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- P.C.Hoofthuis, room 3.32
Spuistraat 134
1012VB Amsterdam
Saskia Willigers
Universiteit van Amsterdam, Classical Studies, Graduate Studentedit
- I am a PhD Candidate at the University of Amsterdam. My research interests are in the field of Greek tragedy and lyric poetry. I did my BA (2007-2010) in Greek and Latin la... moreI am a PhD Candidate at the University of Amsterdam. My research interests are in the field of Greek tragedy and lyric poetry.
I did my BA (2007-2010) in Greek and Latin language and culture at the University of Amsterdam, where I also obtained my propaedeutic diploma (2008-2010) in Italian language and culture. I enjoyed the course on Greek tragedy so much that I chose to write my BA thesis on Euripides’ Alcestis. In this thesis, I gave an ethical and sociological reading of the play by focusing on the issues of philia and charis.
During my BA I worked as a tutor and teacher in English, Dutch, French, German and the classical languages at various tutoring institutes in the Netherlands.
After completing my BA, my passionate research interest in the field of classical literature motivated me to follow a research Master’s programme in Literary Studies (2010-2012). The research MA at the University of Amsterdam enabled me to specialise in Greek tragedy while also taking courses of particular interest at Leiden University and the VU University. During the course of my MA I became increasingly interested in Greek lyric poetry. In my MA thesis I examined ‘lyric narrative’, also known in the epic genre as ‘epic regression’. Lyric narrative is an elaborated form of ring composition, basically meaning that the narrator mentions an event, then in a few lines moves back in time to a certain point, and elaborates on these events by moving forward until the first event is reached again.
In addition to my aforementioned writing and courses, I was also active in other academic activities. I particularly enjoyed my function at OIKOS, the national research school in classical studies in the Netherlands, as the representative of RMA students.
My research interests in and Greek lyric poetry and tragedy are reflected in my PhD thesis on short story techniques in epic, lyric and tragedy, which I am currently writing under the supervision of Prof. dr. Irene J.F. de Jong, who has also sparked my interest in narratology. In this thesis, I compare the narrative techniques employed in tragic choral songs with those found in pre-tragic genres, and aim to demonstrate that tragic poets adopted these techniques from their epic and lyric predecessors.
As a board member of the PhD council of the university of Amsterdam, I represent the interests of the PhD candidates of the faculty of humanities. In addition, I am the PhD candidate representative at OIKOS, and I teach courses on Greek tragedy and language acquisition.
PhD project: Choral narrative: tragedy as the successor of epic and lyric
The origins of Greek tragedy have been debated since Aristotle in his Poetics and have remained a scholarly discussion up until the present. Attic tragedy suddenly bloomed in the late 6th and 5th century, but of course cannot have been created e nihilo. For one thing, it has become clear that there are continuities between Attic tragedy, the lyric poetry of the Archaic period and epic. Thus a number of studies have laid bare continuities in metre, dialect, ritual, themes, and stories.
A form of continuity which has received only little attention is that of narrative form. Narratology, by now an established instrument within classics, offers a refined framework to investigate this topic. Attic tragedy contains many embedded narratives, especially in the choral songs. These short stories bring along their own characteristic techniques. This project sets out to investigate these short-story techniques, showing how the tragic poets adopted - and developed - them from their lyric and epic predecessors.
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At the dawn of conflict: the choral narrator in the parodos of Sophocles’ Antigone At the beginning of Sophocles' Antigone, after Antigone and Ismene's secret nocturnal meeting in the prologue, the chorus enter in a festive mood. A new... more
At the dawn of conflict: the choral narrator in the parodos of Sophocles’ Antigone
At the beginning of Sophocles' Antigone, after Antigone and Ismene's secret nocturnal meeting in the prologue, the chorus enter in a festive mood. A new day is dawning after the attack of Polyneices’ army against Thebes. The chorus recount this attack, and thus provide the background against which Antigone's drama will take place. It has been argued that it is the primary function of the Chorus in the parodos, and not of the prologue speakers, to recount the play’s prehistory (e.g. Utzinger 2003).
