I am a Lecturer in Classical Studies, and I joined the Open University in September 2011. After an undergraduate degree in Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Birmingham, I studied for my MA and PhD at the University of Bristol, where I developed my research interests in classical reception studies. I joined the OU from the University of Liverpool, where I was a Lecturer in Classical Studies (2006-2009), and then the J.P. Postgate Early Career Fellow in Classics (2009-2011).
Contact: Joanna.Paul@open.ac.uk
My research is concerned with the many different ways in which the modern world receives, engages with, and uses the classical past. I am particularly interested in cinematic receptions of antiquity, and have published articles on films such as Fellini-Satyricon, Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris, and Oliver Stone’s Alexander. My monograph on Film and the Classical Epic Tradition will be published by Oxford University Press in 2013, and I am preparing publications on the recent film Agora, the Percy Jackson series, and the 1954 Ulisse.
I am also fascinated by the many other ways in which people might access the classical world, both today and in recent history, whether through historical novels, tourism and museum visits, educational contexts, or any number of other popular engagements with antiquity. Over the past few years, I have been collaborating with Dr Shelley Hales (University of Bristol) on a project that explores receptions of Pompeii; our co-edited volume, Pompeii in the Public Imagination from its Rediscovery to Today, is published by Oxford University Press, and I am working on a monograph on Pompeian receptions for I.B. Tauris’ New Directions in Classics series. I am also developing my interests in pedagogy with some research into the Cambridge Latin Course and its role in the democratisation of classical education.
I am a member of the Classical Reception Studies Network, and am closely involved with new initiatives to develop its activities in the coming years; from 2011, I am the leader of the CRSN Teaching strand, which aims to promote debate over the teaching of classical reception studies, and to find ways of supporting those engaged in this practice.
As well as classical reception topics, I also have experience in teaching a wide variety of subjects, including Latin literature, visual culture, and Roman history. In my new role at the OU, I am looking forward to developing a new Latin language module.
Film and the Classical Epic Tradition. Oxford 2013: Oxford University Press (Classical Presences series).
Pompeii in the Public Imagination from its Rediscovery to Today (co-edited with Shelley Hales). Oxford 2011: Oxford University Press (Classical Presences series).
‘Pompeii, the Holocaust, and World War Two’ in S. Hales and J. Paul (eds.), Pompeii in the Public Imagination from its Rediscovery to Today. Oxford 2011: Oxford University Press (Classical Presences series).
‘Cinematic Receptions of Antiquity: The Current State of Play’, Classical Receptions Journal 2:1 (2010), 136-155.
‘Oliver Stone’s Alexander and the Cinematic Epic Tradition’ in F. Greenland and P. Cartledge (eds.), Responses to Oliver Stone’s Alexander: Film, History and Culture Studies (Madison 2009: University of Wisconsin Press) 15-35.
‘Fellini-Satyricon: Petronius and Film’ in J. Prag and I. Repath (eds.), Petronius: A Handbook (Oxford 2009: WileyBlackwell) 198-217.
‘‘I fear it's potentially like Pompeii’: Disaster, Mass Media and the Ancient City’ in K. Shahabudin and D. Lowe (eds.), Re-Presenting Antiquity in Mass Cultural Media (Newcastle-upon-Tyne 2009: Cambridge Scholars Press) 91-108.
‘Working with Film: Theories and Methodologies’ in L.P. Hardwick and C. Stray (eds.), Blackwell Companion to Classical Receptions (Malden, MA and Oxford 2008: Blackwell) 303-314.
‘Translating Homer for the Cinema’ in A. Lianeri and V. Zajko (eds.), Translation & The Classic: Identity as Change in the History of Culture (Oxford 2008: Oxford University Press) 148-165.
‘Rome Ruined and Fragmented: The Cinematic City in Fellini-Satyricon and Roma’, in R. Wrigley (ed.), Cinematic Rome (Leicester 2008: Troubadour) 109-120.
See also Open Research Online for further details of Joanna Paul’s research publications.
