Joint meeting around the theme of canonisation

In the spring of 2023 the three research groups Classical Literature: Theory and Contexts, Classical Receptions and Traditions and Ancient Rhetoric and Aesthetics, in cooperation with the Platform Classics & Education, will organise a joint meeting around the theme of ‘the canon’. This meeting will take place on Friday May 12th at the Radboud University in Nijmegen.

The theme of canonisation and its manifold manifestations in our fields have been flourishing in the last couple of years, e.g. in the light of recent publications (such as the Canonisation as Innovation-volume co-edited by Miguel John Versluys, September 2022), but also in the light of current debates about possible changes to the curriculum in secondary education, or within our own BA and MA programmes. Therefore, a meeting aimed at discussing past, current, and potential future developments seems worthwhile.

In this joint meeting we hope to offer a broad array of approaches to processes of canonisation, ranging from the relevance of canons in classical literature, the implications of existing canons for our own research, conceptual appraisals of canonisation processes, the importance of the classical canon in reception studies, and finally the role of the canon in the high school curriculums from the viewpoint of students and teachers.

Speakers already confirmed to present are: Christiaan Caspers, Marijne de Ferrante, Casper de Jonge, Sandra Kasten, Mirte Liebregts, Yanick Maes, Julia Neugarten, David Rijser and Miguel John Versluys. In addition to the confirmed speakers, we would like to invite those of you who would like to present a paper to send an e-mail to Floris Overduin (floris.overduin@ru.nl). There is room for a few short pitchlike presentations (10 to 15 minutes), but there will also be scope for one or two longer presentations (20 minutes). Please send us your title and brief abstract (ca. 150 words) plus your intended speaking time before 1 March 2023.

If you would like to attend without presenting, please mark the date of May 12 in your diary. Further details will follow in the spring.

On behalf of:

Classical Literature (Jacqueline Klooster, Floris Overduin, Christoph Pieper)

Classical Tradition (Evelien Bracke, Maarten de De Pourcq)

Ancient Rhetoric and Aesthetics (Casper de Jonge, Koen De Temmerman)