Trump and Philip of Thessalonica Undermining Authorial Control

What do Donald Trump and Philip of Thessalonica have in common? In this blog, Oriol Febrer argues how both of them challenge the power of other artists to determine the meaning of their creations. They purposely change the meaning of previous texts by shaping new contexts.

Oriol Febrer i Vilaseca • October 17, 2024

Who Exactly is Mad? A Reflection on the Theme of Madness in Dickinson (2019)

Mental illness has long been a source of curiosity and reflection. The TV series Dickinson (2019), created by Alena Smith, explores the theme of madness, inviting the audience to reflect on who exactly we label as mad and why, as it draws links between the past and the present.

Chiara Ravinetto • October 09, 2024

The Book of Jackson

Pop music is not known for its literary allusions. For the educated listener, however, some songs by quintessential pop artist Michael Jackson contain references that completely transform their meaning. This blog will focus on his lyrical interaction with the most famous book of all: the Bible.

Ruben Poelstra • September 20, 2024

Let’s play! The interplay of language learning and ludic culture in the early modern Low Countries

Do you remember learning how to order a coffee in English, German, or French during your language lessons in high school? In this blog, Anna Baak and Sjoera Slooff discuss how this practical and playful learning process has been popular throughout the ages.

Anna Baak and Sjoera Slooff • September 05, 2024

Who’s Afraid of a Queer Achilles?

Queer theory offers original perspectives from which to revise theoretical framings of Classics as a discipline. In this post, LUCAS postdoc in Latin literature Francesco Busti reflects on the urgency of queering Classics amid the current surge in nationalist and anti-LGBTQIA+ stances across Europe

Francesco Busti • June 25, 2024

Ships and Shipwrecks: What an Ancient Latin Poem Can Tell Us about Meloni’s Immigration Policies

A Latin poem by one of Catullus’ fellow poets and the immigration policies adopted by Italy’s far-right-led government share a similar perspective on non-European people. In this blog post, Francesco Busti reflects on Europe’s millennia-old exploitative attitudes towards the rest of the world.

Francesco Busti • March 25, 2024

Extinction rebellion, the struggle for law, and the role of the arts – or scholars

In this entry, Professor of Literature, Culture and Law, Frans-Willem Korsten reflects upon the struggle for law and the role of the arts in the midst of the current Extinction Rebellion protest at the A12 motorway in The Hague, September 2023.

Frans-Willem Korsten • September 15, 2023

It’s all fun and games until Diogenes shows up: wit, Homeric quotations, and death-images in the anecdotes regarding our most favourite Cynic

Can Homeric parody be a means of criticizing society? In this blog post Giorgia Garuti, PhD candidate at the University of Pisa and visiting researcher at LUCAS until last May, explores the function of Homeric quotations in two anecdotes regarding Diogenes of Sinope.

Giorgia Garuti • June 19, 2023

The History of VR – An Ancient Pursuit

When did humanity first begin to create the sensation of being in VR? Miguel Mira reflects on the history of the medium, considering Oliver Grau’s theory on the immersive qualities of the Villa dei Misteri all the way to Morton Heilig’s Sensorama machine.

Miguel Mira • June 09, 2023

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A Literary Answer to Inadequate Legal Definitions of Ground and Soil