The 1920s: Postclassicisms and Periodization

Is the reception of the ancient world a unified field of study? If yes, what unites it?  If not, how do the separate strands relate, not least within the larger disciplinary building of Classics, but also outside of it?  What other frameworks should be brought to bear on reception events and how do these intersect with transhistorical frameworks or models primarily oriented towards an “original” text?  Will taking a cross-section at a specific point in time give us a better angle on these questions?

After successful workshops on Classical Knowing (January 2013) and Untimeliness (June 2014), this workshop extends our interests in the relation between historicity and other forms of transformation. We have chosen to designate a decade in order to ask whether periodization intersects with the postclassical. With the 1920s, we decided to focus on a decade that has generated a spectrum of postclassical approaches and materials without being the prime field of research specialization of any of the core group.  This should hopefully allow us to follow the threads of the methodological and structural implications of embracing or resisting periodization as much as possible, while maintaining a strong sense of focus.  The change of format, discussed below, will also allow us to take up new angles on these questions.

This workshop also addresses head on one of the overarching questions that have accompanied this project from the beginning, namely the status and place of the case study.  Engagement with this question seems especially valuable in a field that, even as it rapidly matures and expands, is, still, strong on collected volumes and weak on programmatic works, strong on the detailed yet circumscribed studies and weak on the manifestos.

Thursday, January 9

9:30-10:00
Breakfast

10:00-10:15
Overview and Welcome

10:15-11:45
Session 1:

Simon Goldhill (Cambridge)
Response: Glenn Most (Pisa/Chicago)

Effie Rentzou (Princeton)
Response: Tim Whitmarsh (Oxford)

11:45-12:15
Break

12:15-1:00
Session 2

Phiroze Vasunia (Reading)
Response: Leon Grek (Princeton)

1:00-2:30
Lunch

2:30-4:00
Session 3

Nancy Worman (Barnard/Columbia)
Response: Alastair Blanshard (Sydney)

Joshua Billings (Yale)
Response: Devin Fore (Princeton)

4:00-4:30
Break

4:30-5:30
General Session

6:30-7:30
Reception

7:30-9:30
Dinner at Palmer House

Friday, January 10

9:30-10:00
Breakfast

10:00-11:30
Session 4

Michael Konaris (Princeton)
Response: Joshua Katz (Princeton)

Gina White (Princeton)
Response: Constanze Güthenke (Princeton)

11:30-11:45
Break

11:45-12:30
Session 5

Miriam Leonard
Response: Brooke Holmes

12:30-1:30
Lunch

1:30-3:00
Seminar

3:00-3:30
Closing Discussion

3:30-4:00
Break

4:00-5:00
Meeting of the Steering Committee