Iambus and Elegy Conference

11 to 13 July 2012

• SPONSORED BY THE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES, UCL GREEK AND LATIN ALUMNI, UCL GRADUATE SCHOOL AND UCL FIGS

The study of Greek elegy and iambus has been transformed in recent years by new papyrological finds, most notably the new Simonides elegy in 1992 and the new Archilochus elegy in 2005, while scholarship on early Greek poetry has made significant methodological advances over recent decades. Yet iambus and elegy have historically been sidelined as the lesser cousins of Greek lyric, while the impact of papyrological discoveries has not always been made apparent to those without the technical expertise to work directly on the texts.

This international conference will include papers by international experts drawn from the UK, Europe, North and South America, and the Middle East. It will be the first conference to focus exclusively on iambus and elegy, and our aim is to foreground these metres as poetic forms in their own right and to showcase recent research in this area.

The conference will begin on the evening of 11th July with a keynote lecture followed by a drinks reception. Papers will take place throughout the days of 12th and 13th July. A more detailed timetable will be posted here in due course.

Wednesday 11th July

4-5pm: Arrival and registration

5-6pm Keynote paper: 'iambos in the ancient historiography of literature', Andrea Rotstein, Tel Aviv University

6-8pm: drinks reception, Gordon Square Gardens (if fine), or Gordon House 106

Thursday 12th July

9.00 - 9.30           Coffee and registration

SESSION 1: Elegiac performance

9.30-10.10           'Possible ritual contexts for the performance of early narrative elegy', Ewen Bowie, University of Oxford

10.10-10.50         'Choral Elegy', Cecilia Nobili, University of Milan

10.50-11.20         COFFEE BREAK

11.20-12.00         'Anacreon and the elegiac symposium', Elizabeth Jones, Stanford University

12.00-12.40         'Simonides and the elegy', David Sider, New York University

SESSION 2: Voice and author in iambos

12.40-1.20           'Archilochean performance and the iambic poet-persona', Don Lavigne, Texas Tech University

1.20-2.20              LUNCH

2.20-3.00              'Archilochean imagery and poetic topoi', Laura Swift, UCL

3.00-3.40              'Mythic narratives in Hipponax: the case of Heracles', Margarita Alexandrou, UCL

3.40-4.20              'Overheard Iambics: Listening to Hipponax', Deborah Boedeker, Brown University

4.20-4.50              COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 3: Text and transmission

4.50-5.30              'Archilochus' elegiac fragments: textual and exegetical notes', Anika Nicolosi, University of Parma

5.40-6.10              'Writing Solon', Antonio Aloni, University of Torino, and Alessandro Iannucci, University of Bologna

Friday 13th July

SESSION 4: Iambic interactions

9-9.40    'Toward a philosophy of parody: iambos and visual art' Tom Hawkins, Ohio State University

9.40-10.20           'Iambos iatrikos: therapy and the ego in Archilochus' elegies and iamboi', Julia Nelson Hawkins, Ohio State University

SESSION 5: Elegy and epic

10.20-11.00         'Elegy and epic: a complex relationship', Laura Lulli, University of L'Aquila

11.00-11.30         COFFEE BREAK

11.30-12.10         'Hesiod and elegy', Richard Hunter, Cambridge University

SESSION  6: Classical intertexts

12.10-12.50         'Warding off a hailstorm of blood: Pindar on martial elegy', Christopher Brown, University of Western Ontario

12.50-1.30           'Euenus' "ship of fools" (8b, Theog. 667-82)', Paula Correa, University of Sao Paolo

1.30-2.30              LUNCH BREAK

SESSION 7: Hellenistic echoes

2.30-3.10              'Callimachus between elegy and iambus', Giambattista D'Alessio, KCL

3.10-3.50              'What is iambic about Hellenistic literary epigrams?', Maria Kanellou, UCL

3.50-4.20              COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 8: Beyond the canon

4.20-5.00              'Tetrameters from Teos: Scythinus on Heraclitus and Apollo', Tim Power, Rutgers

5.00-5.40              'Mapping iambos: mining the minor talents', Chris Carey, UCL

Conference fee: £60 for the full conference, or £30 for one day. To register for the conference, please fill in the registration form and send it to the address given on the form.

• Conference registration form

Payment can be made by either cheque (all cheques must be made payable to 'UCL') or by credit card.  Credit card forms must be completed in full and faxed to 020 7679 7475. 

• Credit card payment form

Thanks to the generosity of the Hellenic Society and UCL Alumni we are able to offer some bursaries to graduate students who wish to attend the conference. If you wish to apply for a bursary, please fill out the following form and send it to iambusandelegy@gmail.com by 24th February 2012.

• Graduate bursary form

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact Dr Laura Swift