Joel C. Relihan
Chair, Professor of Classics
Office: Knapton 124
Office Hours: Fall 2009: MW 10:30-11:15, TR 3:30-4:15, and by appointment
Phone: 286-3662
Email: jrelihan@wheatoncollege.edu
Degrees
Ph.D., M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1985, 1978
B.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1976
Main Interests
Late Classical and Early Christian Literature (Apuleius, Lucian, romance literature, Augustine, Boethius); medieval Latin literature; Egyptian language (Coptic) and culture; ancient ecology.
Research Interests
My first book, Ancient Menippean Satire (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), both defines the ancient genre of Menippean satire and shows how the genre was Christianized in late antiquity; a sequel to this study was published by University of Notre Dame Press in 2006: The Prisoner's Philosophy: Life and Death in Boethius's Consolation. I have also published a translation of Consolation (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2001; 2nd revised printing 2005). My new translation, also for Hackett Publishing Company, of Apuleius's Metamorphoses (better known as The Golden Ass) appeared late in 2007. A separate edition of an excerpt from this, the famous tale Cupid and Psyche, with new introduction and notes, just came out this Spring. I am now beginning a new translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, also for Hackett.
Teaching Interests
In courses in Classical Civilization, I present broad literary and historical topics that both demonstrate the nature of influential Classical traditions and illustrate their transformations in the late classical and early medieval periods: Tales of Troy; The Ancient Romance; Egypt in the Greco-Roman World; The Ancient Landscape; The Life and Death of the Ancient City. I also teach a full range of language courses in Greek and Latin, from the elementary level through intermediate courses in specific authors to advanced classes in intensive reading and prose composition. I am currently developing a textbook that will eventually accompany my Latin 150, Review of Latin.
Student Projects
I have directed or co-directed, the following senior theses:
"Euripides' Orestes: A New Translation for Performance" (Michael Balderrama, 2007-2008);
"The Three Empires of Vergil's Aeneid: From Voice & Loom to Text" (John Smith-MacDonald, 2007-2008);
"The Roman Argonautica: An Adventurous Epic of of Kings and Battles" (Laurel Mulherin, 2004-2005);
"Atalanta: The Art of the Storyteller" (Elizabeth "KirAwen" Jarvis, 2004-2005);
"Classical Mythology in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings" (John Walsh, English Department, 2000-2001; co-directed with Michael Drout, Dept. of English);
"The Death of an Amazon in Greek Literature and Art" (Melissa Upton, 1998-99);
"The Relation of Myth and Cult in the Worship of Demeter at Eleusis" (Sarah Sperry, 1995-96);
"Sulpicia and Ovid: Woman's Voice and Man's Voice in Roman Erotic Elegy" (Dana Saxon, 1994-95).
Publications
Books:
6. 2009. Apuleius: The Tale of Cupid and Psyche. Translated, with introduction and notes. Hackett Publishing Company.
5. 2007. Apuleius: The Golden Ass. Translated, with introduction and notes. Hackett Publishing Company.
4. 2006. The Prisoner's Philosophy: Life and Death in Boethius's Consolation. University of Notre Dame Press.
3. 2001. Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy. Translated, with introduction and notes. Hackett Publishing Company; 2nd printing, 2004. [Book Five (prose sections) anthologized in Steven M. Cahn, ed., Classics of Western Philosophy, 7th ed., Hackett Publishing Company, 2006, pp. 400-410; V.3, V.4, V.5, and V.6.1-32 anthologized in Timothy A. Robinson, ed., God, 2nd ed., Hackett Publishing Company, 2002, pp. 182-95.]
2. 1993. Ancient Menippean Satire. Johns Hopkins University Press.
1. 1985. The Montpellier Codex, Part IV: Texts and Translations. Translated with Susan Stakel. Recent Researches in the Music of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, Volume VIII. A-R Editions, Inc., Madison, WI.
In preparation: a translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses (Hackett); an edition and translation of the minor works of Apuleius (Harvard: Loeb Classical Library); Review Latin (a textbook).
Articles and Reviews:
32. review of Catherine Keane, Figuring Genre in Roman Satire, American Philological Association, American Classical Studies 50 (Oxford University Press 2006), International Journal of the Classical Tradition, forthcoming.
31. review of Julia Haig Gaisser, The Fortunes of Apuleius and the Golden Ass (Princeton University Press 2008), New England Classical Journal, 35.4 (2008): 322-24.