The parodos in Antigone is unique in more than one way. First in its combination of song and recitative in the chorus’ utterances (e.g. van Nes Ditmars 1992), second in the many self-references of the chorus in the first person plural (“we”), which is rare in tragic narrative (Kaimio 1970), and third because the chorus’ identity as elderly and trusted advisors to the king is not fully revealed until the chorus’ interactions with Creon after the parodos (cf. Dhuga 2011). From these three striking features the question arises as to what the role of the chorus is, and how they characterize themselves in the parodos.
In this paper I will examine the chorus as a narrator of the play’s background. I shall adopt the theoretical framework of “we”-narratives as elaborated by Margolin (1996), and seek to outline some of the distinctive features of the chorus as a “we”-narrator. I will argue that there are differences in the ways in which the chorus are characterized in the parodos and in the following stasima. Instead of embodying the elderly advisors selected by Creon as in the rest of Antigone, the chorus in the parodos represent the Theban inhabitants in general, who have just survived an attack on their city. Their joyful mood breaks the rhythm and intensifies the impending crisis onstage through contrast.
Bibliography
Ditmars, E. van Nes. (1992). Sophocles’ Antigone: Lyric Shape and Meaning. Pisa. (pp. 27-8).
Utzinger, C. (2003). Periphrades Aner: Untersuchungen zum ersten Stasimon der Sophokleischen
<<Antigone>> und zu den antiken Kulturenentstehungstheorien. Göttingen. (p. 50).
Kaimio, M. (1970). The Chorus of Greek Drama within the Light of the Person and Number
Used. Helsinki. (p. 82).
Dhuga, U.S. (2011). Choral Identity and the Chorus of Elders in Greek Tragedy. Lanham (MD). (p.
141).
Margolin, U. (1996). ‘Telling our story: on “we” literary narratives’. Language and Literature 5:
115-34.
At the beginning of Sophocles' Antigone, after Antigone and Ismene's secret nocturnal meeting in the prologue, the chorus enter in a festive mood. A new day is dawning after the attack of Polyneices’ army against Thebes. The chorus recount this attack, and thus provide the background against which Antigone's drama will take place. It has been argued that it is the primary function of the Chorus in the parodos, and not of the prologue speakers, to recount the play’s prehistory (e.g. Utzinger 2003).
The parodos in Antigone is unique in more than one way. First in its combination of song and recitative in the chorus’ utterances (e.g. van Nes Ditmars 1992), second in the many self-references of the chorus in the first person plural (“we”), which is rare in tragic narrative (Kaimio 1970), and third because the chorus’ identity as elderly and trusted advisors to the king is not fully revealed until the chorus’ interactions with Creon after the parodos (cf. Dhuga 2011). From these three striking features the question arises as to what the role of the chorus is, and how they characterize themselves in the parodos.
In this paper I will examine the chorus as a narrator of the play’s background. I shall adopt the theoretical framework of “we”-narratives as elaborated by Margolin (1996), and seek to outline some of the distinctive features of the chorus as a “we”-narrator. I will argue that there are differences in the ways in which the chorus are characterized in the parodos and in the following stasima. Instead of embodying the elderly advisors selected by Creon as in the rest of Antigone, the chorus in the parodos represent the Theban inhabitants in general, who have just survived an attack on their city. Their joyful mood breaks the rhythm and intensifies the impending crisis onstage through contrast.
Bibliography
Ditmars, E. van Nes. (1992). Sophocles’ Antigone: Lyric Shape and Meaning. Pisa. (pp. 27-8).
Utzinger, C. (2003). Periphrades Aner: Untersuchungen zum ersten Stasimon der Sophokleischen
<<Antigone>> und zu den antiken Kulturenentstehungstheorien. Göttingen. (p. 50).
Kaimio, M. (1970). The Chorus of Greek Drama within the Light of the Person and Number
Used. Helsinki. (p. 82).
