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[1] Announcements<Back>

The new web site for the CAC is at <http://www.unb.ca/arts/CLAS/index.html >. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

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From: Hugh Mason <hmason@chass.utoronto.ca>>
A note that there will be a change in the Administrative structure in the Classics Department at the University of Toronto (St. George), effective * July 1, 1999 *

Michael Dewar replaces Hugh Mason as Undergraduate Coordinator. The phone remains the same (416-978-4848); Michael's email is <mdewar@chass.utoronto.ca>. Hugh Mason will exchange phone lines (and office) with Michael, and will be at 978-7174; he will be on leave and expects to be on Mytilini at least some of the year.

Alex Jones replaces Brad Inwood as Graduate Coordinator. His phone is 416-978-0483; email <ajones@chass.utoronto.ca>. Brad stays on the same phone line.

General Department lines remain 416-978-5698 and 416-978-5513, and we are all at 97 St. George St., Toronto ON M5S 2E8.

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[2] Job Announcements<Back>

For US jobs see the listings of the American Philological Association:
http://w w w.apaclassics.org/scripts/APA/Administration/Placement/jobs98-99.html

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From: Phyllis Forsyth <forsyth@watarts.uwaterloo.ca>
Applications are being accepted for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in Classical Studies starting September 1, 2000. The successful candidate must have a PhD in Classics, an active research program, and a commitment to excellence in undergraduate teaching. Teaching duties will include a variety of courses in Classical Civilization as well as language courses in Latin and/or ancient Greek. The successful candidate must also be willing to participate in our Distance Education program. Salary range commensurate with qualifications and experience. The closing date for applications is December 15, 1999. Send curriculum vitae and arrange for three letters of reference to be sent to: Professor P.Y. Forsyth, Chair, Department of Anthropology and Classical Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada. In accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, this advertisement is directed to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. The University of Waterloo encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including women, members of visible minorities, native peoples, and persons with disabilities. This appointment is subject to the availability of funds.

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[3] Conferences<Back>

From: B.T. Day <daybt@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca>

Friday, October 1

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[4] Call for Papers<Back>

From: Sara Lindheim <lindheim@humanitas.ucsb.edu>
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS EXTENDED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1, 1999
Organizers apologize for the inevitable multiple mailings. Please distribute as widely as possible to anyone you think might be interested.

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Feminist Theory and Classics III: The Next Generation
University of Southern California
May 18-21, 2000

The third Feminist Theory and Classics conference will be held in Los Angeles, at the University of Southern California, from May 18-21, 2000. The major goal of this conference will be to address the generational shift in feminism, and specifically within Classics. In an effort to create an environment in which feminists of all generations can speak to one another, the program will feature an all-workshop format which will bring together presenters with various levels of experience.
The program committee is looking for proposals either for individual presentations or for workshops. Proposals for presentations will be grouped by the program committee into workshops. Proposals for workshops may be submitted either by a group of presenters or by an individual. In the latter case, the program committee will work with the proposer to develop a series of additional presenters for the workshop.
All proposals should be no more than one page in length, and should fall into one of the four following topic areas:

1) THEORY. Presenters in this category might address recent developments in feminist theory, how these have or have not been taken up in Classics, the relationship between feminist theory and other theoretical discourses (e.g., gender studies, queer theory), what further developments might be fruitful, etc. Please submit a brief annotated bibliography along with your abstract.

2) PEDAGOGY. Presenters in this category might consider both course content and pedagogical method at all levels of instruction, addressing, for example, course design, team-teaching, interdisciplinary teaching, incorporating gender into the curriculum. Please submit a syllabus or any other relevant material with your abstract.

3) HOW TO. Presenters in this category might address practical issues such as how to run a conference, how to publish an article, how to organize a panel for a conference, how to get a job and/or tenure. Please submit a c.v. with your abstract.

4) SURVIVAL. Presenters might address the difficulties facing feminists in the discipline today, such as surviving sexual harassment, racism, ableism, homophobia, as well as combining life and career (e.g., motherhood, taking care of aging parents). Please submit supporting material -- e.g., bibliography, personal statement, etc. -- with your abstract.

All proposals should be submitted anonymously, with title only. On a separate cover sheet, please indicate your name, your address, your affiliation (if any), and the title of your proposal. Please send 6 copies to: Program Committee: Feminist Theory and Classics III, Department of Classics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.

