By salt and by fire

[sovay]

I am rather extremely pleased.

(Now returning to my colloquium on Greek elegy at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C., whose library computer I am taking up to write this entry. I fancy that I may have been the first person ever to sing "Meeting Is A Pleasure" as the introduction of a scholarly paper. nineweaving, this is all your fault.)

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Oh my. Quite the shortlist. And quite the jury. Excellent!

So how did you get from the song to the paper?

What I love is the unexpectedness of "You must kiss and embrace her 'til she causes your heart to yield"--making the woman the agent, the man the acted-on. She harrows and he crops.

Nine

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Oooh. Congrats.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

For how long are you in DC?

[jlundberg.livejournal.com]

Yes, big congrats on the honorable mention, Sonya!

[sovay]

I'm leaving in fifteen minutes: I am sorry! I would have called you if I thought I'd have any time outside the colloquium, but since there was paper-writing and total lack of sleep involved, I didn't . . . You may hunt me down at your leisure, but only after the 21st, as I have four more papers to finish before then.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

*stalks*

[diony.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the honourable mention!

[sovay]

Thank you!

So how did you get from the song to the paper?

"In his 1986 article 'Early Greek Elegy, Symposium and Public Festival,' E.L. Bowie defined the symposium as the sole attested performance context for all our examples of shorter Greek elegy. This is not precisely a symposium; and that was not exactly an elegy. Yet as an introduction to some of the problems of persona, voice, and dialogue in the performance of Greek elegy, a performance from a mixed oral and literary tradition—and a situation that Theognis, lovesick elegist par excellence, would certainly recognize—seems a not inappropriate choice."

I think it went over well.