Dhuga, U.S. (2011). Choral Identity and the Chorus of Elders in Greek Tragedy. Lanham (MD). (p.
141).
Margolin, U. (1996). ‘Telling our story: on “we” literary narratives’. Language and Literature 5:
115-34.
Research Interests:
"Reported Narrators in Greek Lyric and Tragic Poetry This paper argues that a continuation and expansion of the device of reported narration in epic and historiography can be identified in Greek lyric and tragic poetry. I will discuss... more
"Reported Narrators in Greek Lyric and Tragic Poetry
This paper argues that a continuation and expansion of the device of reported narration in epic and historiography can be identified in Greek lyric and tragic poetry. I will discuss its rhetorical functions and purposes, and examine what its occurrence brings to our understanding of the narratives in which it appears.
The Homeric narrator may suppress his omniscience and introduce instead anonymous spokesmen (De Jong (2004)), a narrative device that continued in historiography where the spokesmen were often responsible for an entire story (hence the term reported narration). There is no lack of scholarly research on the functions and purposes of this narrative device (e.g. Fehling (1971); De Jong (1987)). What has not received much scholarly attention is the use of reported narration in Greek lyric and tragic poetry. Yet it is plausible and mentioned more than once that a comparable narrative device exists in these genres (e.g. Rutherford (2007); Pavlou (2012)).
In this paper, I will examine the narrative device of reported narration in Archaic lyric poetry and the tragic choral odes, and explore its rhetorical functions and purposes. Firstly, I will discuss the various instances of reported narration that can be identified in these genres, which often have introductory formulae such as φασί(ν) (‘they say’) and forms of λόγος (‘tale’). Secondly, I will turn to some concrete examples, focusing on three narratives: Bacchylides’ Ode 5, Aeschylus’ Cho. 585-651 and Sophocles’ Phil. 676-729. I will discuss the effects of reported narration in these passages and the reasons why the narrator includes it. Finally, I will return to the possible functions and purposes of reported narration in general. I will argue that reported narration can convey authority on the poet’s innovations, or – on the other hand – intensify the demand of a narrative to be interpreted as part of a collection of myths. Furthermore, I will argue that reported narration can enhance the authority of gnomai that are spoken by character narrators by suggesting that the words also carry the weight of poetic tradition.
Bibliography
Fehling, D. (1971). Die Quellenangaben bei Herodot: Studien zur Erzählkunst Herodots
(UaLG 9). Berlin-New York.
de Jong, I.J.F. (1987). Narrators and Focalizers: the Presentation of the Story in the Iliad.
Amsterdam. (pp. 237-238).
--- (2004). ‘Homer’. In: De Jong, Nünlist and Bowie (eds.) Studies in Ancient Greek
Narrative vol. 1: 13-24. (p. 14).
Pavlou, M. (2012). ‘Pindar and the Reconstruction of the Past’. In: Marincola, Llewellyn-
Jones and Maciver (eds.) Greek Notions of the Past in the A rchaic and Classical
Eras: History without Historians: 95-112. (pp. 106-108).
Rutherford, R.B. (2007). ‘Why should I mention Io? Aspects of Choral Narration in Greek
Tragedy’ CCJ 53: 1-39. (p. 20).
This paper argues that a continuation and expansion of the device of reported narration in epic and historiography can be identified in Greek lyric and tragic poetry. I will discuss its rhetorical functions and purposes, and examine what its occurrence brings to our understanding of the narratives in which it appears.
The Homeric narrator may suppress his omniscience and introduce instead anonymous spokesmen (De Jong (2004)), a narrative device that continued in historiography where the spokesmen were often responsible for an entire story (hence the term reported narration). There is no lack of scholarly research on the functions and purposes of this narrative device (e.g. Fehling (1971); De Jong (1987)). What has not received much scholarly attention is the use of reported narration in Greek lyric and tragic poetry. Yet it is plausible and mentioned more than once that a comparable narrative device exists in these genres (e.g. Rutherford (2007); Pavlou (2012)).
