Asterisks and Obelisks: Classical Receptions in Children’s Literature

6-10 July 2009

An international conference hosted by the University of Wales Lampeter

This international, interdisciplinary and practice-led conference was the first ever conference on Classical Receptions in Children’s Literature. It stimulated research in this fruitful field and put this interdisciplinary subject on the scholarly and literary map. It attracted over 40 speakers, from nine countries in four continents, and from various fields of research and employment: Children’s authors and educators, and academics in Classics and Ancient History, English and other Modern Languages, Children’s Literature, and Education.

Children’s Literature Studies has grown hugely in recent years; children’s literature has always been enchanted by Classical myth, history and literature, and works on these themes continue to flourish today (Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries, Michael Cadnum’s Ovid-inspired novels, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series). The conference considered the reasons for this popularity for children’s authors and their readers in a wide range of cultures and periods, and promoted long-overdue exploration of such literature.

Reception Studies is a well-established field within Classics, and has broadened its focus from the uses and reconstructions of the Classical past within ‘elite’ art to include a range of mass-media texts (such as television dramas or computer games); a focus on children’s literature, however, was oddly lacking, both by Reception scholars in the more traditional vein and those expanding the field’s remit. The importance of children’s literature to the continued interest in classical heritage in Western society and thus to Classics as a subject means that it could not be neglected any longer by scholars.

Questions: By bringing together literary scholars with authors and educators, the conference had the best opportunity to consider issues such as: how the Classical past has been, is being, and should be (re)constructed, (mis)interpreted, censored, and (ab)used in children’s educational and leisure reading; what these receptions tell us both about the societies doing the receiving, and about the ‘received’ texts; what are the particular advantages (e.g. exposing children to cultures which are both like and very unlike their own) of children’s literature set in the classical world; and what are the particular difficulties for authors, educators, and scholars in communicating and interpreting the Classical past to audiences of various age groups.

A practice-led conference: The conference succeeded in getting academics talking to children’s authors and authors involved in academic discourse. Some participants were both academics and authors. This allowed reflection on the practices of both writing and academia.

Literature, Classics, and Education: The conference made a contribution to education, involving local schools, and reflected on the relationships between children’s literature, education and classics outreach. Literature is an important tool for encouraging children to engage with the past, and for stimulating them to reflect on the workings of their own culture (panels on Museums and Audience Response especially will consider these issues). Slavery, gladiatorial games, the development of democracy: the classical world holds an enduring fascination because it contains our own roots, and yet it is an alien and troubling environment. Classical subjects also encourage children to learn languages, analyse and understand their own language, appreciate the importance of material culture and archaeology.

Keynote invited speakers (authors) :

• Caroline Lawrence, author of the Roman Mysteries series
• Michael Cadnum, author of several novels and short stories based on classical myth and literature
• Lucy Coats, author of Atticus the Storyteller’s 100 Greek Myths

Keynote invited speakers (academics) :

• Prof. Edith Hall, Professor of Classics and Drama, Royal Holloway, University of London
• Prof. Sheila Murnaghan, Professor of Classical Studies, University of Pennsylvania
• Prof. Deborah Roberts, Professor of Comparative Literature and Classics, Haverford College
• Prof. Jean Webb, Director of the International Centre for Research in Children's Literature, Literacy and Creativity; Professor of International Children’s Literature, University of Worcester

Other speakers (authors and educational practitioners):

Dr. Tracy Barrett (Children’s author / Senior lecturer, Italian,Vanderbilt U.).

‘“Of fratricide, eunuchs, and Lysistrata: Young readers, sensitive topics.’

Dr. Charlie Butler (Children’s author / Senior lecturer, English, U. West of England).

‘The Eagle has Landed: Representing the Romans inBritainin Texts for Children.’

Dr. Gillian James (Author for children & young adults / Lecturer, Creative Writing, U. Salford).

‘The 21st CenturyRoman Empire?’.

Dr. Beverley Pennell (Lecturer, English and Education (secondary), Charles Sturt U., NSW Australia).

‘Cave Canem: Classical connections in Vaughan Edwards and Barry Creyton’s ‘Nero’ novels for young adults.’

Dr. Alison Poe (Independent Art Historian) and Aileen Hawkins (School teacher, English).

‘Narcissus in children’s contexts: Didacticism and scopophilia?’

Other speakers (academics):

Dr. Lindsay Allen (Lecturer, Ancient History, KCL).

‘My island stands deep in the sea’: Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman Frontier and Post-war Britain’.

