Month: February 2013

Celebritizing Greek Philosophy?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From time to time my spiders bring back strange things, most of the time involving people I haven’t heard of and/or were only vaguely aware of. So this time they brought back and item from Digital Spy, citing an interview in Metro with Alain de Botton, who appears to be an atheist who has penned some influential books. Inter alia:

Are you friends with Harry from One Direction?
That would be overegging it. I was introduced to him at a party. Neither of us had heard of each other. We had a nice chat. It was fun.

Did you have much in common?
My plan is to shut the Arts Council and get people such as Harry Styles to go on television and recommend to everyone they read Proust and Hegel, which would achieve more in five minutes than the Arts Council achieves year in, year out. David Beckham could do Aristotle and Plato. The cause of intellectual life in this country would be helped immeasurably. The problem we’ve got is the most famous people in the country tend to believe in things that aren’t particularly ambitious whereas the people who believe in really ambitious things are stuck away in an ivory tower and no one bothers listening to what they think. In an ideal world Harry Styles would be teaching his 10million Twitter followers a little more about Greek philosophy.

Then from Digital Spy we learn that Harry Styles actually took up the suggestion:

… which, as Digital Spy notes, is cribbed directly from Wikipedia … we might cynically observe that a Diogenes might mark a watershed in a different sort of way (horrible puns abound!) … anyhoo, I think it would be more impressive if he tweeted something Plato put in Socrates’ mouth … in Greek.

Classics Confidential: Andrew Simpson on his Operatic Oresteia

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

This week, our Classics Confidential vodcast features Dr. Anastasia Bakogianni (OU) talking to Professor Andrew Earle Simpson (Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of Washington, DC) about his operatic reception of Aeschylus’ Oresteia. You can listen to extracts from this three-part opera on the website http://www.andrewesimpson.com, which also contains additional links to photographs, video footage and reviews of the performances, and much more.

CFP: ‘Mass & Elite in Antiquity’ (Unisa Classics Colloquium)

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Seen on the Classicists list:

THEME: ‘Mass & Elite in Antiquity’
14th Unisa Classics Colloquium, 24-26 October 2013

The conference organisers invite paper proposals on a topic with bearing on
many current issues and debates. Scholars of the ancient world are
encouraged to approach the theme from various perspectives and with
cognisance of literary and material evidence, in order to shed light on
elite formation, social exclusivity and class interaction. We are
particularly interested in political and economic aspects pertaining to the
many and the few, but other discourses should add to the intended range:
power in general, association and lineage, intellect and morality, taste,
ability and the like. The Classics Colloquium focuses on Greco-Roman
antiquity, but contributions from other ancient cultures will be considered
positively.

The Unisa Classics Colloquium is hosted annually by the Department of
Classics and World Languages at the University of South Africa, Pretoria.

Please submit titles and abstracts of approximately 300 words to Philip
Bosman at bosmapr AT unisa.ac.za, as soon as possible. Final deadline: 15 May.

More on the conference:

Convening in 2013 for the 14th time, the Unisa Classics Colloquium combines
stimulating scholarship with a pleasant and intimate atmosphere. Over two
and a half days, approximately 16 scholarly contributions are to be
presented, with ample time for discussion and valuable feedback. Parallel
sessions are avoided in order to promote unity of focus in the conference,
and delegates get to know each other properly.

Venue: The Muckleneuk Campus of the University of South Africa (UNISA) in
Pretoria.

Dates: 24-26 October 2013.
We start on a Thursday morning, meaning that participants should arrive in
Pretoria on the 23rd at the latest and book a flight out not earlier than
the afternoon of the 26th, but preferably later.

Programme
A preliminary programme will be compiled from the received proposals and
published on the departmental website after the final date for submissions.

Conference Fee
US$150, inclusive of transport and meals during the conference.
Postgraduates, other students and interested parties not able to claim back
conference fees from their institutions should please contact the
organizers for a discount.

Accommodation
During past conferences, guests stayed at the Brooklyn Guest Houses
(http://www.brooklynguesthouses.co.za/) situated in a picturesque and safe
suburb close to Unisa, the University of Pretoria, and the Brooklyn,
Hillcrest and Hatfield shopping centres. A discounted group booking for
delegates is negotiated.

Excursions
Pretoria herself becomes a tourist destination when the jacarandas bloom in
October, but we plan excursions to the Winex wine festival in Sandton
(Johannesburg) (http://www.winex.co.za/ RMB_WineX_Sandton/details.asp) and
after the conference (the 27th) to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve
(http://pilanesberg-game-reserve.co.za/).

Publication of papers
Depending on quality, a collection of articles on the colloquium theme is
envisaged. Submitted papers are subject to a refereeing process. If you
would consider submitting your paper for publication, please indicate that
to us via return mail for further guidelines on style.