Dr Evert Van Emde Boas | Magdalen College Oxford

Background:

I received my BA and MA in Classics from the University of Amsterdam (2001-2005) before coming to Oxford for graduate work (MSt 2005-2006, Magdalen College; DPhil 2005-2010 Corpus Christi College). I then returned to the Netherlands for a variety of teaching positions (University of Groningen 2010-2014, Leiden University 2011-2014, University of Amsterdam 2010-2014, and VU University Amsterdam 2010-2011). I have been back at Magdalen since 2014 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Calleva Centre, working on the Adults at Play(s) project (see information here); in 2016 I also served as Stipendiary Lecturer at Oriel College.

Research Interests:

My research focuses on the application of cognitive and linguistic approaches and methods to Ancient Greek literature (with a focus, thus far, on drama). My current project at the Calleva Centre is an interdisciplinary effort investigating the psychology of theatre audiences. Alongside this work, I am preparing publications on issues of character and characterization in Greek tragedy, particularly characterization through language/style. I am also the lead author of a new reference grammar of Greek, to be published by Cambridge University Press.
A consistent aim of my work has been to show that a rigorous analysis of the original language of a text can and should inform literary interpretation of that text, and that modern linguistic theory can aid such analysis, as well as enhance more generally our understanding of the Ancient Greek language and the way it was used by speakers. Other recurring points of interest in my research have included gender-specific aspects of language use, linguistic politeness phenomena, the use of proverbs and wisdom sayings, Greek tense usage, and the description of Greek particles.

Teaching:

I have taught a wide range of courses in Greek and Latin language and literature, as well as general linguistics and historical grammar, at Universities in the Netherlands and in the UK. In Oxford specifically, I have done a great deal of language teaching at all levels (as Faculty instructor and for individual colleges), as well as tutorial teaching for the papers on Greek Tragedy and the Iliad.

Selected publications:

Books:

Forthcoming:

2017 Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek, Cambridge UP (together with A. Rijksbaron, L. Huitink, and M. de Bakker)

2017 Characterization in Ancient Greek Literature, Studies in Ancient Greek Narrative, vol. 4, Leiden: Brill (co-edited with K. de Temmerman).

2018 A. Rijksbaron, Grammatica Militans: Linguistic Contributions to the Study of Greek Literature (1976-2016), Leiden: Brill (co-edited with R. Allan and L. Huitink).

Articles and chapters:

2017. ‘Analyzing Agamemnon: Conversation Analysis and Particles in Stichomythia’, in Classical Philology 112.4

2017. Cognition, Endorphins, and the Literary Response to Tragedy, in Cambridge Quarterly 46.3: 229-250

2016. Emotional Arousal When Watching Drama Increases Pain Threshold and Social Bonding’, Royal Society Open Science 2016.3.160288, //rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/9/160288 (co-authored with R. Dunbar, B. Teasdale, J. Thompson, F. Budelmann, S. Duncan, and L. Maguire)

2015 ‘The Tutor’s Beard: Gender-Specific Communication and Speaker-Line Attribution in Greek Tragedy’. Mnemosyne 68: 543-568

2010 ‘Syntax’, in E.J. Bakker (ed.), A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 134-150 (co-authored with L. Huitink)

Forthcoming

Articles/chapters on visualisation in Greek messenger speeches, speech in Greek tragedy, ethopoeia in Lysias, deixis and voice in Greek lyric, and others, are in preparation.