Women Re-Creating Classics
Contemporary Voices
Published on 10. July 2025
Book
Hardback
344 pages
978-1-350-44507-9 (ISBN)
Description
In the last few years, there has been a major and unmissable surge in women's retellings and re-creations of ancient myths and texts that has put women's re-creations of Classics centre-stage. Drawing together an interdisciplinary range of creative and scholarly voices, this volume asks why classical creative retellings by women are so popular now-and considers what creativity can do to foster new ways of thinking and writing about Classics, thus blurring the boundary between the creative and the critical. Contributors engage with debates on how to make Classics more accessible through the medium of creative works, so that it is not just a discipline for the select few.
This second volume in a two-volume set brings together original creative work by some of the many women writers who are pushing forward changes in the landscape of re-creating Classics, from Madeline Miller to Jennifer Saint, Emily Hauser, Caroline Lawrence, Roz Kaveney, Nikita Gill, Fiona Benson, Anne Carson and many more. These are set alongside discussions and interviews between writers and academics, roundtable conversations among poets and critics, and reflections on creative and inclusive pedagogy-thus offering a cutting-edge collaboration between practitioners and researchers, and underlining the centrality of women's re-creations of Classics to the contemporary shaping of the field.
This second volume in a two-volume set brings together original creative work by some of the many women writers who are pushing forward changes in the landscape of re-creating Classics, from Madeline Miller to Jennifer Saint, Emily Hauser, Caroline Lawrence, Roz Kaveney, Nikita Gill, Fiona Benson, Anne Carson and many more. These are set alongside discussions and interviews between writers and academics, roundtable conversations among poets and critics, and reflections on creative and inclusive pedagogy-thus offering a cutting-edge collaboration between practitioners and researchers, and underlining the centrality of women's re-creations of Classics to the contemporary shaping of the field.
Reviews / Votes
The editors are to be commended for gifting to scholars of classical reception a vast trove of material relating to the rich afterlives of ancient Greek and Roman women in contemporary anglophone literature. In essay form and in conversation with women academics, invaluable insights are provided by an impressive line-up of women artists. -- Fiona Macintosh, Emeritus Professor of Classical Reception, University of Oxford, UK Women Re-Creating Classics: Contemporary Voices offers audiences an opportunity to flip the mirror of classical mythology and reflect it against our own experiences and visions. The most unique contributions of this volume come from the creative works by women novelists, poets and playwrights who have thoughtfully and beautifully engaged with classical tales of violence, oppression and heroism. Alongside well-known figures like M. Miller and J. Saint, the second half of this volume brings these creative voices into direct dialogue with more conventional scholars, allowing us to see the creative process and choices in action. For those considering this feminist neoclassical moment in the 21st century-its inspirations and implications-this is a key volume that places a wide range of diverse voices in context and conversation, rather than lionising only a few well-known bestsellers and pop hits. -- Anise K. Strong, Associate Professor of History, Western Michigan University, USAMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
4 bw illus.
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
675 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-44507-9 (9781350445079)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Emily Hauser is Senior Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter, UK. She is author of Mythica: A New History of Homer's World, Through the Women Written Out of It (2025), How Women Became Poets (2023) and For the Most Beautiful (2016). She is co-editor of Reading Poetry, Writing Genre (2018).
Helena Taylor is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Exeter, UK. She is author of Women Writing Antiquity: Gender and Learning in Early Modern France (2024) and The Lives of Ovid in Seventeenth-Century French Culture (2017). She is co-editor of Ovid in French: Reception by Women from the Renaissance to the Present (2023) and Women and Querelles in Early Modern France (2021).
Helena Taylor is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Exeter, UK. She is author of Women Writing Antiquity: Gender and Learning in Early Modern France (2024) and The Lives of Ovid in Seventeenth-Century French Culture (2017). She is co-editor of Ovid in French: Reception by Women from the Renaissance to the Present (2023) and Women and Querelles in Early Modern France (2021).