30. review of Howard D. Weinbrot, Menippean Satire Reconsidered. From Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century (The Johns Hopkins University Press 2005), New England Classical Journal 33.3 (2006): 240-42.
29. "Chapter 6: Late Arrivals: Julian and Boethius," in Kirk Freudenburg, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire (Cambridge University Press 2005): 109-22.
28. review of P.G. Walsh, trans., comm., Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Oxford University Press 1999), Bryn Mawr Classical Review 00-01-16 (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/brncr/2000/2000-01-16.html).
27. review of D. Wardle, trans., comm., Valerius Maximus: Memorable Deeds and Sayings, Book I (Oxford University Press 1998), Religious Studies Review 25.4 (1999): 419.
26. review of H.J.W. Wijsman, ed., Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, Book V. A Commentary (Brill 25. 1996), Religious Studies Review 25.1 (1999): 95.
24. review of William J. Dominik, ed., Roman Eloquence: Rhetoric in Society and Literature (Routledge 1997), New England Classical Journal 26 (1998): 42-44.
23. review of P. G. Walsh, trans., Petronius: The Satyricon (Oxford University Press 1996), Religious Studies Review 23.3 (1997): 296.
22. "Menippus from Antiquity to the Renaissance," in R. Bracht Branham and Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, eds., The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and its Legacy (University of California Press 1996): 265-93.
21. review of George A. Kennedy, A New History of Classical Rhetoric (Princeton University Press 1994), New England Classical Newsletter & Journal 23.3 (1996): 118-9.
20. review of James Tatum, ed., The Search for the Ancient Novel (Baltimore 1994), New England Classical Newsletter & Journal 22.3 (1995): 136-7.
19. review of Charles Martindale, Redeeming the Text: Latin poetry and the hermeneutics of reception (Cambridge 1993), Classical Review 89.1 (1995): 73.
18. A synopsis of The Prisoner's Philosophy (then called The Menippean Boethius), a book in progress, appeared in The Newsletter of the International Boethius Society 3.1 (1994).
17. "The Novel in the Classroom: Teaching the Ancient Romance," The Petronian Society Newsletter 22 (1992): 7-9.
16. "Rethinking the History of the Literary Symposium," in collaboration with the members of my seminar Plato and Symposiac Literature, Illinois Classical Studies 17 (1992): 213-44.
15. review of Gerard O'Daly, The Poetry of Boethius (Chapel Hill 1991), Classical World 86.2 (1992): 172-73.
14. review of Calvin M. Bower, ed., trans., Fundamentals of Music: Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (New Haven 1989), Classical World 85. 6 (1992): 712-13.
13. "Pardoning Persius' Laughter," Mnemosyne 44 (1991): 433-35.
12. "Agathias Scholasticus (A.P. 11. 354), the Philosopher Nicostratus, and Boethius' Consolation," Classica et Mediaevalia 41(1990): 119-29.
11. "Menippus, the Cur from Crete," Prometheus 16 (1990): 217-24.
10. "Old Comedy, Menippean Satire, and Philosophy's Tattered Robes in Boethius' Consolation," Illinois Classical Studies 15 (1990): 183-94.
9. "The Confessions of Persius," Illinois Classical Studies 14 (1989): 145-67.
8. "Menippus the Cynic in the Greek Anthology," Syllecta Classica 1 (1989): 56-61.
7. "A Metrical Quotation in Julian's Symposium," Classical Quarterly New Series 39 (1989): 566-69.
6. "Fulgentius, Mitologiae 1. 20-21," American Journal of Philology 109 (1988): 229-30.
5. "Martianus Capella, The Good Teacher," Pacific Coast Philology 22 (1987): 59-70.
4. "Vainglorious Menippus in the Dialogues of the Dead," Illinois Classical Studies 12 (1987): 185-206.
3. "Satyra in the Prologue of Fulgentius' Mythologies," Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History IV, Carl Deroux ed., Collection Latomus 196 (1986): 537-48.
2. "On the Origin of 'Menippean Satire' as the Name of a Literary Genre," Classical Philology 79 (1984): 226-29.
1. "Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 1-4 and Fulgentius' Mitologiae," American Journal of Philology 105 (1984): 87-90.
Papers, Presentations, and Popular Articles:
38. "The Romance of Cupid and Psyche," a public lecture at the University of New Hampshire, Apr. 2009.
37. "Chariton and the Greek Romance," a presentation to undergraduate Greek class on Chariton at the University of New Hampshire, Apr. 2009.
