Antiquity Now The Classical World in the Contemporary American Imagination

Written in a lively and accessible style, Antiquity Now opens our gaze to the myriad uses and abuses of classical antiquity in contemporary fiction, film, comics, drama, television - and even internet forums. With every chapter focusing on a different aspect of classical reception - including sexuality, politics, gender and ethnicity - this book explores the ideological motivations behind contemporary American allusions to the classical world. Ultimately, this kaleidoscope of receptions - from calls for marriage equality to examinations of gang violence to passionate pleas for peace (or war) - reveals a 'classical antiquity' that reconfigures itself daily, as modernity explains itself to itself through ever-expanding technologies and media. Antiquity Now thus examines the often-surprising redeployment of the art and literature of the ancient world, a geography charged with especial value in the contemporary imagination.

1. Introduction; 2. It's Greek to them: gay and lesbian receptions of the ancient world; 3. Classics and ideology; 4. September 11th on the Western stage; 5. From the borders: contemporary identity, community, and the ancient world; 6. Power, the canon, and the unexpected voice; Conclusion: on fractures and fracturing.

Thomas E. Jenkins holds a Ph.D. in classical philology from Harvard University, Massachusetts, and is Professor and Chair of the Department of Classical Studies at Trinity University, Texas. He has published widely on classical texts, including his book Intercepted Letters: Epistolarity and Narrative in Greek and Roman Literature (2006), as well as articles on Ovid, Euripides, Homer, and especially classical reception. He has been a Fellow of the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC, and winner of the inaugural Paul Rehak Award for his article on Lucian's Dialogues of the Courtesans. In 2013, Jenkins premiered a new stage version of Plautus' The Haunted House at the Overtime Theater in San Antonio, Texas.