This international bilingual conference reconsiders classical mythology beyond traditional ‘highbrow’ perspectives. By engaging approaches from Popular Narratology, Folklore Studies and Fan Fiction Theory, it foregrounds neglected narrative forms and methodologies, thus opening new perspectives on textual as well as non-textual forms of storytelling in Greek and Roman mythology.
Classical mythology has long been an intense object of study for narratologists, as mythology constitutes the narrative backbone of some of the most important literary genres in antiquity. However, mythology has only rarely been considered an object of study in relation to supposedly ‘less sophisticated’ forms of narrative. In particular, the consideration of folkloristic motifs and other non-‘highbrow’ elements – and, accordingly, the application of methods from fields such as Popular Narratology, Folklore Studies and Fan Fiction Theory – constitutes a major research gap in the study of Greek and Roman mythology. This international bilingual conference addresses this issue by hosting a group of distinguished international speakers and poster presenters who analyse elements of classical mythology from these and similar methodological angles, whereby both textual and non-textual (iconographic, material, etc.) forms of narrative are included, as well as comparative aspects that incorporate phenomena from post-ancient and contemporary narratives, folklore and fan fiction.
The conference is open to interested listeners upon registration, kindly contact the organisers Prof. Silvio Bär (Oslo) or Prof. Emanuele Lelli (Rome) for more information.