The Bigger Picture

I thought, since I don't have anything new on the needles and the shawl is just going to continue to look like a big purple blob for a while, that I would share a bit about my Work In Progress at the moment. That's right: capitalized!

I'm a graduate student studying the Classics. That means I read Greek and Latin and I study all aspects of Ancient Greece and Rome. Each graduate student pursues her own interests in the field and we get a wide range of experts on things like history, philosophy, religion, magic, poetry, prose, oratory, drama, medicine, and sociology, just to name a few. Now that I'm nearing the end of my time as a classroom student and verging quickly on becoming a dissertation-writer, I've got to figure out my focus.

That's my Work In Progress this semester. My Latin special author is Apuleius, who wrote a strange, entertaining, yet disturbing and altogether confusing novel about a man named Lucius who is turned into an ass. I like ancient literature. I love the stories, no matter the genre. This novel is full of them. It's also got a few of my other interests in it too: magic, religion, and accounts from those who experience these things. I'm taking a class this semester on my Latin special author and learning a lot. I don't have a dissertation topic yet or a full working expert knowledge, but I'm getting there. I'm reading the whole thing in Latin and also trying to come up with a paper topic for the class. Gotta start somewhere.

The one thing I love above all else is the feeling I get when I read something that I must immediately get up and tell someone else about it! It happens all the time reading this novel. I must have picked the right author!

My Greek special author will be the odd-ball, hypochondriac orator Aelius Aristides, who wrote a journal detailing his and others' experiences at the temple of the healing god Asclepius. People used to sleep in the temple and dream of remedies for their illnesses. It's going to be super neat! I get to spend all summer on chunks of that. I can't wait!

For more (real) WIP Wednesday posts, visit Tami's Amis.