The Discipline of Classics in Modern Fiction

FAIN: FT-291383-23

Sophie J. Mills
University of North Carolina, Asheville (Asheville, NC 28804-3251)

Research and writing of a book that examines the popular appeal of classical literature and myths from 1850- 2022.

Few students study ancient Greek in the 21st century, but five million copies of Donna Tartt’s best-selling 1994 novel, The Secret History introduced readers to a world of lavish dinners, Dionysiac rituals, murder, and Greek grammar. Tartt’s portrayal of Classics students and their teacher in this novel is notably at odds with the prosaic realities of everyday life in most Classics departments, and this book will explore the image of Classics as a discipline portrayed in over 100 novels, plays and short stories of the past hundred years in the US and UK. Through discussion and analysis of certain dominant themes in their portrayal, I will consider what these portrayals indicate about perceptions of Classics in the popular imagination, why Classics remains such a compelling discipline to imagine, and the relationship of Classics in fiction to the actual discipline as practiced by professionals. It will include a full list of novels that feature Classics teachers and transcripts of inter