In this paper, I will examine the narrative device of reported narration in Archaic lyric poetry and the tragic choral odes, and explore its rhetorical functions and purposes. Firstly, I will discuss the various instances of reported narration that can be identified in these genres, which often have introductory formulae such as φασί(ν) (‘they say’) and forms of λόγος (‘tale’). Secondly, I will turn to some concrete examples, focusing on three narratives: Bacchylides’ Ode 5, Aeschylus’ Cho. 585-651 and Sophocles’ Phil. 676-729. I will discuss the effects of reported narration in these passages and the reasons why the narrator includes it. Finally, I will return to the possible functions and purposes of reported narration in general. I will argue that reported narration can convey authority on the poet’s innovations, or – on the other hand – intensify the demand of a narrative to be interpreted as part of a collection of myths. Furthermore, I will argue that reported narration can enhance the authority of gnomai that are spoken by character narrators by suggesting that the words also carry the weight of poetic tradition.
Bibliography
Fehling, D. (1971). Die Quellenangaben bei Herodot: Studien zur Erzählkunst Herodots
(UaLG 9). Berlin-New York.
de Jong, I.J.F. (1987). Narrators and Focalizers: the Presentation of the Story in the Iliad.
Amsterdam. (pp. 237-238).
--- (2004). ‘Homer’. In: De Jong, Nünlist and Bowie (eds.) Studies in Ancient Greek
Narrative vol. 1: 13-24. (p. 14).
Pavlou, M. (2012). ‘Pindar and the Reconstruction of the Past’. In: Marincola, Llewellyn-
Jones and Maciver (eds.) Greek Notions of the Past in the A rchaic and Classical
Eras: History without Historians: 95-112. (pp. 106-108).
Rutherford, R.B. (2007). ‘Why should I mention Io? Aspects of Choral Narration in Greek
Tragedy’ CCJ 53: 1-39. (p. 20).
Research Interests:
"Our race of ancient story’: the chorus in Aeschylus’ Supplices 524-99 as a ‘we’-narrator In this paper, I will examine the choral ode in Aeschylus’ Supplices 524-599 by reading it as a ‘we’-narrative. I will argue that the chorus,... more
"Our race of ancient story’: the chorus in Aeschylus’ Supplices 524-99 as a ‘we’-narrator
In this paper, I will examine the choral ode in Aeschylus’ Supplices 524-599 by reading it as a ‘we’-narrative. I will argue that the chorus, embodying the Danaids, uses the first person plural to build a collective identity, and that this collective identity reflects their complex position in Argos, where they will be accepted as metics.
I will start out by discussing some distinctive features of the narrative ‘we’, which are examined by Margolin (1996), Marcus (2008) and Fludernik (2011). I will then investigate how the concept of ‘we’-narratives can be applied to ancient Greek poetry, particularly to the Greek tragic choral odes, in which the grammatical number that is used by the chorus is a much debated and complex issue that merits further investigation (see e.g. Kaimio 1970). In order to examine the effects that are established by the use of ‘we’ in Supplices 524-599, I will first look at two choral odes (Euripides’ Hecabe 905-952 and Troades 511-567) in which the chorus uses many first person singular pronouns. I argue that the use of the first person singular creates a poignant effect in these odes.
I will then go on to argue that the chorus’s use of the first person plural in Aeschylus’ Supplices 524-599, in contrast to the use of the first person singular, contributes to the establishment of a collective identity. The chorus, fleeing a forced marriage to their Egyptian cousins, recall the myth Io, the collective ancestor of them as well as of the inhabitants of Argos. It is on this basis that they seek Zeus’ protection and acceptance into Argos. I will content that the bond of kinship between the Danaids and the Argives, but also that between the Danaids and their Egyptian cousins, is reflected in this constructed collective identity.
Saskia Willigers, University of Amsterdam
Margolin, U. 1996. ‘Telling Our Story: On We Literary Narratives’. Language and Literature
5.2: 115-33.
