Dr A. Sophie Schoess
Lecturer
- Phone
- +44 (0)1334 46 2615
- ass8@st-andrews.ac.uk
- Office
- C28
- Location
- Craigard
Biography
I graduated from UCL in 2010 with a degree in Archaeology, Classics, and Classical Art before moving to the University of Oxford for an MSt in Classical Archaeology (2011). I also completed an MA in Classics (UCL, 2012), before returning to St Hugh’s College, Oxford, for my DPhil in Classical Languages and Literature (2018).
Before joining the School of Classics at St Andrews, I held a non-stipendiary lectureship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (2016–19), a teaching assistantship at the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford (2016–17), and a stipendiary lectureship at St Anne’s College, Oxford (2017–2019).
Teaching
I contribute to the teaching of sub-honours language modules in both Greek and Latin (esp. GK1001, GK1002, LT1001, LT1002 and LT2003).
I offer the Greek honours modules ‘The Rest of the Story: Greek Epic after Homer’ (GK4128), 'Picture This: Intermediality in Greek Literature and Culture' (GK4129), and 'Writing like a Hetaira? The (Re-)Creation of Female Voices in the Second Sophistic' (GK4132), and the Classical Studies honours module 'Christianity and the Classics: Conflict, Competition, Conservation' (CL4469).
At graduate level, I contribute to the MLitt Greek Literary Culture module and the MLitt Core modules.
Research areas
My research focuses on the relationship between image and text in the classical world and beyond, with a strong emphasis on the visuality of Imperial and late-antique epic poetry. I am particularly interested in exploring the ways in which visual influences affect literary narrative, be it through the writer’s engagement with visual culture or their use of visual language. Such a visual approach to text enables us to understand better the dynamic interactions between visual and textual media, and to recognise the misguidedness of viewing images as dependent on texts, or as mere illustrations of literary accounts.
Throughout my work on Imperial and late-antique poetry, I have been addressing the question of whether later Greek authors were familiar and engaged with the Latin classics. I am particularly interested in exploring the ways in which later Greek epic poets, such as Nonnus, Quintus, and Colluthus, developed further visual approaches to classical myth first evident in the Latin works of Ovid in particular.
I am preparing a monograph based on my doctoral research on the transmission and reception of Ariadne’s abandonment in literature and the visual arts from Homer to Boccaccio.
I am also working on a new research project on the reception of classical myth in Christian culture, focusing on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages / Renaissance. I am particularly interested in the distinct ways these narratives are re-interpreted, re-shaped, and re-invented to contrast with, or reinforce, Christian ideas of morality.
PhD supervision
- Sophie Lemburg
- Helen Wyeth
Selected publications
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Images of life and death: visualising the heroic body in Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica
Schoess, A. S., 1 Jan 2022, Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica: writing Homer under Rome. Bär, S., Greensmith, E. & Ozbek, L. (eds.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 75-94 20 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Objects of the lusting gaze: viewing women as works of art in late antique poetry
Schoess, A. S., 1 Jun 2022, Greek and Latin poetry of late antiquity: form, tradition, and context. Verhelst, B. & Scheijnen, T. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 222-240 19 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Reading Homer and the Epic Cycle through ekphrasis: Philostratus’ epic Imagines
Schoess, A. S., 7 Oct 2021, Sophistic views of the epic past from the classical to the imperial Age. Bassino, P. & Benzi, N. (eds.). London: Bloomsbury Academic, p. 211–236 26 p. (Bloomsbury classical studies monographs).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Visualizing Actaeon: The Motif of Recognition in Nonnus' Treatment of the Metamorphosis
Schoess, A. S., 3 Dec 2020, Nonnus of Panopolis in Context III: Old Questions and New Perspectives. Doroszewski, F. & Jażdżewska, K. (eds.). Brill, p. 161–77Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Alciphron's reception of oral and literary traditions: mythological references and comparisons in Alciphron's Letters
Schoess, A. S., 13 Dec 2018, The Letters of Alciphron: A Unified Literary Work?. Biraud, M. & Zucker, A. (eds.). Leiden: Brill, p. 89–108 20 p. (Mnemosyne, Supplements, Late Antique Literature; vol. 424).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review