and special exhibitions in particular. It is great to share emotional responses when you crowd around the exhibits but sometimes people spend too long reading about the artefacts and less time looking. The filming of the preview of Pompeii made you look as you listened. Such screenings highlight both the democratic possibilities of bringing the exhibition to the masses and also underline the fact that these events are still ‘remote’ (ironically) from them. As a coda, I was clearing
through tons of memorabilia in my cluttered house during my holiday in July and came across my dad’s Pompeii guidebook (born 1901 he travelled around on cruise ships during his time as a professional violinist). These are sepia photos of the town, principally views of streets and buildings with just a few pictures of ‘Human imprints.’ The first plate is of the interior of the museum, presumably at Naples where the body casts were kept in glass cases. There is no date on this intriguing little book (I would
guess it is 1920s) and absolutely no informative descriptions of the places and artefacts, just which street or building is shown. It is a piece of ancient history in its own right. Contrast the glossy and data packed 2013 catalogue and what is on offer on the BM website. But, knowing that my father was able to wander through the labyrinth of Crete and pick up bits of pottery from piles of debris I would love to know what more or less unsupervised visits to Pompeii were like in those days. Virtual tour, anyone !?
Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space
The Fantastika and the Classical World (29 June-1 July)
By Tony Keen, Associate Lecturer in Region 13
This conference is the culmination of a path that I had set myself upon more than a decade ago, when I gave a paper on Classics in Doctor Who and Star Trek at a conference in Walton Hall. Since then, I have made the reception of classics in science fiction and fantasy the main theme of my research, and it is on that basis that I got my Research Affiliate position. I was convinced that there were many other people interested, and so believed that a conference was a viable proposition. So when the Science Fiction Foundation offered to sponsor the conference, I leapt at the opportunity. At worst, I thought I would get a day-long seminar with perhaps a dozen papers. In November 2011, I was interviewed by Jessica Hughes for the Classics Confidential website, setting out my ideas and hopes for the conference. I remember saying at the time that if I only got Classicists to come, I’d feel that I’d failed. The conference succeeded better than I could have expected. We had over a hundred submissions, which were whittled down to just over sixty. About eighty people attended. These came from a series of different academic fields – Classicists, science fiction scholars, literature scholars, etc. Europe, and North America were represented, as well as the UK and Ireland. People who might otherwise never have met ended up having long and productive conversations, and that, frankly, was the point of the exercise. Nevertheless, we did have a set of very strong papers, including, representing the OU, Amanda Potter, and three excellent plenaries from author Sophia McDougall, and scholars Nick Lowe and Edith Hall. Everyone really enjoyed themselves, and so many people said to me afterwards that they didn’t want to leave. And I also got the impression that there was considerable enthusiasm for another conference along similar lines in a few years. I think this conference was an undoubted success. I’m keeping the conference blog open, to keep the momentum up. And I thank once again everyone who attended, the SF Foundation for sponsoring the event , and the Foresight Centre of the University of Liverpool for hosting.
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