36. "Generic Considerations in Ancient Narrative," a presentation to a Wheaton class, Narrative Theory and the Victorian Novel, Feb. 2009.
35. "Isis in The Golden Ass: The Goddess without a Story," a public lecture at Haverford College, Nov. 2008.
34. "The Festival of Laughter and the Limitations of Apuleius' Narrative Techniques," a presentation to undergraduate class on the ancient novel at Haverford College, Nov. 2008.
33. "Cupid and Psyche and Menippus," a public lecture at Brown University, sponsored by the Medieval Studies Program, October 2008.
32. "The Myth of Cupid and Psyche," a public presentation for Wheaton's Fall Visiting Day, October 2008.
31. "Translation: From syllable count to stylistic imitation," a presentation to a Wheaton class, Literary Translation: Theory and Practice, October 2008.
30. "George James and Martin Bernal on ancient Egypt, Africa, and the West," a presentation to a Wheaton class, Introduction to African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, September 2008.
29. "Cupid and Psyche: Psychology and Narratology," a Wheaton Faculty luncheon talk, April 2008.
28. "Practical Considerations in Literary Translation," a presentation to an undergraduate French class at Wheaton College on translation, February 2008.
27. "Boethius and Martianus Capella," a presentation to an undergraduate Latin class at Yale University on Boethius's Consolation, February 2008.
26. "Theory and Practice in Translating Apuleius: Cupid and Psyche as a Test Case," a Wheaton Faculty luncheon talk, November 2006.
25. "The Golden Ass: Cagey Author vs. Skeptical Reader," a public lecture at Williams College, November 2006.
24. "The Tale of the Adulterer in the Jar, Apuleius Met. 9.5-7; Or, What Do Translators Do?" a presentation to an undergraduate class at Williams College on the ancient novel, November 2006.
23. "The Christianization of Cynicism in Boethius's Consolation," a paper delivered to the Philosophy Department Colloquium at St. Anselm College, October 2006.
22. Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, translated for concert notes for a performance by the Wheaton Chorale, May 2005.
21. "Daphnis and Chloe and the Moral Ecology of the Ancient World," a Wheaton Faculty luncheon talk, February 2005.
20. "A Classical Perspective on the Global Perspective," Global Dispatch (Center for Global Education, Wheaton College, Spring 2005): 14-15.
19. "A Classicist Writes a Geometry Textbook," a Wheaton Faculty luncheon talk, April 2004.
18. "The Consolation of Philosophy as a Christian Text," a public lecture at Williams College, February 2003.
17. "Translating Boethius," Wheaton Quarterly (Fall 2002): 20-25.
http://www.wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/Q2002Fall/translating.html
16. "How I Became a Poet; or, Thank you, Mr. Roget," a Wheaton Faculty luncheon talk, November 2000.
15. "Looking Up and Looking Down in Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy," a lecture to the Classics Department of Brown University, March 1999.
14. "Translating Boethius," a Wheaton Faculty luncheon talk, November 1997.
13. "The Latest Word on Black Athena," a Wheaton Faculty luncheon talk, April 1996.
12. "From Socrates to Trimalchio," a public lecture at Wheaton College, February 1993.
11. "The Four Unfulfilled Promises of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy," a public lecture at the University of Illinois, September 1990.
10. "The Prose Prologue of Alan of Lille's De Planctu Naturae and Boethius' Consolation," read at the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Medieval Association of the Midwest, Chicago, September 1990.
9. "Comic Parallels to the Consolation in the Dialogues of Lucian," read at my Symposium Boethianum, English Seminar 463, University of Illinois, May 1990.
8. "The Confessions of Persius," a public lecture at the University of Illinois, May 1988.
7. "Traditions of Anti-philosophical Humor in Agathias Scholasticus, A.P. 11. 354," an invited paper at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of the Midwest and South, New Orleans, LA, April 1988.
6. "Traditions of Classical Menippean Satire in Alain de Lille's De Planctu Naturae," read at the Sixth Biennial New College Conference on Medieval-Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, FL, March 1988.
5. "Vainglorious Menippus in Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead," a public lecture at the University of Illinois, March 1987.
4. "Martianus Capella, the Good Teacher," an invited paper at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast, Riverside, CA, November 1986.
3. "A Definition of Classical and Medieval Menippean Satire," an invited paper at the 21st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 1986.
2. "Julian as a Menippean Satirist," read at the Seventh Annual Byzantine Studies Conference in Boston, November 1981.
1. "Satyra in the Prologue of Fulgentius' Mythologies," read at the 14th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, March 1979.