Francesca Spiegel | Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (original) (raw)
Books by Francesca Spiegel
Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
"A treasury of provocations" - Ella Haselswerdt in the Bryn Mawr Classical Rreview // First pu... more "A treasury of provocations" - Ella Haselswerdt in the Bryn Mawr Classical Rreview //
First published online in 2019 //
1st hardback edition: 2020
Unpacks Sophocles' discourses of exclusion and their literary tropes of the pathological, the bes... more Unpacks Sophocles' discourses of exclusion and their literary tropes of the pathological, the bestial, the brutish, the monstrous, and the so-called uncivilized, taking into account all of Sophocles' fully extant plays as well as some of the longer fragments. PhD thesis.
Essays by Francesca Spiegel
Classical Literature and Posthumanism, 2019
This chapter studies male Athenian embodiment of virtue, or kalokagathia, through the legal speec... more This chapter studies male Athenian embodiment of virtue, or kalokagathia, through the legal speeches of Antiphon’s second tetralogy. It evaluates neo-materialist views of masculine body-weapon synergic entanglements in Greek writing in and beyond Antiphon (Homer, Plato, Sophocles), and analyzes the political dimension. It looks at malfunctions of man/weapon entanglements, where weapons or armour fail to be a seamless extension of masculine human agency, and instead cause unwanted damage. The malfunctions of these entanglements are then considered in the light of ideologies underwriting Greek embodiment of masculinity, and in the light of object-oriented-ontology/ “object agency” theory.
forthcoming in 2016, in "Occupy Antigone: Tradition, Transition and Transformation in Performance... more forthcoming in 2016, in "Occupy Antigone: Tradition, Transition and Transformation in Performance", ed. C. Gruber, K. Pewny, L. Van den Dries and S. Leenknegt (Schriftreihe Forum Modernes Theater)
On decadence as portrayed by Marcel Proust in early 20th century Paris, and the Classical Tradition
book reviews by Francesca Spiegel
The Classical Review, 2022
Gli oggetti sulla scena teatrale ateniese: funzione, rappresentazione, comunicazione
Talks by Francesca Spiegel
TECHNOSOMATA workshop, 2019
Did Oedipus' parents attempt to contraceive their fate? This talk checks for and displays eviden... more Did Oedipus' parents attempt to contraceive their fate?
This talk checks for and displays evidence of contraceptive and abortive techniques, and examines the significance of the Laius oracle in Sophocles, also comparing other sources and versions of the myth.
At the crossroads of mythology and ancient gynecology, sexology, and critical disability studies, this paper brings together the cagey, disparate, and mutually compromising scraps evidence on how Oedipus was contraceived, conceived, and exposed as a last-resort form of abortion, guided by the knowledge, moral norms, and technologies available.
Where contraception meets abortion meets child exposure in ancient classical and archaic thought, I review arguments about Laius' sexual bodily technique and technologies, and highlight manifestations of sexual-technological knowledge on how to conveive or contraceive.
This talk will open up more questions than it can resolve, as it navigates a tapestry of ancient cultural narratives that involve oracular wisdom as well as cultural technologies, science and myth, and stands in the shadow of public debates about abortion nowadays that are conducted in a far from rational manner.
Talk delivered at FIEC/CA 2019 in Genevieve Liveley's Panel : Cyborgs and Posthumans When Odys... more Talk delivered at FIEC/CA 2019 in Genevieve Liveley's Panel : Cyborgs and Posthumans
When Odysseus visits Circe in the Odyssey, her drugs transform his men into swine. This
paper shines a spotlight on the pharmacological agents at play in the story to consider how
Circe might help us to think through the significance of pharmacologically modified
subjectivity in society today―in healthcare, at work, and at home. Sociologist Nikolas Rose
(2009) has described the emergence of ‘neuro-chemical-selves’, where neuro-chemistry
determines selfhood and subjectivity, and philosopher Paul Preciado (2008) has spoken of
‘micro-prosthetics’, where pharmaceuticals alter body or mind. I argue that there is
legitimate scientific knowledge and pharmacological skill behind the products in Circe’s
pharmacy. The transformation of men into swine (and back again) is not an instance of
fairytale magic, or attributable merely to witchcraft, but rather points to hallucinogenic
ingestion and bodies made and un-made by drugs. The account of men turning into swine is
thus a co-production of human imagination and narratorial subjectivity, enhanced by and
entangled with hallucinogenic molecules.
