Cinzia DuBois

• BA English Literature and Classical Literature and Civilisation, University of Birmingham, 2014.
• MSc English Literature and Modernity: 1900-Present, University of Edinburgh, 2015. 

I graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2014 in English Literature and Classics before leaving the Classics world to study English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in the political use of Classicism in modernist fiction. I then spent the next six years saving up to fund my current PhD research project, which I am undertaking as a part-time distance learner based in Edinburgh. I currently work as a video essayist on YouTube and Podcaster, specialising in ancient and dark history.

PhD title

A Classical #MeToo Movement: An Analysis of Retellings of Mythological Women Published After 2016

Supervisors

Dr Elena Theodorakopoulos and Dr Rachel Sykes

2017 was a significant year for women in Classics: it saw the publication of Emily Wilson’s Odyssey, the first translation in English by a woman, and Mary Beard’s Women & Power: A Manifesto, which took a deep look at the ancient relationship between women’s voices in the public sphere and misogyny following her own experience with online abuse and having just witnessed the Trump campaign in 2016, in which he was depicted as Cellini’s bronze Perseus holding up the severed head of Hillary Clinton as Medusa. 2017 was also the year the openly misogynistic Donald Trump became America’s President and one of the world’s most powerful men, and a resurgence of the #MeToo movement on a global scale following the exposure of numerous sexual-abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein. Since, the publishing world has exploded with a wealth of Greek myth retellings, with over twenty written by women about women figures in particular. By looking at a selection of these retellings, this thesis shall examine whether these women-centred narratives reflect or comment on any of the socio-political issues women may have faced during the era of their publication. My thesis will aim to answer the following questions:

Is there a correlation between the rise in women-centred classical reception literature and the new feminine resistance?
Do authors turn to Classical mythology during times of socio-political unrest/ times of crisis, and if so, why?

Conference Presentations:

• “Classical Misappropriation and the Myth of White Genocide”. 15th Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Ancient Literature (AMPAL) 2020-2021. The University of Reading, (2021).
• “Loki, Latin and Why Classics in Hollywood Matters”. Midlands Network of Popular Culture Annual Forum, (2021).
• “Weaving Her Story: Do Mythological Women Have Anything More to Say?” Classical Association of Canada Annual Meeting, (2022).

Organisations:

• Chair of Critical CAHA (2021)
• Committee member Ad Alta Journal (2022)

ORCHID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8879-7696