HARDIE, Philip Russell 1952-

PERSONAL:

Born July 13, 1952, in England; son of Miles (hospital federation director) and Pauline (le Gros Clark) Hardie; partner of Susan Griffith; children: Hugh, David. Ethnicity: "British." Education: St. Paul's School, London, England; Corpus Christi College, Oxford, England, M.A.; M.Phil.; Ph.D., 1990. Politics: Labour. Hobbies and other interests: Walking, music.

ADDRESSES:

Home—5 Stetten Ave., Cambridge CB4 3 ES, England. Office—Oxford University, Corpus Christi College, Oxford OX1 4JF, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Oxford Dictionaries, editorial assistant, 1977-80; Corpus Christi College, Oxford, research fellow, 1980-84; Magdalene College, Cambridge, Sarah Lawrence College, guest faculty member in classical history, 1984-85, fellow and college lecturer in classics, 1986-90; New Hall College, Cambridge, fellow, 1990—, reader in Latin Literature, 1998—; Corpus Christi College, Oxford, professor of Latin, 2002—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

British Academy, fellow, 2000; Ovid's Poetics of Illusion was chosen as one of the Times Literary Supplement's Books of the Year, 2002.

WRITINGS:

Virgil's "Aeneid": Cosmos and Imperium, Clarendon Press (New York, NY), 1986.

(With Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby) Homo Viator: Classical Essays for John Bramble, Bristol Classical (Oak Park, IL), 1987.

The Epic Successors of Virgil: A Study in the Dynamics of a Tradition, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1993.

(Editor) Aeneid: Book IX, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor) Virgil: Critical Assessments of Classical Authors, Volumes I-IV, Routledge (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor) Ovidian Transformations: Essays on the "Metamorphoses" and Its Reception, Cambridge Philological Society (Cambridge, England), 1999.

Ovid's Poetics of Illusion, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

(Editor) The Cambridge Companion to Ovid, Cambridge University Press (London, England), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Commentary on Ovid's "Metamorphoses 13-15"; Rumour and Renown.

SIDELIGHTS:

Philip Russell Hardie is a Corpus Christie professor of Latin at Oxford University in England. He has written and edited several books on the works of classical authors.

In Virgil's "Aeneid": Cosmos and Imperium, Hardie discusses the work of the ancient Roman author Virgil. Specifically, he traces Virgil's poetic origins in a long line of ancient poets who were concerned with scientific and cosmological themes, and examines Virgil's ambitions and the growth of his work. In Classical Philology, Kenneth J. Reckford wrote that in comparison to other critical studies of Virgil, which emphasize individual characters in the work rather than the influence of history or the cosmos, "Hardie's book comes as a surprise, and a challenge. Its approach is splendidly unfashionable … redirecting [Virgilian criticism] to vast expanses of earth, sea, and sky." In the Classical Journal, W. R. Johnson wrote that the book "seems to me one of the most interesting and valuable books on Virgil to have appeared in recent years. There are few pages here that do not contain good observations … and in several places the level of criticism is of the highest."

The Epic Successors of Virgil: A Study in the Dynamics of a Tradition is one volume in a series published by Cambridge University Press, collectively titled "Roman Literature and Its Contexts." In this book, Hardie discusses the first-century successors to Virgil, including Ovid, Lucan, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, and Silius. In the Times Literary Supplement, David West commented, "The author is learned, subtle and intense."

Virgil: Critical Assessments of Classical Authors is a four-volume collection of eighty-five articles on the works of Virgil. One volume examines his Georgics, another discusses the Eclogues, and two are devoted to the Aeneid. The authors whose works appear in these volumes range from scholars of the eighteenth century to contemporary experts. Hardie writes in his Introduction to the volumes that he selected "articles of seminal importance in opening up a topic or setting a new agenda for criticism" of Virgil's work. In Greece and Rome, David West remarked that the volumes were "a treasure beyond rubies to any rich Virgilian who does not have easy access to a good classical library. Its salient virtue is large-mindedness."

Ovid's Poetics of Illusion examines illusionism and the textual conjuring of presence throughout Ovid's oeuvre, including case studies of the reception of Ovid's poetics of illusion in Renaissance and modern literature and art. In the Times Literary Supplement, William Fitzgerald commented that the author writes "with a brilliance and ingenuity appropriate to his subject." Ovid's Poetics of Illusion was chosen by Brian Segal as one of the Times Literary Supplement's Books of the Year, 2002.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

British Book News, June, 1986, D. A. West, review of Virgil's "Aeneid": Cosmos and Imperium, p. 368.

Choice, September, 1986, C. E. Fantazzi, review of Virgil's "Aeneid," p. 111.

Classical Journal, February, 1988, W. R. Johnson, review of Virgil's "Aeneid," p. 269.

Classical Philology, January, 1990, Kenneth J. Reckford, review of Virgil's "Aeneid," p. 72.

Classical World, September, 1995, William S. Anderson, review of The Epic Successors of Virgil: A Study in the Dynamics of a Tradition, p. 71.

Greece and Rome, October, 1989, D. E. Hill, review of Homo Viator: Classical Essays for John Bramble, p. 228; October, 2000, David West, review of Virgil: Critical Assessments of Classical Authors, Volumes I-IV, p. 232.

Times Literary Supplement, August 29, 1986, Nicholas Horsfall, "Rome's Manifest Destiny," p. 943; July 30, 1993, David West, "Some Less Humane Studies," p. 24; June 21, 2002, p. 32; October 18, 2002, Amanda Kolson Hurley, "Between Two Worlds," p. 27; December 21, 2002, William Fitzgerald, "Narcissus the Reader," p. 32.