This talk argues, reading Greek tragedy through Sophocles and with Latour, how tragic agency – re... more This talk argues, reading Greek tragedy through Sophocles and with Latour, how tragic agency – responsibility for dire events – is distributed across a whole community or network, rather than being concentrated upon a single character or scapegoat.
My reading replaces the traditional focus on ritual, scapegoating and character flaws with the study of structural social exclusion and its devices.
Talk I gave at Bristol Cyborg Classics Symposium , July 2017 -- introductory Tom Waits quote: ... more Talk I gave at Bristol Cyborg Classics Symposium , July 2017
-- introductory Tom Waits quote:
Now a man figures it's his bullets, so it'll take what he wants
But it don't always work out that way
You see, some bullets are special for a single target
a certain stag or a certain person
And no matter where you aim, that's where the bullet'll end up
And in the moment of aiming, the gun turns into a dowser's(4) wand
and points where the bullet wants to go
Kurze meldung vor Beginn: Das deutsche Wort " Exklusion " trifft wohl das englische Wort " exclus... more Kurze meldung vor Beginn: Das deutsche Wort " Exklusion " trifft wohl das englische Wort " exclusion " nicht ganz genau, aber ich werde es heute dennoch verwenden; Was ich genauer unter Exklusion verstehe, vor allem im Bezug zu Sophokles, das werde ich Ihnen sofort erklaeren. Aber noch bevor ich dies tue, kuendige ich Ihnen jetzt hiermit an, dass ich in den naechsten 20 minuten erst mal: kurz die Ergebnisse meiner Forschung vorstellen werde, dann zu Aristophanes' Voegel uebergehen werde, und insbesondere zum Thema " neu gefundene Identitaet " .Dazu geht's zur Neugruendung der Stadt in den Voegeln, und Exklusion als Motiv in der Komik. Immer wieder komme ich auf das Konzept des Paratragischen bei Aristophanes. Und deswegen nur vorab, mit Paratragisch meine ich Bezuege aller Art zur Tragoedieim Rahmen einer gespielten Kommoedie. Also: Intra-Theatralitaet. Komoedie und Tragoedie haben ja miteinander gemeinsam, dass sie beide " im Theater " gesehen werden, darueber hinaus sind Bezuege allerdings eher neblig; die Tragoedie zeichnet sich regelrecht durch ihre Selbst-Bezueglichkeit aus, und laesst nichts, aber wirklich nichts Konkretes, von aussen in sich hinein. Die Kommoedie dagegen persiffliert und zitiert viel und gern andere Texte—ganz vorne an die Tragoedie—das Paratragische ist eben gerade die Art von Bezug auf Tragoedie, der nicht parodisch, oder sarkastisch ist, sondern teilweise einfach nur eine Bezugnahme ohne negative Wertung. Ich werde jetzt die wichtigsten Schritte und Erkenntnisse meiner Forschung zu Sophokles kurz vorstellen. Dazu habe ich die Visualisierung gemalt, die jetzt hier an der Wand kleben bleiben wird und Ihnen hoffentlich weiterhilft. Vorausschicken will ich nur, dass meine Arbeit das Motiv der Exklusion in einem sprachlich-literarischen Ambitus behandelt. Das heisst ich biete keine historischen Kontext Analysen oder Information zu den Realia.Diesen Ansatz kann man kritisieren, ich habe ihn gewaehlt und werde das hier aus Gruenden der Platzoekonomie nicht naeher eroertern. Ganz nach Roland Barthes, der mal geschrieben hat, " in der Tragoedie wird nie gestorben, immer geredet " ist mein Zugang zu den Tragodien in erster Linie literarisch-kritisch. Kommen wir zu Sophokles.
below is a link to video of me giving this talk. So nice that they filmed it !!!!
