Section outline

  • Week VIII (October 19 & 21)  The Portrait of a Magician

    Topics:

    ·      practitioners of magic, victims of magic

    ·      women and foreigners, weirdos and quacks

    ·      social context of depictions of magic

    ·      labelling the other vs. self-labelling

     

    Readings:

    ·      Graf, Literary Depictions of Magic

    ·      Lucian, Lover of Lies

    ·      Ogden 44-46, 55-107, 155, 157, 214-223

     

     

    Supplementary Readings

    • ·       Edmonds, Extraordinary People
    • ·       Gordon, Magic as a Topos in Augustan Poetry
    • ·       Graf, Literary Representations of Magic
    • ·       Gordon, Innovation and Authority
    • ·       Luck, Witches and sorcerers in classical literature
    • ·       Pollard, Witch-Crafting in Roman Literature and Art
    • ·       Spaeth, From Goddess to Hag
    • ·       Stratton, Naming the Witch
    • ·       Stratton, Magic, Abjection, and Gender