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies (Oxford 2010)
- G. Boys-Stones, B. Graziosi, and P. Vasunia (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies (Oxford 2010)