back Catharine P. Roth Ada Adler, whom William Calder calls “incontestably the greatest woman philologist who ever lived,” [1] enjoyed the support of a mentor, Anders Bjørn Drachmann, who believed in what she could accomplish even though she did not have a regular university appointment. Gregory Nagy has been that kind of a mentor to many students, and so it seems appropriate to offer… Read more
back Nancy Sultan The year 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Administration and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ tenure as First Lady. [1] Now, Jacqueline, who died in 1994, is in the news again because a new book of her recorded interviews with the historian and Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr, Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, came out in… Read more
back Aida Vidan, Harvard University From the time of the Homeric epics down to the period when Milman Parry and Albert Lord discovered “new Homers” such as Avdo Međedović in the Slavic part of the Balkans, the epic tradition has captivated the attention of both scholars and audiences. By contrast, shorter lyric songs and ballads from the same region traditionally performed by women (and sometimes simply called “women’s songs,”… Read more
back Michael B. Sullivan I. STATUS QUAESTIONIS So much has been written about Virgil’s invocation of Erato at Aeneid 7.37-45 that one is tempted to call on the Muse for assistance with the catalogue. [1] Mynors’ text of the controversial passage runs as follows [2] : Nunc age, qui reges, Erato, quae tempora, rerum quis Latio antiquo fuerit status,… Read more
back Anastasia-Erasmia Peponi, Stanford University I. This note is inspired by an anonymous comment on a song, both the comment and the song being readily found on YouTube. [1] The fuller version of the comment runs this way: “The voices of the singer and the choir flow in my veins.” I wish to discuss briefly the voices of the singer and choir that deeply moved… Read more
back Corinne Pache, Trinity University “Le passé, ce n’est pas ce qui a disparu, c’est au contraire ce qui nous appartient.” “The past is not what has disappeared, it is on the contrary what belongs to us.” Kings and Queen [1] Arnaud Desplechin’s 2004 Kings and Queen tells the story of two former lovers, Nora and Ismael, as they remember their past and… Read more
back Laszlo Nagy Contemplating my father at age 70, I think to him when he was my age, 35, thirty-five years ago. This means I find myself in the odd situation of contemplating him when he was my age at my birth. I am reminded already then of his having a newborn son, something that I lack at the moment, realizing that I will be 70 without a 35… Read more
back Andrea Kouklanakis akouklan@fas.harvard.edu Abstract Finismundo: A Última Viagem (1990), written by the Brazilian poet Haroldo de Campos, uses Odysseus’ shipwreck as its foundational theme. In the Odyssey the question surrounding Odysseus’ death is articulated in ambiguous terms in book XI. Tiresias tells Odysseus that the hero will not meet death at sea (thánatos ex halós,v 134),if he propitiates Poseidon with sacrifices. Haroldo de Campos uses the phrase thánatos… Read more
back Marcel Detienne Des Grecs donc, parmi les Amérindiens, Indigènes ou natives, les Amérindiens font encore partie de certains paysages du Brésil. Malgré les conquêtes, les entreprises coloniales, ils n’ont pas le même statut que les Indiens d’Amérique du Nord. Car le Nord refuse, aujourd’hui encore, d’entendre parler d’autochtones : trop dangereux ; il refuse, comme la France où les droits des peuples autochtones ne sont toujours pas reconnus : chacun comprend… Read more
back Anthony Snodgrass With academic subjects as with people, many a close and intimate relationship can become cool and distant. It may even be broken off altogether, and replaced by a different relationship. In the case of academic disciplines, such a transfer of affections can lead to a radical and positive transformation of a subject, even when this also means the virtual disappearance of its older configuration. My offering… Read more
