Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Ph.D.

Drawing on 'education' in an ancient sense of the word—i.e., a 'leading out' of an insular self into a cosmpolitan world—my teaching seeks to ground diverse approaches to inquiry in rigorous attention to text. Students in my classes thus explore how a deepening mastery of material and method allows for more meaningful spontaneity in inquiry and interpretation.

Since obtaining the Ph.D. in 2005 I have taught at Bryn Mawr College, Hollins University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Bard College, including for the Bard Prison Initiative. I'm absolutely delighted to be spending 2015-18 at Trinity!

Education

Ph.D., University of Chicago
B.A., Reed College

Selected publications

I have published on Latin poetry, linguistics, the senses in culture, and comics, and I am the author of Silence in Catullus (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013) and co-editor of Classical Traditions in Science Fiction (Oxford University Press 2015), for which I wrote about ancient underworlds in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. For descriptions and samples of much of my published work, visit my Academia.edu page.

Research areas

My research falls into two main areas:

(1) classical Latin poetry in light of modern discourses like linguistics and the study of the senses in culture. I am the author of Silence in Catullus (University of Wisconsin Press 2013). Forthcoming is a further study of "Smell and Sociocultural Value-judgment in Catullus." In preparation are articles on Daphne and Apollo in Ovid's Metamorphoses, and 'wonder' in Virgil's Aeneid.

(2) classical traditions and reception studies, focusing on science fiction and fantasy, contemporary fiction, and film. I am co-editor of Classical Traditions in Science Fiction (Oxford University Press 2015); my chapter discusses underworlds in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Recently published are articles on A. S. Byatt's The Children's Book and Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones. Forthcoming is a co-edited volume on Classical Traditions in Modern Fantasy; my chapter explores "Ancient Underworlds in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit." In preparation are studies of Helen Oyeyemi's classical receptions, 'Cupid and Psyche' in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the figure of Pandora in Alex Garland's Ex Machina. I have also written about classics and comics.

For further information about my published research, visit my Academia.edu page.

Subjects taught

Afterlives of Antiquity
Literary Traditions
Latin, Greek, Hebrew
Linguistics
Science Fiction & Fantasy

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Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Ph.D.