Department of Classics and Archaeology

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Lynn Fotheringham

Lecturer in Classics, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

I grew up in Glasgow but went to Edinburgh University where I graduated with an MA in Classics in 1991. I have studied and worked in different countries, spending what would now be called my 'gap year' at Iowa State University, teaching English in Xanthi in Northern Greece after graduating, and doing a Masters degree at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania before returning to the UK to do my D.Phil at the University of Oxford. I taught in University College Dublin for a year before coming to Nottingham in 1999. I live in Nottingham with my partner, Matt Brooker, a comics-artist who has collaborated with me on both teaching and research. We continue to travel whenever we can, having spent recent research-leave periods in Gijón and Vienna, .

My next period of research-leave will be in the Spring semester of 2023/24.

Expertise Summary

My main areas of expertise are Ciceronian judicial oratory, the teaching of Latin, and the Reception of the Classical World. My work on Cicero includes a focus on stylistic analysis (facilitated by concordance-work) which is also important in my Latin teaching. Reception areas I am interested in include Greek tragedy on television, and various other aspects of the Classical world in comics/novels/films, as well as the history of Ciceronian scholarship.

Teaching Summary

My teaching is currently focused on Latin language and the linked themes of Reception/creative responses to the ancient world. In the past I have taught a broad range of modules in Greek and Roman… read more

Research Summary

I am continuing to work on the reception of ancient Sparta and especially of the graphic novel, Three. My next article will turn from analysis of the novel itself, to consider aspects of both it… read more

My teaching is currently focused on Latin language and the linked themes of Reception/creative responses to the ancient world. In the past I have taught a broad range of modules in Greek and Roman literature, Greek and Latin language, and late Roman Republican history. I am particularly enthusiastic about creating opportunities for students to gain understanding of the ancient languages at whatever level is appropriate to them.

Current Research

I am continuing to work on the reception of ancient Sparta and especially of the graphic novel, Three. My next article will turn from analysis of the novel itself, to consider aspects of both it production and its reception. I am looking especially at the collaboration between the writer, Kieron Gillen, and my colleague, Stephen Hodkinson, who acted as Historical Consultant; I am also carrying out audience-research to find out readers' reactions to the involvement of the Historical Consultant as well as to the book itself. This case-study will shed light on the process of interaction between academics and people working in the creative industries, and on audience-responses to such interaction.

I will be on research leave in the Spring semester of 2023/24.

Past Research

My past publications cluster in two areas: Cicero's speeches; and various aspects of Reception.

My commentary on Cicero's Pro Milone focuses on the structure of the speech, using insights from Discourse Analysis and a computer-generated concordance of the speech to enhance our appreciation of Cicero's verbal skill. I also exploit this approach in my teaching.

My work on Reception has looked at positive and negative representations of ancient Sparta, the process of adapting epic for the screen, Greek drama on UK television and nineteenth-century biographies of Cicero.

In January 2016 I held a conference to coincide with the "Greek Tragedy on the Small Screen" series of screenings, at which fourteen scholars from five countries - and three creative practitioners - present papers on representations of the sacrifice of Iphigenia through the centuries from the ancient world to the present day. I worked with Nottingham Lakeside Arts to bring the 2012 BFI mini-season, "Classics on TV: Greek Tragedy on the Small Screen", to Nottingham in January-March 2016; this gave me the opportunity to conduct some audience-research.

Future Research

I plan to move on to write a monograph on Classical Reception, using the idea of 'authenticity' to unite my diverse interests in this field, including:

  • two very different on-screen versions of Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis;
  • Steven Saylor's detective novels and stories featuring Ciceronian trials;
  • the cinematic presentation of tourists and travellers visiting the Classical countries;
  • the sanitisation of Hercules and other Greek heroes in comics and cinema.

The book will explore the different ideas of 'authenticity' held by creators and audiences, and how the discourse around this concept shapes both production and response. There will be an emphasis on the limitations on any possible 'authenticity', and an exploration of the different possible results of a creator's work with the ancient sources. A strong theme will be the opposition between a reverential approach to the Classical world and a more 'gritty', supposedly realistic one.

After completing the 'authenticity' monograph, I plan to return to the close study of Ciceronian texts, and to make a contribution to pedagogical research by publishing on the Department's innovative assessment methods.

Department of Classics and Archaeology

University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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