Title of Talk: “Nostalgia and the Non-Existent Country: On nostos and xenitiáin Greek Poetry”

Sunday, April 7, 2019 at 2:00 – 4:00 PM

NHM Kamberos Special Events Hall

Speaker: Dr. Nancy Sulton, Illinois Wesleyan

Moderator: Dr. Angeliki Tzanetou

Description: In this presentation, Professor Sultan explains and challenges the traditional notions of exile and homecoming in Greek poetry from Homer to Seferis. She argues that while the elevated, romanticized ideologies connected with xenitiáandnostos inevitably lead to disappointment and pain, nostalgia fosters optimism and nourishes communal bonding necessary for human survival in a turbulent, ever-changing world.

Short Biography:

Nancy Sultan is Professor of Greek and Roman Studies at Illinois Wesleyan. She designed IWU’s first classical studies major in 1994 and directed the program for 24 years. Nancy received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Harvard University, her M.A. in Classical Studies from the University of Minnesota (Aegean archaeology focus), and her B.A. in Classics with a Minor in Music at UNC-Greensboro. She has worked as an archaeologist in Greece and Egypt, and has published and taught widely in the area of Hellenic Cultural Studies. Her interests include oral poetics (cross-cultural approaches), mythology & folklore, ethnomusicology, Aegean archaeology, modern Greek folk poetry and drama, and gender studies. In 1999 she published a monograph that has been cited many times: Exile and the Poetics of Loss in Greek Tradition (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers). Most recently, she published the article: Pseudolus at the IWU Ludi Megalenses: Re-creating Roman Comedy in Context (Classical Journal), and presented a paper on her current research project: What Sanskrit drama might teach us about Music and Audience Reception of later Greek drama at the panel of the International Society for the Study of Greek & Roman Music and its Cultural Heritage (MOISA) at the Society for Classical Studies conference.  She is the recipient of many grants, awards, and honors, including the “Excellence in College Teaching Award” presented by the American Philological Association in 2009.

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