Dr Paula James

Current work:

Reception of Classical imagery in the art of the nineteenth-century labour movement.
I am internationally known for my work on Apuleius Latin prose narrative, The Golden Ass and contributing to the Blackwell Companion to the Ancient Novel.

Reception of Classical Texts: Pygmalion's Ivory Maiden: Beautiful and Baneful Synthetic Women in 20th-century Cinema.

Books (authored):

Ovid’s Myth of Pygmalion on Screen: In Pursuit of the Perfect Woman, Continuum Publishing, London 201)ISBN 9781441184665. (paperback with Bloomsbury, Spring 2013)

The Role of the Parrot in Selected Texts from Ovid to Jean Rhys, coedited with Julia Courtney and author of two chapters on parrots in Latin Literature and the parrot Coco in Wide Sargasso Sea. Edwin Mellen Press, Lampeter, November 2006.)

Teach Yourself Roman Civilisation. 195pp. Hodder and Stoughton. London 1999.

Unity in Diversity: a study of Apuleius' Metamorphoses. 272pp. Altertums Wissenschaftliche Texte und Studien. Olms, Hildesheim.1987.

Chapters in Books

'Kiss Me Deadly (1955) the Myth of Pandora and Prometheus in Aldrich's cinematic subversion of Spillane.' in Monica Cyrino (ed.), Oysters and Snails: Screening Love and Sex in the Ancient World. Forthcoming 2013, Palgrave MacMillan (Media, Film and Theater Studies).

Paula James & A. Ravenhill-Johnson (eds.) Emblems of Hope: essays in the art and ideology of Trade Union imagery, 1850-1925. Paula James has been leader on this research project and has edited the volume, contributing two chapters. Spring 2013, Anthem Press.

‘Crossing classical thresholds: Gods, Monsters and Hellmouths in the Whedon Universe,’ in Classics for All: Reworking Antiquity in Mass Culture, D.Lowe, K.Shahabudin, edd. (2009) Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 237-260.

‘Ritualistic Behaviour in The Wicker Man: A classical and carnivalesque perspective on the true nature of sacrifice’ in The Quest for the Wicker Man: History Folklore and Pagan Perspectives B.Franks, S.Harper, J. Murray, L.Stevenson, edd. Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2006.

‘To Baldly Go: a Last Look at Lucius and his Counter Humiliation Strategies’ with Maeve O’Brien in Lectiones Scrupulosae (essays on text and interpretation in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses) Ancient Narrative, suppl. 6. W.H.Keulen, R.R.Nauta, S.Panayotakis edd. Groningen 2006.

‘What Lies Beneath: Fluid Subtexts in Ovid’s Metamorphoses,’ 1-20, in Metamorphic Reflections: Essays presented to Ben Hijmans on his 75th birthday. M.Zimmerman, R.Van der Paardt, edd. Peeters, Leuwen 2004.

‘Keeping Apuleius in the Picture: A dialogue between Buñuel’s Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and the Metamorphoses of Apuleius’, 185-207, in Ancient Narrative. Vol. 1. Groningen. 2000-2001.

‘From Prologue to Story: Metaphor and Narrative Construction in the Opening of the Metamorphoses’, 256-266, in Companion to the Prologue to Apuleius' Metamorphoses. A.Kahane, A.Laird edd. Oxford University Press. 2001.

‘The Language of Dissent’, 277-304, in Experiencing Rome:Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire. J.Huskinson ed. Routledge London & New York. 2000.

‘Prudentius' Psychomachia: The Christian Arena and the Politics of Display’, 70-94 in Constructing Identities in Late Antiquity. (Routledge Classical Monographs) R.Miles ed. Routledge, London & New York. 1999.

‘Quasi Homo: Distortion and Contortion in Seneca's Apocolocyntosis’ with Susanna Morton Braund, 285-312 in Arethusa vol.31.3. Vile Bodies: Roman Satire and Corporeal Discourse. B.K.Gold, S.Morton-Braund edd. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1998.

‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being: Levis Amor in the Metamorphoses of Apuleius', ‘35-50 in Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass (Vol.2) Cupid and Psyche. M.Zimmerman, H.Hoffman edd. Egbert Forsten, Groningen. 1998.

‘Taceat Superata Vetustas: Living Legends in Claudian's In Rufinum 1’, 151-176 in The Propaganda Of Power: The Role of Panegyric in Late Antiquity. (Mnemosyne Suppl.) Mary Whitby ed. Leiden Brill, Boston, Cologne.1998.
 

Articles in refereed journals:

‘Crises of Identity in Ovid's Metamorphoses’, 17-25, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 33 1986

‘Cupid at Work and at Play’, 113-122, Groningen Colloquia on the Novel Vol.1 1988.

‘Pentheus Anguigena: Sins of the Father’, 81-93, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 38 1991-1993.

‘Fool's Gold: Renaming the Ass’, 155-172, Groningen Colloquia on the Novel Vol IV.1991

‘Kicking the Habit: the Significance of Consuetudo in interpreting the Fable of Cupid and Psyche’, 152-168, Ramus vol.30.No.2. 2001.

‘She’s All That: Ovid’s Ivory Statue and the Legacy of Pygmalion on Film’, 63-86, The Classical Bulletin. Vol.79. No.1. 2003.

‘Making the Most of Marsyas’, 75-104, with Andrew Feldherr, Arethusa. vol. 37. 2004.

‘Real and Metaphorical Speaking Birds in the Metamorphoses of Apuleius’, in The Novel as Metaphor and Metaphor in the Novel (Ancient Narrative Series) S.J.Harrison, M.Paschalis, S.Frangoulidis edd. Groningen 2004.

Conference Publications:

‘Inheritors of the Shield: an Homeric Mise en Abyme’, 196-217, in The Reception of Classical Texts and Images. (Part Two: From Medieval to Modern Reception) L.Hardwick, S.Ireland edd. Open University 1996.