Questions: Please contact Sara Lindheim, lindheim@humanitas.ucsb.edu, 805-893-7897, or Rainer Mack, mack@humanitas.ucsb.edu> 805-893-7593, or Bella Zweig, <bzweig@u.Arizona.edu> 520-621-1213.

The organizers hope to provide need-based financial support to help cover the costs of travel and lodging. For further information, please contact Amy Richlin at <richlin@mizar.usc.edu>

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The Fall Meeting of The Classical Association of the Atlantic States
(CAAS) will take place Friday and Saturday, October 8th and 9th, 1999, at Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042. The Program will include a wide variety of topics in scholarship and pedagogy of interest to all who teach the world of classical antiquity. We invite individual and group proposals on all aspects of the classical world (including the classical tradition) and on new strategies and resources for improved teaching. Especially welcome are presentations that aim at maximum audience participation and those that integrate middle school, high school, and college level concerns. Preference will be given to topics of wide general interest. Abstracts should include the questions which motivate the study and indicate why these questions are of importance to a wide audience. Abstracts (300 words) should be in triplicate and nameless; the cover letter should include the title of the abstract, address, phone number, and e-mail address of each presenter. Please include a brief Curriculum Vitae (no more than a paragraph) for each presenter. Send materials by June 15, 1999 to:
Dr. Gail Ann Rickert
Office of Academic Advising
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, PA 17325
(717)337-6579
<grickert@gettysburg.edu>

For information on the Meeting and on accomodations, please contact Howard Marblestone, Conference Coordinator, CAAS, at Department of Foreign Languages, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042. Telephone 610 330 5256. E-mail: <marblesh@lafayette.edu>

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[5] Varia<Back>

From Shiela Ager: <sager@watarts.uwaterloo.ca>
The Department of Anthropology and Classical Studies at the University of Waterloo is delighted to announce that this year's winner of the Governor General's Silver Medal is one of our own. Cathy Jane Harrison, who will be graduating with an Honours BA in Classical Studies (Languages Specialization), is the extremely worthy winner of this highest of convocation awards, given to the student "with the highest academic standing, university-wide". That a Classical languages student has won such a prestigious award should encourage us all as to the future of the discipline.

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From: Patricia J. Calkin <pcalkin@is.dal.ca> Report of the 1999 CAC Sponsored Sight Translation Competitions Submitted to AGM of CAC, 29 May 1999 UniversitÇ Laval, Quebec City

The 1999 Sight Translation Competitions were held on January 21 (Latin papers) and January 28 (Greek papers), 1999. The usual arrangements and the timing of mailings continue to work well although there were a number of last minute entries this year. I took this to be another indication of the increasingly heavy work load being carried by most colleagues. The addition this year of a Latin paper designed especially for High School students was well received. On the financial side, the Sights still cost more to run (nearly $600.00 this year) than we receive in donations (just under $300.00 this year) but the large number of generous donations received during the 1997-98 competition will provide funds for one more frugal year. The following numbers will witness to the continuing interest in the Sights across the country.

Submissions and entries to both the Junior and Senior competitions show the usual variations but the numbers of institutions participating remain steady. The actual numbers for the 1999 competition are:

JUNIOR LATIN: 219 entries from 17 universities, 3 schools = 72 submissions
JUNIOR GREEK: 120 entries from 18 universities, = 43 submissions
SENIOR LATIN: 95 entries from 19 universities = 42 submissions
SENIOR GREEK: 73 entries from 15 universities = 25 submissions
HIGH SCHOOL LATIN: 191 entries from 14 schools = 58 submissions

The Junior Latin paper, Nepos, de excellentibus ducibus externarum gentium,"Themistocles" 9.1-4, was set and marked by Dr. Michael Cummings of The University of Calgary. His report reads:

Approximately two-thirds (of the 72 entries) were not finished or had significant gaps. Some of the most basic errors were quite surprising. Perhaps a dozen or so students failed to read or to associate the background information with the text, yielding various versions-usually the same spelling as in the text-of the names in the texts (Themistoclen, Xerxe, Artaxerxen, Salamini, and the like). We clearly need to remind students to think about whatever background information is provided. Also notable was the students' lack of knowledge about several names that were not glossed: a significant number did not offer standard spellings of Thucydides or the Hellespont, or even connect Graiorum with the Greek people. I have noticed in my own Latin and Greek classes that many students lack the most basic knowledge of Greek and Roman history and civilization. Perhaps we need to make more of an effort to integrate background material into language courses.

