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The Romantics and the Classics Symposium
New symposium coming to Virginia Wesleyan, November 17-19, featuring preeminent scholars
News Release | November 3, 2016
By Leona Baker
Virginia Wesleyan College's “The Romantics and the Classics” Symposium, November 17-19, 2016, will explore connections between Greco-Roman culture and English Romanticism. Building on the College’s annual Classics Lecture Series, the new interactive symposium format will feature a variety of preeminent scholars of art history, classics, English literature and religion from around the U.S. With the exception of the Chrysler Museum of Art tour on November 19, all events take place on the VWC campus. All events are free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the VWC Department of Classics and The Lighthouse: Center for Exploration & Discovery, “The Romantics and the Classics” Symposium will examine the manner in which the Greco-Roman world inspired the English Romantics both literarily and politically, providing the subject matter and literary form for many of their writings and setting a historical precedent for the high political ideals, thirst for travel in Italy and Greece, and scientific and intellectual curiosity that are the hallmarks of English Romanticism.
"Even from their distant vantage point at the waning of the 18th and the inception of 19th century,” notes Ben Haller, Associate Professor of Classics and Chair of the Classics Department at Virginia Wesleyan College, “the English Romantics and their circle bequeath a powerful legacy to the modern world.”
The historic tradition of the “Grand Tour,” a trip designed to promote cultural enlightenment in aristocratic European men of the Romantic era, will serve as a common theme in several of the symposium events. Event details below:
“The Romantics and the Classics” Symposium, November 17-19
Romantics Symposium: The Grand Tour
Thursday, November 17
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Clarke Hall 118, Virginia Wesleyan College
Erik H. Neil, Ph.D., Director of the Chrysler Museum of Art: “The Grand Tour in Sicily.”
Chris Ann Matteo, Ph.D., Princeton University: "Byron’s Caprice: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and the Grand Tour.”
Romantics Symposium: Retelling the Classics
Thursday, November 17
4-6 p.m., Clarke Hall 215, Virginia Wesleyan College
Michael Panitz, Virginia Wesleyan College, Old Dominion University, and Temple Israel of Norfolk: "Traditional Tales, Contemporary Concerns: Romantic and Modern Retellings of Genesis."
Adam Potkay, The College of William and Mary: “Wordsworth and Vergil.”
Romantics Symposium: Round Table
Friday, November 18
Noon-1 p.m.
Lighthouse Commons in Clarke Hall, Virginia Wesleyan College
Romantics Symposium: Frankenstein and the Grand Tour
Friday, November 18, 6-8:30 p.m., Clarke Hall 118, Virginia Wesleyan College
Carl Rubino, Hamilton College: "The Pale Student of Unhallowed Arts: Aristotle, Lucretius, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein."
Bill Hutton, Classics Department, The College William and Mary: “Pausanias and the Grand Tour.”
Romantics Symposium: Chrysler Museum Tour
Saturday, November 19
1:30 p.m., Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia
For more information about “The Romantics and the Classics” Symposium events, contact Dr. Ben Haller: 757.233.8811, bhaller@vwu.edu.