Conference Presentations by Francesca Spiegel
When we say Irrational, what do we really mean? Be about it and talk it through with us at UCL o... more When we say Irrational, what do we really mean?
Be about it and talk it through with us at UCL on July 9th!
Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
"A treasury of provocations" - Ella Haselswerdt in the Bryn Mawr Classical Rreview // First pu... more "A treasury of provocations" - Ella Haselswerdt in the Bryn Mawr Classical Rreview //
First published online in 2019 //
1st hardback edition: 2020
Unpacks Sophocles' discourses of exclusion and their literary tropes of the pathological, the bes... more Unpacks Sophocles' discourses of exclusion and their literary tropes of the pathological, the bestial, the brutish, the monstrous, and the so-called uncivilized, taking into account all of Sophocles' fully extant plays as well as some of the longer fragments. PhD thesis.
Classical Literature and Posthumanism, 2019
This chapter studies male Athenian embodiment of virtue, or kalokagathia, through the legal speec... more This chapter studies male Athenian embodiment of virtue, or kalokagathia, through the legal speeches of Antiphon’s second tetralogy. It evaluates neo-materialist views of masculine body-weapon synergic entanglements in Greek writing in and beyond Antiphon (Homer, Plato, Sophocles), and analyzes the political dimension. It looks at malfunctions of man/weapon entanglements, where weapons or armour fail to be a seamless extension of masculine human agency, and instead cause unwanted damage. The malfunctions of these entanglements are then considered in the light of ideologies underwriting Greek embodiment of masculinity, and in the light of object-oriented-ontology/ “object agency” theory.
forthcoming in 2016, in "Occupy Antigone: Tradition, Transition and Transformation in Performance... more forthcoming in 2016, in "Occupy Antigone: Tradition, Transition and Transformation in Performance", ed. C. Gruber, K. Pewny, L. Van den Dries and S. Leenknegt (Schriftreihe Forum Modernes Theater)
On decadence as portrayed by Marcel Proust in early 20th century Paris, and the Classical Tradition
TECHNOSOMATA workshop, 2019
Did Oedipus' parents attempt to contraceive their fate? This talk checks for and displays eviden... more Did Oedipus' parents attempt to contraceive their fate?
This talk checks for and displays evidence of contraceptive and abortive techniques, and examines the significance of the Laius oracle in Sophocles, also comparing other sources and versions of the myth.
At the crossroads of mythology and ancient gynecology, sexology, and critical disability studies, this paper brings together the cagey, disparate, and mutually compromising scraps evidence on how Oedipus was contraceived, conceived, and exposed as a last-resort form of abortion, guided by the knowledge, moral norms, and technologies available.
Where contraception meets abortion meets child exposure in ancient classical and archaic thought, I review arguments about Laius' sexual bodily technique and technologies, and highlight manifestations of sexual-technological knowledge on how to conveive or contraceive.
This talk will open up more questions than it can resolve, as it navigates a tapestry of ancient cultural narratives that involve oracular wisdom as well as cultural technologies, science and myth, and stands in the shadow of public debates about abortion nowadays that are conducted in a far from rational manner.
Talk delivered at FIEC/CA 2019 in Genevieve Liveley's Panel : Cyborgs and Posthumans When Odys... more Talk delivered at FIEC/CA 2019 in Genevieve Liveley's Panel : Cyborgs and Posthumans
When Odysseus visits Circe in the Odyssey, her drugs transform his men into swine. This
paper shines a spotlight on the pharmacological agents at play in the story to consider how
Circe might help us to think through the significance of pharmacologically modified
subjectivity in society today―in healthcare, at work, and at home. Sociologist Nikolas Rose
(2009) has described the emergence of ‘neuro-chemical-selves’, where neuro-chemistry
determines selfhood and subjectivity, and philosopher Paul Preciado (2008) has spoken of
‘micro-prosthetics’, where pharmaceuticals alter body or mind. I argue that there is
legitimate scientific knowledge and pharmacological skill behind the products in Circe’s
pharmacy. The transformation of men into swine (and back again) is not an instance of
fairytale magic, or attributable merely to witchcraft, but rather points to hallucinogenic
ingestion and bodies made and un-made by drugs. The account of men turning into swine is
thus a co-production of human imagination and narratorial subjectivity, enhanced by and
entangled with hallucinogenic molecules.