The first two sentences offer a good indication of the general types of mistakes made: about half of the entrants failed to recognize plerosque as the subject accusative, and too many translated the phrase along the lines of "it is has often been written." Approximately half of the entrants appear to have failed to recognize Xerxe regnante as an ablative absolute. Potissimum defeated about half the entrants, also, leading to translations along the lines of "I believe most powerful Thucydides," "I believe the power of the Thucydides," and such. About two-thirds did not realize that iis is the antecedent of qui, producing translations of iis as "him," "those events," "those things," "those days," and the like. Most also did not translate eiusdem correctly.

Almost three-quarters had trouble with Themistocles being the subject in Themistocles veni ad te: the most common mistake was to translate veni as 3rd person singular, or to take Themistocles as a vocative. The future perfect ero adeptus (adipiscor was given in the vocabulary list) also eluded most of the entrants. There were some surprising vocabulary difficulties, although the very different vocabularies of the most common Latin textbooks are no doubt principally the cause.

Finally, the most notable problem was the regular failure of students to write actual English sentences. Clearly, students need to be encouraged to think about the meaning of a clause or sentence and only then to express it in simple English.

In general, it is encouraging to see so many entries from across Canada. I was amused by the note at the bottom of one translation, "My teacher made me do this." Three cheers for this teacher and others who doubtless inspired similar rebellious thoughts. Cheers, too, for the students who valiantly struck out across unfamiliar waters.

Most students who were able to complete the passage understood the syntax even when they did not know all the vocabulary. I hope teachers and instructors will encourage them and reinforce this careful attention to syntax. Some students have not yet met all the forms of the verb. The presence of three participles (present, perfect and future) in one sentence puzzled many as did the perfect kektemai. Many recognized the relationship between hippos and hippikos but did not realize that the latter trained the former. On the plus side, most students recognized from the gender of the article that the pais was female.

The senior sight translation passage for 1999 was taken from Cicero's Pro Marcello. There were a number of good submissions. I fully expected that the long (eighty word) third sentence would prove to be the true test of the students' skill. It did. The students who were able to grasp the syntactic structure of the sentence and then render it in controlled English/French were few. A somewhat more surprising problem arose with the opening clause: nullius tantum flumen est ingenii.... A number of students attempted to make nullius and flumen agree.

I wish also to emphasize the importance of making sense. There are some students who still struggle with this. We, as teachers, must continue to remind them that, if their translations do not make sense in English/French, they are not good translations. The same applies to lacunae.

The first place entry was head and shoulders above the other submissions. It was superior by virtue of its fluid and mature translation. While not perfect, it was nonetheless coherent. The contestant demonstrated a good knowledge of vocabulary and idiom including hednois, eleutherostomein and doriktetos.

The second place entry missed some of the vocabulary, but produced a reasonably good translation. note: lines 147-180 were reproduced on the examination sheet although the passage was cited as lines 155-180. The editing error was mine. Dr. Fletcher notes in her report, "Even so most of the contestants were able to complete the translation.")

In general the piece seemed overly difficult for most contestants. Some got the general sense of the passage, but produced a rough precis rather than a translation. For many the difficulties were as much with knowledge of vocabulary as with grammatical constructions. This was in spite of the fact that we provided a fairly extensive vocabulary of eleven words for the piece. While no student came up with a perfect, or even nearly perfect translation, several made a very good effort. The best ones have already learned that an important part of translation skill is the ability to get "back on track" when a word or two, or even a whole sentence proves difficult to translate. The following points seemed to cause most difficulty for the greatest number of students.

Few students were able to connect quidam scriptores with tradunt to begin the translation of the accusative and infinitive construction. I was surprised (and dismayed) at how few students know the meaning of the deponent verb verebantur. Wild guesses here completely obscured the meaning of the sentence. Since the word Tutius began the sentence most contestants failed to recognize the neuter form of the comparative degree of the adjective, and thought that it was a proper name. At least half the entries thought that the elephants had female drivers or women had come out of Hannibal's army to help with the elephants, rather than the correct translation as ". . .the elephants, with the females leading the way." Too many could not cope with numerals, and if they did correctly get the raft as "two hundred feet long," they blithely ignored the fact that it was "fifty feet broad."

I strongly urge that the supervising teachers in the contest have the students take the last ten or fifteen minutes of the time allowed (or an additional ten or fifteen minutes) to rewrite their papers in a legible fashion. Too many-in both English and French-were almost impossible to read, even when it seemed that the students might be on the track of a reasonably accurate translation.

Respectfully submitted,
Patricia J. Calkin
Dalhousie University.