Dr. Eran Almagor (Researcher, History,HebrewU.Jerusalem).

‘Re-inventing the barbarian: Reshaping classical ethnographic perceptions in Goscinny’s and Uderzo’s Asterix.’

Abigail Baker (PhD student, Classics, Birkbeck).

‘The use of children's fiction in interpreting museum archaeology.’

Dr. Gillian Bazovsky (Research Associate, Classics, U. Swansea).

‘The Paradox of Pan as a figure of regeneration in Children’s Literature’.

Dr. Mark Bradley (Lecturer, Ancient History, U.Nottingham).

‘Greed, Grit and Grandeur: Roman civilisation in Victorian and Edwardian children’s literature.’

Dr. Rebecca Ferguson (Lecturer, English, UWL).

‘Of Snakes and Men: Toni and Slade Morrison’s Adaptations of Aesop in Who’s Got Game?’

Sylvie Geerts (PhD student, Classics, U. Ghent).

‘The power of love song: the myth of Orpheus in recent Dutch retellings for young readers.’

Dr. Elizabeth Hale (Lecturer, English, U.New England,Australia).

‘Have pity for the plodder: F. W. Farrar, ‘Dubbs’, and the approach to Latin’.

Juliette Harrisson (PhD student, Classics, U. Birmingham).

‘The Domestication of Greek Mythology in The Chronicles of Narnia.’

Dr. Tony Keen (Research Associate, Classics,OpenU.).

‘TheRoman empirein the British boys’ comic’.

Deborah Kerr (PhD student, Classics, U. Birmingham).

‘And did they live happily ever after? An analysis of how three famous Greek myths are represented in children’s compendia of myth’.

Marian Makins (PhD Student, Classics, U.Pennsylvania).

‘Latin, Greek, and other classical nonsense in the work of Edward Lear’.

Dr. Lisa Maurice (Lecturer, Classical Studies,Bar Ilan U.,Israel).

‘“I’d break the slate and scream for joy if I did Latin like a boy!”: Studying and teaching classics in girls’ and boys’ fiction.’

Dr. Mary McMenomy (Visiting Asst. Prof., Classics, St Olaf C.).

‘Speaking harshly of King Pluto’.

Dr. Geoff Miles (Senior lecturer, English, Film, Theatre & Media, Victoria U. of Wellington, NZ). ‘Metamorphosing Ovid in Narnia.’

Prof. Claudia Nelson (Prof., English,TexasA&MU.) and Prof. Anne Morey (Assoc. Prof., Film,TexasA&MU.).

‘“A god buys us cheeseburgers”: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series and education’s culture wars.’

Dr. Joanna Paul (Lecturer, Classics, U.Liverpool).

‘ByA WayThey Knew Not: Early Christianity andPompeiiin Victorian Children’s Literature’.

Amanda Potter (PhD student, Classics,OpenU.).

‘Curiosity Consumed the Child: The myth of Pandora as a cautionary tale for children.’

Prof. Rebecca Resinski (Assoc. Prof., Classics, Hendrix C.).

‘Revising Pandora (and Rewriting Eve) in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Wonder-Book’

Dr. Iris Ridder (Senior lecturer, Comparative literature, U.Dalarna,Sweden).

‘Emotional response and rhetorical structure in a Swedish Children's book from the 17th Century.’

Dr. Federico Santangelo (Lecturer, Classics, U. Wales Lampeter).

‘The importance of talking to the emperor: Italo Calvino’s Nero and Bertha.’

Dr. Clemence Schultze (Lecturer, Classics, U.Durham).

‘Classical Lives And Victorian Values In The Works Of Charlotte M. Yonge And Alfred J. Church’.

Joseph Skinner (PhD student, Archaeology,Liverpool).

'Picturing the past: images ofGreeceandRomein children's literature from the post-war period to the present'

Prof. Niall Slater (Prof., Latin and Greek,EmoryU.).

‘The horse, the ass, and their boys: C.S. Lewis and the ending of Apuleius’ Golden Ass.

Prof. Barbara Weinlich (Asst. Prof., Classics,TexasTech. U.).

‘Greece! Rome! Monsters! Uncanny encounters in the 21st century.’

Prof. Andelys Wood (Prof., English,UnionC.).

‘Perspective matters: Roman Britain in three children’s novels.’

Organisers

Assoc. Prof. Helen Lovatt, University of Nottingham

Dr. Owen Hodkinson, University of Wales Lampeter