This talk argues, reading Greek tragedy through Sophocles and with Latour, how tragic agency – re... more This talk argues, reading Greek tragedy through Sophocles and with Latour, how tragic agency – responsibility for dire events – is distributed across a whole community or network, rather than being concentrated upon a single character or scapegoat.
My reading replaces the traditional focus on ritual, scapegoating and character flaws with the study of structural social exclusion and its devices.
Talk I gave at Bristol Cyborg Classics Symposium , July 2017 -- introductory Tom Waits quote: ... more Talk I gave at Bristol Cyborg Classics Symposium , July 2017
-- introductory Tom Waits quote:
Now a man figures it's his bullets, so it'll take what he wants
But it don't always work out that way
You see, some bullets are special for a single target
a certain stag or a certain person
And no matter where you aim, that's where the bullet'll end up
And in the moment of aiming, the gun turns into a dowser's(4) wand
and points where the bullet wants to go
Kurze meldung vor Beginn: Das deutsche Wort " Exklusion " trifft wohl das englische Wort " exclus... more Kurze meldung vor Beginn: Das deutsche Wort " Exklusion " trifft wohl das englische Wort " exclusion " nicht ganz genau, aber ich werde es heute dennoch verwenden; Was ich genauer unter Exklusion verstehe, vor allem im Bezug zu Sophokles, das werde ich Ihnen sofort erklaeren. Aber noch bevor ich dies tue, kuendige ich Ihnen jetzt hiermit an, dass ich in den naechsten 20 minuten erst mal: kurz die Ergebnisse meiner Forschung vorstellen werde, dann zu Aristophanes' Voegel uebergehen werde, und insbesondere zum Thema " neu gefundene Identitaet " .Dazu geht's zur Neugruendung der Stadt in den Voegeln, und Exklusion als Motiv in der Komik. Immer wieder komme ich auf das Konzept des Paratragischen bei Aristophanes. Und deswegen nur vorab, mit Paratragisch meine ich Bezuege aller Art zur Tragoedieim Rahmen einer gespielten Kommoedie. Also: Intra-Theatralitaet. Komoedie und Tragoedie haben ja miteinander gemeinsam, dass sie beide " im Theater " gesehen werden, darueber hinaus sind Bezuege allerdings eher neblig; die Tragoedie zeichnet sich regelrecht durch ihre Selbst-Bezueglichkeit aus, und laesst nichts, aber wirklich nichts Konkretes, von aussen in sich hinein. Die Kommoedie dagegen persiffliert und zitiert viel und gern andere Texte—ganz vorne an die Tragoedie—das Paratragische ist eben gerade die Art von Bezug auf Tragoedie, der nicht parodisch, oder sarkastisch ist, sondern teilweise einfach nur eine Bezugnahme ohne negative Wertung. Ich werde jetzt die wichtigsten Schritte und Erkenntnisse meiner Forschung zu Sophokles kurz vorstellen. Dazu habe ich die Visualisierung gemalt, die jetzt hier an der Wand kleben bleiben wird und Ihnen hoffentlich weiterhilft. Vorausschicken will ich nur, dass meine Arbeit das Motiv der Exklusion in einem sprachlich-literarischen Ambitus behandelt. Das heisst ich biete keine historischen Kontext Analysen oder Information zu den Realia.Diesen Ansatz kann man kritisieren, ich habe ihn gewaehlt und werde das hier aus Gruenden der Platzoekonomie nicht naeher eroertern. Ganz nach Roland Barthes, der mal geschrieben hat, " in der Tragoedie wird nie gestorben, immer geredet " ist mein Zugang zu den Tragodien in erster Linie literarisch-kritisch. Kommen wir zu Sophokles.
below is a link to video of me giving this talk. So nice that they filmed it !!!!
When we say Irrational, what do we really mean? Be about it and talk it through with us at UCL o... more When we say Irrational, what do we really mean?
Be about it and talk it through with us at UCL on July 9th!