‘The Odyssey in a Postcolonial World’ with Dr Justine McConnell
Monday, 13 June 6pm – 7pm
Via YouTube Live
What would happen to Odysseus if he found himself in our modern world? And what has the discipline of Classics to do with colonialism?
By considering works by three key twentieth-century writers, we’ll explore their varied responses to these questions and ask what heroism looks like in the twenty-first century. From Derek Walcott’s epic poem Omeros, set in the St Lucian fishing village of Gros Islet, to Toni Morrison’s tale of a female questing hero in Sula, and Ralph Ellison’s pre-Civil Rights era novel Invisible Man, we find three very different responses to Homer’s epic, each recasting the ancient Greek myths as tales that reflect on the African diaspora.
Dr Justine McConnell
Dr Justine McConnell is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature at King’s College London, specialising in African and Caribbean diaspora literature, ancient Greek literature, and the connections between the two. She is the author of Black Odysseys: The Homeric Odyssey in the African Diaspora since 1939 and she is particularly interested in how myth and modes of storytelling in classical literature have been appropriated as a tool of resistance by twentieth and twenty-first century writers.
Sir Rupert Jackson (host):
Sir Rupert Jackson read classics at Cambridge for two years before defecting to study law. He has retained a lifelong interest in classics and would like to see the benefits of a classical education extended to as many state school pupils as possible. Rupert practised for 25 years as a barrister, then served as a judge for 20 years. He is now an arbitrator based in London and also a part time judge in Kazakhstan. He occasionally gives lectures on Roman history. He is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge and an Honorary Professor at University College London.
Tickets (£10 standard and £5 concession*) are available via the link above. You may also choose to give an additional donation toward Classics for All’s work supporting classics teaching in state schools.
*Concessionary tickets are available to anyone who is a pensioner, unemployed or still in full-time education.
Free tickets are available to state school teachers, pupils and regional network personnel working with Classics for All’s programme. If you are in one of these groups, please email events@classicsforall.org.uk to apply.
This event is hosted by Linklaters LLP and will be available to watch live online via YouTube. After you have purchased your ticket, you will receive an email containing the link to the livestream. Please use this link to watch the livestream on the day.
Please note: if you purchase a ticket but miss the event, we will provide you with a link to the recording afterwards.