On my way to teach the first class of the year, as part of my spring course “Introduction to the History of Western Literature”. We’ll begin with some opening thoughts on the literature of Antiquity, its performativity and materiality.

Always a daunting task to try to cram the history of Western literature into a two-month course, and to justify what to leave out, what to gloss over, and to connect classical literature to contemporary perspectives without simplifying differences and ruptures.

I’ve tried to add an extra dimension by focusing on how different periods see their own temporality – how are they seen as building explicitly on previous periods, previous examples, previous cultural layers?

Image: Delphic poems, 2nd C BC. Source: wikicommons