Goldhill, Simon (D.)

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GOLDHILL, Simon (D.)

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: Obtained an M.A. and Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—c/o Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Author, editor, and educator. Professor of Greek Literature and Culture and Director of Studies, King's College, Cambridge.

WRITINGS:

Language, Sexuality, Narrative: The Oresteia, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1984.

Reading Greek Tragedy, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1986.

The Poet's Voice: Essays on Poetics and Greek Literature, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Aeschylus, the Orestia: A Student Guide, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1992.

Foucault's Virginity: Ancient Erotic Fiction and History of Sexuality, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Who Needs Greek? Contests in the Cultural History of Hellenism, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Love, Sex, and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2004.

The Temple of Jerusalem, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

EDITOR

(With Robin Osborne) Art and Text in Ancient Greek Culture, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

(With Robin Osborne) Performance Culture and Athenian Democracy, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Being Greek under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic, and the Development of Empire, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Contributor of articles to such publications as the Mail on Sunday.

SIDELIGHTS:

Classics scholar Simon Goldhill has research interests on the interpretation of Greek poetry, especially tragic works. Goldhill's numerous books cover narrative theory, gender study, and the ways in which art and literature relate. Much of his writing is scholarly in nature, presupposing the reader possesses an academic background.

In Language, Sexuality, Narrative: The Oresteia, Goldhill offers a reading of Aeschylus's trilogy based on the analytical styles of Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes, addressing each play in a separate chapter and examining the work virtually line by line with particular focus on the interpretation of metaphors. Reviewing for British Book News, Bernard Gredley noted that Goldhill's work can be overly academic at times, referring to "the obscuring mist of jargon that periodically gusts over its pages," but wrote that the "open framework encourages an investigation that can mirror and magnify the complex suggestiveness and resonant texture of the Oresteia." Times Literary Supplement contributor Oliver Taplin observed that some of Goldhill's analysis appears aimed both at the Oresteia and at modern literary criticism, stating, "He undeniably practices in writing what he preaches, and the result is a clever, convoluted, and wily book." Gregory Nagy, writing for Comparative Literature, commented that "the most important thing about Goldhills book is that it brings comparative and theoretical perspectives to bear on a treasure house of poetic heritage that has tended to be undervalued by those who should value it the most, the classicists."

Reading Greek Tragedy provides an overview of the themes of Greek tragic writings. Divided into sections, Goldhill's book analyzes four separate themes, relating them to individual plays, and then goes on to include political, intellectual, and literary context for the works and themes examined. William G. Thalmann, in a piece for Classical World, found Goldhill's work "a powerful reading of Greek tragedy as a genre and of attempts to interpret it," while noting that the author's "interest in 'reading' … leads him to concentrate on the plays as texts to the virtual exclusion of 'performance.'" Reviewing for Classical Outlook, John E. Rexine observed the book is better suited for scholars familiar with the plays in the original language, but stated, "Reading Greek Tragedy shows the willing and able reader a highly sophisticated, intelligent, and fruitful way of reading Greek tragedy."

With The Poets Voice: Essays on Poetics and Greek Literature, Goldhill turns his attention to the roles of poetry and the poet in classical Greek literature, specifically how the two are represented in the poetry of the time. He examines the works of such writers as Homer, Theocritus, and Aristophanes, using a framework of contemporary literary theory. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, in a review for Classical World, wrote, "These essays present a sophisticated picture of poetry's relationship to its culture, arguing that, for example, the praise tradition is not simply one of similarity but also of difference." Times Literary Supplement contributor Malcolm Heath noted of the book that "the style is ponderous, the conclusions are sometimes disconcertingly banal," but also went on to observe that "Goldhill is an alert, subtle, and well-informed critic, both of ancient literature and of modern commentary. The routes he takes to his conclusions often raise questions not to be dismissed lightly." In a piece for Comparative Literature, Marilynn Desmond stated, "Goldhill offers a model of reading that allows the reader to forgo mastery without abdicating responsibility. In this regard, he achieves his goal of reading Greek literature in the context of postmodern theory."

Based on a series of lectures Goldhill delivered in 1993 at Trinity College, Dublin, Foucault's Virginity: Ancient Erotic Fiction and History of Sexuality examines the attitudes toward sexuality and desire in classical Greek texts, both heterosexual and homosexual, referencing the critical theory of Michel Foucault. Goldhill addresses such works as the second century novel, Daphnis and Chloe, and Achilles Tatius's Leucippe and Clitophon. M. J. Emery, reviewing for Choice, wrote that "under Goldhill's knowing gaze the ancient novel becomes immensely suggestive of one cultures aesthetics of desire." In the London Review of Books, James Davidson noted, "The novels come from a period which … [was] a crucial one in the history of sexuality, a transitional period in the first centuries of our era which culminated in the primacy of Christian ethics." He went on to refer to the book as a "detailed demonstration of the novels narrative intricacy," and the subject matter as "rich seams of new and fascinating material." James Tatum, in a piece for Classical Philology, stated, "My chief reservation about Foucault's Virginity concerns the relentless detail … the long paragraphs that unfold as the author writes his way to his next point," but he went on to note, "The great achievement of Goldhill's book is the way it expands the range of Greek texts relevant to our discussion of ancient fiction, not only to something like Plutarch's Amatorius … but to many prior texts as well."

