Event Date
Plagues are paradoxical. Even as they wreak havoc on bodies and stress institutions, they can be grimly productive. As contagion reaches out to touch us, it vividly articulates the strands of our social networks and casts new light on the shapes and natures of our communities. For this reason, the implacable destruction of pestilence is an especially powerful metaphor for imagining social and civil strife. Join us on Zoom, November 19th at 2pm (PST) to hear Hunter Gardner (U of SC) and Caroline Wazer (Lapham’s Quarterly) discuss Gardner’s new book, Pestilence and the Body Politic in Latin Literature. We will explore the power of pestilence on both the Roman literary imagination and its civic mentality. We will also examine how it can speak to our own nosological and civic plagues.
Presented by DHI Early Science Workshop and the Society for Ancient Medicine and Pharmacology