January 23, 2010

Greek Drama in 19th Century America
1900-1970

'Metaphor and
Modernity:
Mid-Century Versions
of Euripides'

Thomas Jenkins is Associate Professor and Chair of Classical Studies at Trinity University.

His research includes both classical philology--the study of classical literature in its social and political contexts--as well as reception theory, the ways in which the classical world has been re-envisioned and re-interpreted through time.

His recent book, Intercepted Letters: Epistolarity and Narrative in Greek and Roman Literature (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006) focuses on the intersection of epistolarity, myth, and narrative, or the ways in which writing was constructed in ancient literature as a medium of miscommunication. Topics included forgery, blackmail, cryptography, and epistolary personae; authors included Euripides, Aeneas Tacticus, Ovid, and the authors of the Historia Augusta.

Articles in a philological vein include “At Play with Writing: Letters and Readers in Plautus” as well as “Livia the Princeps: Gender and Ideology in the Consolatio Ad Liviam” (Helios, 2009, forthcoming).

His research on reception theory includes articles on Archibald Macleish, H.D., and the classics in the Harlem Renaissance; my article “An American ‘Classic’: Hillman and Cullen’s Mimes of the Courtesans” won the inaugural Paul Rehak award from the Lambda Classical Caucus (for best article on gender/sexuality).

Forthcoming articles include “Heavy Metal Homer: Underground Appropriations of the Odyssey In Graphic Novels” for Classics and Comics (ed. George Kovacs and
Toph Marshall, 2010) and “Farcical Philology: Alexander’s Shewan’s ‘Games at a Ancient St. Andrews’” for Metaphilogy. Histories and Languages of Philology. ed. Pascale Hummel, 2009.