Marcus, A. 2008. ‘We are You: The Plural and the Dual in “We” Fictional Narratives’. Journal
of Literary Semantics 37.1: 1-22.
Fludernik, M. 2011. ‘The Category of Person in Fiction: You and We Narrative-Multiplicity
and Indeterminacy of Reference’. Current Trends in Narratology, ed. G. Olson, 27.
(Contributions to Narrative Theory 27). 101-141.
Kaimio. M. 1970. The Chorus of Greek Drama within the Light of the Person and Number Used.
Helsinkii, Societas Scientarum Fennica. (Commentationes Humanarusm Litterarum, 46)."
In this paper, I will examine the choral ode in Aeschylus’ Supplices 524-599 by reading it as a ‘we’-narrative. I will argue that the chorus, embodying the Danaids, uses the first person plural to build a collective identity, and that this collective identity reflects their complex position in Argos, where they will be accepted as metics.
I will start out by discussing some distinctive features of the narrative ‘we’, which are examined by Margolin (1996), Marcus (2008) and Fludernik (2011). I will then investigate how the concept of ‘we’-narratives can be applied to ancient Greek poetry, particularly to the Greek tragic choral odes, in which the grammatical number that is used by the chorus is a much debated and complex issue that merits further investigation (see e.g. Kaimio 1970). In order to examine the effects that are established by the use of ‘we’ in Supplices 524-599, I will first look at two choral odes (Euripides’ Hecabe 905-952 and Troades 511-567) in which the chorus uses many first person singular pronouns. I argue that the use of the first person singular creates a poignant effect in these odes.
I will then go on to argue that the chorus’s use of the first person plural in Aeschylus’ Supplices 524-599, in contrast to the use of the first person singular, contributes to the establishment of a collective identity. The chorus, fleeing a forced marriage to their Egyptian cousins, recall the myth Io, the collective ancestor of them as well as of the inhabitants of Argos. It is on this basis that they seek Zeus’ protection and acceptance into Argos. I will content that the bond of kinship between the Danaids and the Argives, but also that between the Danaids and their Egyptian cousins, is reflected in this constructed collective identity.
Saskia Willigers, University of Amsterdam
Margolin, U. 1996. ‘Telling Our Story: On We Literary Narratives’. Language and Literature
5.2: 115-33.
Marcus, A. 2008. ‘We are You: The Plural and the Dual in “We” Fictional Narratives’. Journal
of Literary Semantics 37.1: 1-22.
Fludernik, M. 2011. ‘The Category of Person in Fiction: You and We Narrative-Multiplicity
and Indeterminacy of Reference’. Current Trends in Narratology, ed. G. Olson, 27.
(Contributions to Narrative Theory 27). 101-141.
Kaimio. M. 1970. The Chorus of Greek Drama within the Light of the Person and Number Used.
Helsinkii, Societas Scientarum Fennica. (Commentationes Humanarusm Litterarum, 46)."
Research Interests:
Landscapes of the mind: the εἴθε γενοίμαν-theme in Greek tragedy This paper re-examines the use of ‘escapism’ in the Greek tragic choral odes and the imagery of the natural world that occurs in these odes. It argues that tragic... more
Landscapes of the mind: the εἴθε γενοίμαν-theme in Greek tragedy
This paper re-examines the use of ‘escapism’ in the Greek tragic choral odes and the imagery of the natural world that occurs in these odes. It argues that tragic choruses often include escape wishes in their odes in order to stress the impossibility of something that is relevant in the main storyline of the play.
A common feature of the tragic choral odes is the inclusion of escape wishes. The chorus imagines to be elsewhere, somewhere far from the horror onstage. These escape wishes often have introductory formulae such as εἴθε γενοίμαν (‘if only I could be…’), and the location in which the chorus desires to be is typically (although not always) an ‘idyllic’ and peaceful, but also exotic and remote place, with no shortage of trees, grass and water.
