Episode 113: Ovid's Metamorphoses in the 21st Century

Aven McMaster January 31, 2023

In this episode we talk to the authors of two new books on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Latin epic poem he wrote in 8 CE. Stephanie McCarter has published a new translation of the poem, and Gareth Williams has written a short interpretive introductory work on the epic to go with the Columbia Core Curriculum. We talked with both of them about the way Ovid fits into contemporary society, what considerations there are when teaching this epic, and the joys and difficulties of engaging with Ovid’s poetic brilliance.

Content note for sexual violence and brief description of trauma.

LingComm23

LingFest

@AllEndlessKnot@toot.community

Stephanie McCarter’s website

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Gareth Williams faculty page

On Ovid’s Metamorphoses

“Landscape Near Rome during Storm” by Simon Denis

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Episode 95: Reckonings, with Stephen Chrisomalis

Aven McMaster August 17, 2021

It’s time for a reckoning! Or, to be more accurate, a number of reckonings. We talk to Dr. Stephen Chrisomalis, a linguistic anthropologist who specializes in the anthropology of mathematics and the interaction of language, cognition, and culture, about his new book Reckonings. It’s a fascinating discussion of how we write and represent numbers, and how that’s changed over the years. Why don’t we use Roman numerals any more? It’s more complicated than you might think…

Announcement: Mark will be running another session of his Speakeasy seminar course, The Origins of English: Learning to Think Like an Etymologist, which is open to anyone who’s interested. Registration is now open at Speakeasy.com for the session running on Sunday afternoons (Eastern time) from September 12th October 3rd.

Glossographia (blog)

Twitter: @schrisomalis

Wayne State University faculty page

Reckonings webpage

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Episode 94: Catullus & Shibari, with Isobel Williams

Aven McMaster July 27, 2021

We talked to Isobel Williams about her fascinating and illuminating new translation of selected poems of Catullus, illustrated with her drawings of the Japanese art of rope binding, shibari. Our discussion ranges over the connections between the world of shibari and the emotional struggles depicted in Catullus’s poetry, the way translation and learning Latin can feel like being tied up in, and untangling, knots, and much more.

Content Note: fetish, sex, brief mention of sexual violence, discussion of enslavement and use of slavery as metaphor

Blog about drawing shibari (Japanese rope bondage): Boulevardisme

Straight blog about drawing: Drawing from an uncomfortable position

Website: Isobel Williams

Twitter: @otium_Catulle

Instagram: @isobelwilliams2525

From Isobel: “For the online book launch, I compiled a video (>20 minutes) of self and others reading in Latin and English from the book. It starts with Sappho in ancient Greek and ends with Shakespeare, to show the continuity Sappho -> Catullus -> Ovid -> Shakespeare (it contains no Ovid). The video is here 'Catullus: Shibari Carmina' - readings and performances - YouTube”

Page about the book

Link to the book for Canada and US: Catullus: Shibari Carmina | Independent Publishers Group

James Methven’s Precious Asses – highly recommended

Irish poet and mediaevalist Bernard O’Donoghue – Poet, Academic, Medievalist and Literary Critic

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Episode 47: Why Bob Dylan Matters, with Richard Thomas

Mark Sundaram November 22, 2017

We talk to Prof. Richard Thomas about his new book about Bob Dylan and the Classics, discussing Latin poetry, intertextuality in music and literature, Dylan's similarities to Catullus and use of Virgil and Ovid, and the unexpected connections between Classical scholarship and research into folk music archives.