Goldhill applies our classical roots to current times in Love, Sex, and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives, tracing the development of our culture. Lizzie Speller, in a review for the Observer, called the book a "passionate, witty, and broad-ranging exploration of the ancient foundations of our world." Independent contributor Joan Smith wrote, "Goldhill writes with a breezy wit in a style accessible to readers who did not grow up on Plato and Tacitus."

The Temple of Jerusalem represents a change of direction for Goldhill, from the literature of Ancient Greece and Rome to the history and strife surrounding the central synagogue in Jerusalem, using the holy city as a metaphor for the hopes and beliefs of an entire people dating back to the first Temple erected by Solomon. Julia Pascal, in a review for the Independent, wrote, "Goldhill skillfully allows the reader to understand how the Jerusalem Temple has become a dreamscape for all the Abrahamic faiths."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

British Book News, April, 1985, Bernard Gredley, review of Language, Sexuality, Narrative: The Oresteia, p. 247.

Burlington, January, 1996, review of Art and Text in Ancient Greek Culture, p. 40.

Choice, October, 1985, M. D. S. Dobson, review of Language, Sexuality, Narrative, p. 287; November, 1991, M. R. Leftowitz, review of The Poet's Voice: Essays on Poetics and Greek Literature, p. 454; September, 1993, M. A. Katz, review of Aeschylus, the Oresteia, pp. 129-130; December, 1995, M. J. Emery, review of Foucault's Virginity: Ancient Erotic Fiction and the History of Sexuality, p. 610; March, 2002, P. B. Harvey, Jr., review of Being Greek under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic, and the Development of Empire, pp. 1299-1300.

Classical Outlook, March, 1988, John E. Rexine, review of Reading Greek Tragedy, p. 99.

Classical Philology, January, 1997, James Tatum, review of Foucault's Virginity, p. 95.

Classical Review, February, 1995, Jennifer R. March, review of Art and Text in Ancient Greek Culture, pp. 375-377.

Classical World, March, 1988, William G. Thalmann, review of Reading Greek Tragedy, pp. 328-329; November, 1992, Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, review of The Poet's Voice, p. 180.

Comparative Drama, summer, 2001, Francis Dunn, review of Performance Culture and Athenian Democracy, p. 237.

Comparative Literature, summer, 1987, Gregory Nagy, review of Language, Sexuality, Narrative, pp. 268-269; fall, 1994, Marilynn Desmond, review of The Poet's Voice, pp. 398-399.

Daily Telegraph (London, England), May 29, 2004, Sam Leith, "Heres How to Get Greek Cred; Sam Leith Is Astonished by a Silly Guide to the Influence of the Ancients," p. 7.

Financial Times, May 22, 2004, Justin Wintle, "Cultural Evolution Amo, Amas, Amat … A Professor's Pot-Boiler Harks Back to Our Greek and Roman Roots," p. 29.

Independent, May 21, 2004, Joan Smith, "Why Nike Is Still Kicking Us," p. 24; September 2, 2004, Julia Pascal, "The Eternal City of Warring Dreams," review of The Temple of Jerusalem.

Journal of the History of Sexuality, April, 1997, Madeleine M. Henry, review of Foucault's Virginity, p. 599.

London Review of Books, October 19, 1995, James Davidson, "Cures for Impotence," review of Foucault's Virginity, p. 21; September 30, 1999, James Davidson, "An Easy Lay," review of Performance Culture and Athenian Democracy, p. 60.

London Telegraph, August 8, 2004, Paul Johnson, "The Holiest Place in the World."

Mail on Sunday (London, England), April 25, 2004, Simon Goldhill, "Greece Lightning: Troy Special Issue," p. 30.

New Theatre Quarterly, November, 2000, review of Performance Culture and the Athenian Democracy, pp. 392-393.

Observer, May 16, 2004, Lizzie Speller, "History: The Truth about Homer's Sexuality," p. 17.

Religious Studies Review, April, 1995, William D. E. Coulson, review of Art and Text in Ancient Greek Culture, p. 135; January, 2000, Peter Krentz, review of Performance Culture and Athenian Democracy, p. 78.

Sunday Telegraph (London, England), May 16, 2004, Peter Jones, "Why Ancient Is Modern," review of Love, Sex, and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives.

Sunday Times (London, England), May 23, 2004, Miranda Seymour, "Olympian Superiority: Ancient World," review of Love, Sex, and Tragedy, p. 47.

Times Literary Supplement, March 15, 1985, Oliver Taplin, "Crampons the Style," review of Language, Sexuality, Narrative, p. 292; September 26, 1986, John Gould, "In the Eyes of the City and the Gods," review of Reading Greek Tragedy, p. 1071; August 30, 1991, Malcolm Heath, "Interpreting the Classical Audience," p. 10; November 11, 1994, Oliver Taplin, "To See or Not to See," review of Art and Text in Ancient Greek Culture, p. 24; October 13, 1995, Mary Lefkowitz, "Foucault and the Greeks," p. 34; April 19, 2002, Jane Lightfoot, "No Romans Here," p. 9.