Some scholars argue that the escape wishes fulfil a temporary and aesthetic function by their contrast with the crisis on stage (e.g. Barlow (2008: 35)). Other scholars emphasise the escape wishes’ thematic function and show connections between the imaginary locations and the play’s central issues (e.g. Padel (1974), Swift (2009)).
This paper goes beyond previous work by its close study of the escape wishes, bringing it together with the characteristics of the imaginary locations. Using narrative theories, I will explore the ways in which the tragic poets create a landscape that can fulfil various functions. The main choral odes discussed are Sophocles’ Aj. 1185-1222 and OC 1044-1098, and Euripides’ Hipp. 732-775, Ba. 370-431, IT 1089-1152 and Hel. 1451-1511. I will argue that the contents of the escape wish and the described location represent something that at the moment of announcement has become impossible in the play, or is at that moment particularly relevant.
"
This paper re-examines the use of ‘escapism’ in the Greek tragic choral odes and the imagery of the natural world that occurs in these odes. It argues that tragic choruses often include escape wishes in their odes in order to stress the impossibility of something that is relevant in the main storyline of the play.
A common feature of the tragic choral odes is the inclusion of escape wishes. The chorus imagines to be elsewhere, somewhere far from the horror onstage. These escape wishes often have introductory formulae such as εἴθε γενοίμαν (‘if only I could be…’), and the location in which the chorus desires to be is typically (although not always) an ‘idyllic’ and peaceful, but also exotic and remote place, with no shortage of trees, grass and water.
Some scholars argue that the escape wishes fulfil a temporary and aesthetic function by their contrast with the crisis on stage (e.g. Barlow (2008: 35)). Other scholars emphasise the escape wishes’ thematic function and show connections between the imaginary locations and the play’s central issues (e.g. Padel (1974), Swift (2009)).
This paper goes beyond previous work by its close study of the escape wishes, bringing it together with the characteristics of the imaginary locations. Using narrative theories, I will explore the ways in which the tragic poets create a landscape that can fulfil various functions. The main choral odes discussed are Sophocles’ Aj. 1185-1222 and OC 1044-1098, and Euripides’ Hipp. 732-775, Ba. 370-431, IT 1089-1152 and Hel. 1451-1511. I will argue that the contents of the escape wish and the described location represent something that at the moment of announcement has become impossible in the play, or is at that moment particularly relevant.
"
Research Interests:
In this paper I will focus on a typically Greek form of anachronical narration: ‘lyric narrative’ (Schadewaldt 1938), also known in the epic genre as ‘epic regression’. Lyric narrative is an elaborated form of ring composition, basically... more
In this paper I will focus on a typically Greek form of anachronical narration: ‘lyric narrative’ (Schadewaldt 1938), also known in the epic genre as ‘epic regression’. Lyric narrative is an elaborated form of ring composition, basically meaning that the narrator mentions an event, then in a few lines moves back in time to a certain point, and elaborates on these events by moving forward until the first event is reached again.
Many scholars have noted a backward or forward movement in the embedded narratives in Pindar's victory odes, with or without using the term ‘lyric narrative’ (e.g. Finglass 2007: 35-37). However, the exact differences between the backward and forward movements and the effect of those differences are not systematically studied. In my paper I set out to fill this lacuna. I will focus on Pindar's Third Pythian Ode, and I will suggest that there is a shift in emphasis in the embedded narrative of this ode: the story in the backward movement is for a great deal told from a human perspective, the perspective of Coronis. In the forward movement, we see the story of Coronis from a divine perspective.
Many scholars have noted a backward or forward movement in the embedded narratives in Pindar's victory odes, with or without using the term ‘lyric narrative’ (e.g. Finglass 2007: 35-37). However, the exact differences between the backward and forward movements and the effect of those differences are not systematically studied. In my paper I set out to fill this lacuna. I will focus on Pindar's Third Pythian Ode, and I will suggest that there is a shift in emphasis in the embedded narrative of this ode: the story in the backward movement is for a great deal told from a human perspective, the perspective of Coronis. In the forward movement, we see the story of Coronis from a divine perspective.
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