[LCC] Theoretical Approaches to Vergil

[Ruby]

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Subject: Re: help?
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:16:10 -0600 (CST)
From: Kallendorf, Craig W <kalendrf at neo.tamu.edu>
To: Ruby <blondell at u.washington.edu>


Theoretical Approaches to Vergil

	Although it has often been noted that the intersection of classics with 
literary and cultural theory came relatively late, it is clear by now 
that the union has been fruitful.  Irene J. F. de Jong and J. P. 
Sullivan’s Modern Critical Theory and Classical Literature has shown how 
the application of various theoretical approaches can lead to useful 
interpretations of classical texts, and the work of Jean-Pierre Vernant 
and his colleagues in the Paris school of structuralist anthropology has 
permanently changed our understanding of Greek tragedy.  Indeed, the 
most striking aspect of a book like Thomas A. Schmitz’s Modern Literary 
Theory and Ancient Texts is that an introduction to critical theory can 
now proceed from one approach to another through the exclusive use of 
examples from Greek and Latin literature.
	New work like this has been leaving its mark on Vergilian studies for 
some time now.  Annabel Patterson’s Pastoral and Ideology, Virgil to 
Valéry, with its new historicist reading of the Eclogues and of poetry 
written in imitation of them, is now more than twenty years old.  S. 
Georgia Nugent, Sharon James, and Judith Hallett are only three of the 
scholars who have changed our reading of the Aeneid by subjecting it to 
a feminist perspective, while a full third of Charles Martindale’s 
Cambridge Companion to Virgil is devoted to essays based in reception 
theory.  And Alden Smith’s recent book, The Primacy of Vision in 
Virgil’s Aeneid, shows what happens when philology enlists the aid of 
Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological theories.
	The Vergilian Society accordingly invites proposals for a panel on 
theoretical approaches to Vergil for the 2011 annual meeting.  While 
papers from established scholars are certainly welcome, the Society 
extends an invitation as well to younger Vergilians whose work is 
informed by their reading in critical theory.  Joseph Farrell has agreed 
to be the respondent for the panel.  Please send abstracts of 500 to 800 
words, for a 15-20 minute presentation, by email to Craig Kallendorf at 
kalendrf at tamu.edu.  Prof. Kallendorf can also be contacted at the 
Department of European and Classical Languages, Texas A&M University, MS 
4215, College Station, TX  77843-4215, phone: 979-845-2124.  Since all 
abstracts will be judged anonymously, please do not identify yourself in 
any way on the abstract page.  All proposals must be received by 
February 1, 2010.