Ancient World Seminar: Antje Wessels (University of Leiden): 'Experiencing Fragments Project'

Abstract

On 14 March, the members of the Experiencing Fragments Project will present their online platform, the Open Source Classics Commentary (OSCC). Antje Wessels, Matthew Payne, Basil Nelis, Thomas Kluitenburg, and Luuk Nolden (Leiden University) will discuss with you why working with fragments can be attractive and why it is dangerous at the same time. The case study is based on a selection of fragments from Roman Republican Tragedy. These tragedies, which have only survived in fragments, have invited scholars to draw rather broad conclusions not only as regards the specific features of Roman tragedy, but also Latin literature in general. But were the original tragedies really mere translations of Greek tragedies, as it has been claimed by a majority of scholars who have edited and worked on them? Or can we discover unexpected features, such as comic elements? And can we free ourselves from the biases behind their editorial presentations - or at least become aware of them? The OSCC aims to help researchers to experiment with the fragmentary material as it is presented in previous editions and to highlight the biases and assumptions that are present in former scholarship - and that also will occur when approaching fragmentary material ourselves.

About the speakers

• Antje Wessels is a Professor of Latin Language and Literature at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.
• Thomas Kluitenburg is a PhD candidate at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.
• Luuk Nolden is an education and research assistant at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.
• Matthew Payne is a researcher at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, working on the ‘Experiencing Fragments’ project and the Anchoring Innovation project ‘Importing from the East: Hellenistic poetry and material realities in the Neoterics’.
• Basil Nelis is a postdoctoral researcher at LUCAS. He holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford. His dissertation focused on the theme of female revenge in Seneca’s tragedies.