PhD position (m/f), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The project here advertised, Heroic space in Attic drama, forms part of a larger NWO program Space in Ancient Greek Literature, which in its turn forms part of a larger project, a multi-volume narratological history of Classical Greek literature. So far two volumes have appeared: I.J.F. de Jong, R. Nünlist, A. Bowie (eds.) Narrators, Narratees, and Narratives in Ancient Greek Literature, Studies in Ancient Greek Narrative 1, Leiden, Brill 2004; I.J.F. de Jong, R. Nünlist, (eds.) Time in Ancient Greek Literature, Studies in Ancient Greek Narrative 2, Leiden, Brill 2007.

The third volume will deal with space, discussing issues such as the amount of attention paid to space, the distribution of the space descriptions over the text; the presentation of space (is the information provided by the narrator, representing his own focalization or that of an anonymous viewer, or is it one of the characters who is focalizing or speaking?), its thematic function (when it becomes a factor of importance in the plot, e.g. when its central hero is traveling), symbolic function (e.g. city versus country, inside versus outside, public versus private, etc.), or characterizing function (when the description of objects or housing tells us something about a character).

By way of elaboration on the chapters on drama, the PhD project Heroic space in Attic drama will discuss in detail aspects of space in one or more plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides, taking its cue from studies such as Issacharoff 1981, Kuntz 1993, and Rehm 2002. It will deal with the setting and the relationship between the onstage space and the offstage space. But the main aspect to be discussed concerns the fact that ancient drama while treating contemporary issues always is situated in the heroic past: how is the physical outlook of this heroic past (re)constructed? In view of the paramount importance of the Homeric epics in fifth century Athens the heroic space of drama is likely to have been modeled after that of epic, but as some – small scale – investigations of anachronism in tragedy have shown, the contemporary world may intrude; see Easterling 1985 and Dunn 2006. While the seventh century Homeric (re)construction of the heroic world is a matter of intense discussion and debate since more than a century, the (re)construction of the heroic world in fifth century Athens so far is still largely to be explored.

Tasks

The candidate is expected to research and complete a PhD dissertation within a period of three years and three months, and to participate in the graduate curriculum of the national research school of classics OIKOS.

Requirements

MA in Classics, obtained no longer than five years ago. An MA in a research Master and/ or an MSt, MPhil or some other form of postdoctoral research training is a definite pre. The Master thesis preferably deals with a topic from Greek literature.

Further information

A full text of the NWO program of which this PhD project forms a part can be found in the attachment below or required from drs. Paul Koopman (icg-fgw@uva.nl). Further information can be obtained from Professor Irene J.F. de Jong (i.j.f.dejong@uva.nl or 0031-20-5252559).

Appointment

The PhD candidate will be appointed for a period of three years and three months, starting from September 2009 or later (but not after 31 December 2009) at the Faculty of Humanities of the UvA under the terms of employment currently valid for the Faculty. A contract will be given in the first instance for one year, with an extension for the following three years on the basis of an evaluation of, amongst other things, a written piece of work. The salary (on a full time base) will be € 2.042 during the first year (gross per month) and will reach € 2.612 during the fourth year, in accordance with the CAO for Dutch universities.

Job application

Applications for this position, preferably in pdf format, should be sent to drs. P.J. Koopman, Instituut voor Cultuur en Geschiedenis, Spuistraat 134, 1012 VB Amsterdam (icg-fgw@uva.nl). They should consist of 1) a letter of application; 2) a copy of recent work, preferably a MA thesis; 3) a sketch (1500-2000 words) of how the applicant intends to fill in the rough project proposal summarized above and described in more detail in the NWO program ‘Space in Ancient Greek Literature’. The deadline for submission is 1 June 2009 at the latest. Please state the vacancy number. Applications received after this date or those that are incomplete will not be taken into consideration.