CFP: Ancient Drama, Modern Media
14th Celtic Conference in Classics
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra
Coimbra, Portugal
11–14 July, 2023
Modern media have proven a rich setting for engaging with the themes, characters, and modes of ancient drama. From retellings of Athenian comedy and tragedy in new genres, to the staging of myths previously unassociated with the theater, to the reception of Aristotle as the putative godfather of screenwriting, to the enrichment of literary and screen texts with tragic motifs, these examples — and more — speak to the tenacious relevance of ancient drama in modernity, as well as to the potential of contemporary media to open new windows on venerable forms.
The Popular Classics section of the Celtic Conference in Classics invites papers on the topic of ancient drama, broadly defined, in modern media, and vice versa. Themes could include, but are in no way limited to:
- Adaptations of stories from ancient drama in new media — film, television, online events, games, comics, novels, and so forth.
- New media that enable classical drama to be viewed or theorized from fresh perspectives.
- Tragic or comic motifs and tropes in unexpected genres; genre hybridity or fluidity.
- The presentation of previously undramatized myths or historical events in theatrical form.
- Dramatic serials engaging with the ancient world, or the use of drama in documentaries.
- Aristotelian theory in contemporary praxis; or reactions against the same.
Papers may be either 20 or 40 minutes. Please submit abstracts of no more than 300 words, excluding bibliography, to Dan Curley (dcurley@skidmore.edu) and Amanda Potter (amandapotter@caramanda.co.uk) by 15 January, 2023, with a clear indication of which format you prefer.
Presenters will be notified of their status by 1 February, 2023.