Content
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction (Emily Hauser and Helena Taylor, Exeter University, UK)
Creative Voices
1. Rewriting Greek Myth as a Woman (Emily Hauser, Exeter University, UK)
2. Classics and Craft (Madeline Miller, Independent Scholar, USA)
3. Return to the Labyrinth: Retelling the Stories of Mythical Women in Contemporary Poetry (Fiona Benson, Independent Scholar, UK)
4. Eurydice (Jennifer Saint, King's College London, UK)
5. Only Hope Remained (Rani Selvarajah, Independent Scholar, UK)
6. In the Bad Times (Cait Kremenstein, Independent Scholar, UK)
7. The Homeric Hymn to Dionysus (Roz Kaveney, Independent Scholar, UK)
8. Stage Manager's Notes (Gwyneth Lewis, Independent Scholar, UK)
9. Excerpt from Exit Kassandra (Carrie Etter, University of Bristol, UK)
10. a vespere nomen: An extract from patient zero (Kit Byford, Independent Scholar, UK)
11. The Real Sappho: Writing the Tenth Muse for the Contemporary Stage (Aimee Suzara, San Francisco State University and College of San Mateo, USA)
12. Suspended Animation: How the Fetish World Gave Life to Catullus and Callimachus (Isobel Williams, Independent Scholar, UK)
13. Transforming Voices: Ovid's Metamorphoses in Translation (Victoria Punch, Exeter University, UK)
14. Self-portrait in Egg (excerpt) (Jane Alison, University of Virginia, USA)
15. Declassifying Myself (Donna Zuckerberg, Independent Scholar, USA)
Collaborations and Conversations
16. The Genesis and Creation of Dido/Elissa, a New Play by Magdalena Zira (Magdalena Zira, Independent Scholar, Cyprus; Edith Hall, Durham University, UK)
17. On Not Turning to Stone: Unstaging Women's Sexual Trauma in an Adaptation of the Myth of Medusa (Wendy Haines, Independent Scholar, UK; Christine Plastow, Open University, UK)
18. The Music of Homer: Anne Carson's TROYJAM (Yopie Prins, University of Michigan, USA; Anne Carson, Independent Scholar, Canada)
19. Contemporary Women Writers: On Creativity in Recreating the Classics (Clare Pollard and Carrie Etter, Independent Scholars, UK)
20. Interview with Gwyneth Lewis, by Polly Stoker (University of Winchester, UK)
21. Interview with Selby Wynn Schwartz, by Helena Taylor (University of Exeter, UK)
22. Interview with Ronni Kern, by Ruby Blondell (University of Washington, USA)
23. Interview with Roz Kaveney, by Jennifer Ingleheart (Durham University, UK)
24. Interview with Nikita Gill, by Emily Hauser (University of Exeter, UK)
Creativity for the Future and Inclusive Classics
25. Students Shaping Classics: Non-traditional, Open Assessment, Creativity, Inclusivity and Shifting Disciplinary Boundaries (Helen Lovatt, University of Nottingham, UK)
26. Creative Teaching: Facing the Fear and Doing it Anyway (Sharon Marshall, University of Exeter, UK)
27. Imagining a World of Gods and Spirits Using Smells, Bells and More: A Creative Writing Workshop (Caroline Lawrence)
28. Breaking the Form: Women Writers across Creative and Critical Practice (Tom Geue, University of St. Andrews, UK; Emily Hauser, University of Exeter, UK; Daisy Dunn, Independent Scholar, UK)
29. Epilogue: No Going Back (Emily Greenwood, Harvard University, USA)
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction (Emily Hauser and Helena Taylor, Exeter University, UK)
Creative Voices
1. Rewriting Greek Myth as a Woman (Emily Hauser, Exeter University, UK)
2. Classics and Craft (Madeline Miller, Independent Scholar, USA)
3. Return to the Labyrinth: Retelling the Stories of Mythical Women in Contemporary Poetry (Fiona Benson, Independent Scholar, UK)
4. Eurydice (Jennifer Saint, King's College London, UK)
5. Only Hope Remained (Rani Selvarajah, Independent Scholar, UK)
6. In the Bad Times (Cait Kremenstein, Independent Scholar, UK)
7. The Homeric Hymn to Dionysus (Roz Kaveney, Independent Scholar, UK)
8. Stage Manager's Notes (Gwyneth Lewis, Independent Scholar, UK)
9. Excerpt from Exit Kassandra (Carrie Etter, University of Bristol, UK)
10. a vespere nomen: An extract from patient zero (Kit Byford, Independent Scholar, UK)
11. The Real Sappho: Writing the Tenth Muse for the Contemporary Stage (Aimee Suzara, San Francisco State University and College of San Mateo, USA)
12. Suspended Animation: How the Fetish World Gave Life to Catullus and Callimachus (Isobel Williams, Independent Scholar, UK)
13. Transforming Voices: Ovid's Metamorphoses in Translation (Victoria Punch, Exeter University, UK)
14. Self-portrait in Egg (excerpt) (Jane Alison, University of Virginia, USA)
15. Declassifying Myself (Donna Zuckerberg, Independent Scholar, USA)
Collaborations and Conversations
16. The Genesis and Creation of Dido/Elissa, a New Play by Magdalena Zira (Magdalena Zira, Independent Scholar, Cyprus; Edith Hall, Durham University, UK)
17. On Not Turning to Stone: Unstaging Women's Sexual Trauma in an Adaptation of the Myth of Medusa (Wendy Haines, Independent Scholar, UK; Christine Plastow, Open University, UK)
18. The Music of Homer: Anne Carson's TROYJAM (Yopie Prins, University of Michigan, USA; Anne Carson, Independent Scholar, Canada)
19. Contemporary Women Writers: On Creativity in Recreating the Classics (Clare Pollard and Carrie Etter, Independent Scholars, UK)
20. Interview with Gwyneth Lewis, by Polly Stoker (University of Winchester, UK)
21. Interview with Selby Wynn Schwartz, by Helena Taylor (University of Exeter, UK)
22. Interview with Ronni Kern, by Ruby Blondell (University of Washington, USA)
23. Interview with Roz Kaveney, by Jennifer Ingleheart (Durham University, UK)
24. Interview with Nikita Gill, by Emily Hauser (University of Exeter, UK)
Creativity for the Future and Inclusive Classics
25. Students Shaping Classics: Non-traditional, Open Assessment, Creativity, Inclusivity and Shifting Disciplinary Boundaries (Helen Lovatt, University of Nottingham, UK)
26. Creative Teaching: Facing the Fear and Doing it Anyway (Sharon Marshall, University of Exeter, UK)
27. Imagining a World of Gods and Spirits Using Smells, Bells and More: A Creative Writing Workshop (Caroline Lawrence)
28. Breaking the Form: Women Writers across Creative and Critical Practice (Tom Geue, University of St. Andrews, UK; Emily Hauser, University of Exeter, UK; Daisy Dunn, Independent Scholar, UK)
29. Epilogue: No Going Back (Emily Greenwood, Harvard University, USA)
Notes
Bibliography
Index