a continuous dialogue of past and present

18 •patroclus or jase • they/he • classical reception blog • go to @telemachea for my other writing/ramblings!! • title is from lorna hardwick's reception studies (2003)

[please-be-nice-im-sensitivee]

production of any Greek play but the actress playing Helen has a porcelain mask on instead of us seeing her real face

I’m just so obsessed with the idea of portrayals of Helen where she remains an absolute mystery

[notsoepicpoem]

omg there's a classics conference in my city next year and they're taking contributions from students incl for classical reception i might end up speaking at a conference!!!

[annabelle--cane]

"this is an inaccurate adaptation" okay but is it good "this didn't happen in the book" does it make sense in the context of the new work though "they totally changed the plot" and is the new one good or bad "it's completely different" not what I asked "they changed all the stuff I like" then I get why you wouldn't be into it but I'm asking about its own artistic merits "this character is meant to be blonde" I couldn't give less of a fuck

[notsoepicpoem]

ended up writing biblical yuri somehow and then added elements of sappho to it except now im stuck deciding on a resolution to the thematic concerns of both sappho and genesis 2 in a non cliche manner sighs

[notsoepicpoem]

this is more leaning into my pther blog (general classics instead of just reception) but the way augustus' imperial image erases basically everything about the real him, leaving behind a hollow corpse of legacy (because we just know the divi f augustus caesar, not even any true fragment of him as man) means that every time we try to interact with his image we are endlessly recreating and reinventing his propaganda the way classical reception continues to drag the corpse of a long dead civilization forward. there's Hauntings and then there's strange little hauntings like this when your ghost is of your own making

[amandayetagain]

“It’s not what you did. It’s what you’re destined to do.”

1.03*2, 1.12, 1.07, 3.12, 5.06, 2.03, 3.05, 4.13, 5.13*2

[notsoepicpoem]

wow you're really cool *hurls myself down a cliff sappho style*

[notsoepicpoem]

i should look into the aeneid as a historiography from a reception perspective eg lucan's pharsalia

[notsoepicpoem]

call me keats the way im about to make every poem i write about the platonic form of beauty forever and ever

[endophagia-moved]

the erasure of the rape element in mythological retellings is so heinous it borders on misogyny

[avicecaro]

it’s the idea that because rape as an act is misogyny, that talking about rape or including it in stories is also misogyny. as if acknowledging that women were denied agency and dignity somehow further denies us agency and dignity. when really, acknowledging the ways women were/are denied agency and dignity affirms that we are entitled to these things. a feminist story isn’t just a story in which no bad things happen to women. bad things do happen to women. pretending they don’t, and especially trying to superimpose that conviction onto the past, just because it isn’t as fun to dwell on, is not a feminist position.

[notsoepicpoem]

thr problem with being specifically interested in classical reception and ancient female homoeroticism is that it's such a niche field nobody's going to fund my phd for this sighs

[harrykim]

Merlin 01.03 The Mark of Nimueh

[notsoepicpoem]

there's something to be said about the popularity of reception of the odyssey in the works of those who are outside of the western imperial centre/are a member of a non-western diaspora living within the west in terms of subverting a poem that has historically been used to uphold colonialism and justify the superiority of western civilisation into a dialogue about postcolonial insights into both homer and contemporary society

[notsoepicpoem]

keats the no. 1 platomaxxer. every analysis i make about him goes back to the platonic form of beauty and achieving immortality

[readingbythequire]

Uther's Shadow | For the Merlin Bingo fill 'Morgana & Arthur & Uther'

Lyrics from "Brotherly Hate" by Hayley Williams

[classicslesbianopinions]

the thing is i think writing your own greek myth retelling is like fun and cool even if i don't personally like it but the second you start saying "no one's ever done it like this before" i get to point and laugh

[classicslesbianopinions]

for the record also this was actually not about any "feminist" retelling (although, that too), it was about a reddit ad i got for a graphic novel retelling kickstarter that claimed "no one has ever done greek myth with the scope and scale of lord of the rings." point and laugh

[classicslesbianopinions]

#I know feminist retellings get a bad rap but I find sanitized queer retellings far more obnoxious (via @bifrosted-flakes)

to be honest i think i include sanitized queer retellings under the "feminist retelling" umbrella, they have kind of the same vibes to me

[thememedaddy]