Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry in English
from c.1970 to the Present  

Welcome to Classical Receptions in Late Twentieth-Century Drama and Poetry in English project site. This project has been established to document and analyse the theatrical and literary surge of interest in Greek texts and drama which is a phenomenon of the late twentieth century.

Recent Project News

New Appointment 2009

Dr. Anastasia Bakogianni has joined the project as a post-doctoral researcher. She is working on a project about the reception of the classics in popular culture (1970 to the present). Previously she was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Classical Studies in London. Her interests include Greek Drama and its Reception, particularly Modern Greek Receptions, Women in Antiquity and Classical Mythology. She is associate editor of New Voices.

International Conference

Classics in the Modern World – a Democratic Turn? An International Research Collaboration to be held at Milton Keynes 18-20 June 2010.
This conference will be the culmination of the collaborative work that is being developed with colleagues in Australasia, Europe, South Africa and the US on the implications of the ‘Democratic Turn’, in which classical texts, material culture and ideas seem in recent years to have become more widely used among all sections of society and cultural groups, rather than restricted to elites. The conference will include case studies, analysis of the implications for how classical culture is perceived and transmitted, evaluation of approaches, methods and scholarship and, especially, critical examination of the extent to which the impression of more ‘democratic’ impact is, or is not, justified by the evidence. We expect the conference to lead to a substantial publication.
Conference organisers: Lorna Hardwick (The Open University), Stephen Harrison (Oxford University), Kate Nichols (RHUL) and Carol Gillespie (The Open University. Further details (word doc 56K)
If you are interested in organising a Panel please contact Carol Gillespie (c.a.gillespie@open.ac.uk) in the first instance.
We also intend to run some special sessions for graduate students (who will be welcome to attend the whole conference).

May 2009

Classical Receptions Journal covers all aspects of the reception of the texts and material culture of ancient Greece and Rome from antiquity to the present day. It aims to explore the relationships between transmission, interpretation, translation, transplantation, rewriting, redesigning and rethinking of Greek and Roman material in other contexts and cultures. It addresses the implications both for the receiving contexts and for the ancient, and compares different types of linguistic, textual and ideological interactions. Classical Receptions Journal is edited by a prestigious, international team.

Visit www.oxfordjournals.org/page/3581/1 for details.
Now inviting submissions:The journal promotes cross-disciplinary exchange and debates at the interface between subjects. It therefore welcomes submissions from researchers in Archaeology, Architecture, Art History, Comparative Literature, Film, Intellectual History, History of Scholarship, Political Science, Theatre Studies and Translation Studies as well as from those in Classics and Ancient History.
In addition, the editorial team welcomes proposals for ‘Special Editions' on topics that involve cross-disciplinary collaborations.
How to submit : Full guidelines for authors are available at
www.oxfordjournals.org/page/3581/2
To submit your paper online go to www.oxfordjournals.org/page/3581/3
Further information: The journal will publish its first issue in November 2009. Visit www.oxfordjournals.org/page/3581/4 for more information and to sign up for email table of contents alerts.

Summary of Recent Project News

Modern productions and ancient classical plays
The first phase of our project documents modern productions of ancient plays and the processes associated with the creation of the performances - please use the menu on the left to access the database of performances and critical essays

The Classical Texts and Modern Poetry
The second phase of our project investigates the relationship between classical material and modern poetry (c. 1970 to 2005). An Introduction, A Case Study, and Database pilot samples (Michael Longley and Ted Hughes), are already available on the Project site. A research consultant to the Project, Rosemary Wilkinson, is currently documentating two female poets, Eavan Boland and Olga Broumas. These will shortly be available from the website.

Rosemary studied for her BA and MPhil in Classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge (2001-2005), focusing on Greek literature, and particularly the representation of epiphany in Attic tragedy. She spent several months working for a number of organisations in an administrative capacity, before joining the Department of Classics at the University of Leeds in 2006. There she is employed as a Research Assistant, on the project to publish Names on Terra Sigillata: an index of makers' stamps and signatures on terra sigillata (samian ware).

The third phase of our project:
Classical historiography, ideas and material culture in the late twentieth century and the early twenty first century

Exhibiting Democracy, by Deborah Challis, is the first of a series of case studies that research different aspects of the receptions of classical historiography, ideas and material culture in the late twentieth century and the early twenty first century. Debbie works part time at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London, and is author of From the Harpy Tomb to the Wonders of Ephesus. British Archaeologists in the Ottoman Empire 1840 - 1880 (Duckworth: 2008).

Vacancies in Classical Reception Studies

This website was last updated: November 2009