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Dr Joanna Paul

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Arts & Humanities
  • Classical Studies
  • joanna.paul

Web links

Professional biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies, and I joined the Open University in September 2011. Since 2019 I have also been the Open Media Fellow for Arts and Humanities. After an undergraduate degree in Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Birmingham, I studied for my MA and PhD at the University of Bristol, where I developed my research interests in classical reception studies. I joined the OU from the University of Liverpool, where I was a Lecturer in Classical Studies (2006-2009), and then the J.P. Postgate Early Career Fellow in Classics (2009-2011). 

Research interests

My research is concerned with the many different ways in which the modern world receives, engages with, and uses the classical past. I am particularly interested in receptions of antiquity in contemporary popular culture, especially the cinema. My monograph on Film and the Classical Epic Tradition was published by Oxford University Press in 2013, and I have written about films as diverse as Fellini-Satyricon, Le Mépris, Alexander, Agora, and Pompeii. 

The ongoing impact of Pompeii and Herculaneum on the cultural imagination continues to be the other main focus of my work, and I am currently investigating the surprising variety of ways in which contemporary music, from prog rock to pop, has found inspiration in this archaeological site. 

I am also developing a new project which explores the relationship between antiquity and gardens in the modern world. Building on my expertise in Latin literature, I am particularly interested in the ways in which Latin texts and other aspects of Greco-Roman myth and culture are incorporated into contemporary garden art, beginning with the work of Ian Hamilton Finlay at Little Sparta.

I supervise PhD students working on a range of classical reception topics, and have recently served as external examiner for projects in Liverpool, Queensland, and Madrid. 

Teaching interests

I am experienced in teaching a wide variety of subjects, including classical reception topics, Latin literature, visual culture, and Roman history. I chaired our Latin module (Classical Latin: the Language of Ancient Rome (A276)) throughout its production and the first years of its presentation, and have contributed materials to all of our other Classical Studies modules. I am currently the Classical Studies lead for our level 1 interdisciplinary module, Cultures (A112), and am convening a block on Ovid and myth in Rome for our new level 3 myth module (A350). 

I am committed to supporting high-quality and innovative teaching across my subject community, and have recently completed a term as Chair of the Education Committee at the Council of University Classical Departments (2018-2021). I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Impact and engagement

My role as Open Media Fellow for Arts and Humanities means I spend much of my time working with colleagues across the faculty, OpenLearn, and Broadcast & Partnerships on a wide variety of broadcast projects for the BBC, and open access resources. These activities play a vital role in bringing the OU’s expertise to the widest possible audience, while also generating materials that support our own teaching and learning. 

Outside this role, I have contributed to DVD documentaries on Alexander and Fellini-Satyricon and appeared on the BBC flagship Newsnight, as well as writing articles for OpenLearn and The Conversation. During my time as co-convener of the Classical Reception Studies Network (2017-19), I lead the redevelopment of our web presence, amongst other activities. I regularly present my research at conferences and seminars both nationally and internationally, and have in recent years been invited to give lectures at Aarhus, Paris, and Freiburg. 

Publications

Drones Over Pompeii: Cinematic Perspectives on Antiquity in the Digital Era (2019-07)
Paul, Joanna
Classical Receptions Journal, 11(3) (pp. 274-295)

Cinematic receptions of antiquity: the current state of play (2010)
Paul, Joanna
Classical Receptions Journal, 2(1) (pp. 136-155)

Film and the Classical Epic Tradition (2013-02-28)
Paul, Joanna
Classical Presences
ISBN : 9780199542925 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford

Afterword (2021-11)
Paul, Joanna
In: Potter, Amanda and Gardner, Hunter eds. Ancient Epic in Film and Television (pp. 233-239)
ISBN : 9781474473743 | Publisher : Edinburgh University Press | Published : Edinburgh

In Search of the Lost City: The Enduring Absence of Pompeii (2021-09-03)
Paul, Joanna
In: Geue, Tom and Giusti, Elena eds. Unspoken Rome: Absence in Latin Literature and its Reception (pp. 250-269)
ISBN : 9781108913843 | Publisher : Cambridge University Press | Published : Cambridge

Archaeology, historical fiction and Classical Reception Studies (2019-12)
Paul, Joanna
In: Witcher, Robert and van Helden, Daniël P. eds. Researching the Archaeological Past through Imagined Narratives: A Necessary Fiction. Routledge Studies in Archaeology (pp. 255-262)
ISBN : 9781138303638 | Publisher : Routledge

The Half-Blood Hero: Percy Jackson and Mythmaking in the Twenty-First Century (2017)
Paul, Joanna
In: Zajko, Vanda and Hoyle, Helena eds. A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology (pp. 231-242)
ISBN : 978-1-4443-3960-4 | Publisher : Wiley-Blackwell

‘‘Time is only a mode of thought, you know’: Ancient History, Empire, and Imagination in E. Nesbit’s Stories for Children’ (2015-09-07)
Paul, Joanna
In: Maurice, Lisa ed. The Reception of Ancient Greece and Rome in Children’s Literature: Eagles and Heroes. Metaforms (6) (pp. 30-55)
ISBN : 9789004298590 | Publisher : Brill | Published : Leiden

Madonna and whore: the many faces of Penelope in Camerini’s Ulysses (2013-11-28)
Paul, Joanna
In: Nikoloutsos, Konstantinos P. ed. Ancient Greek Women in Film (pp. 139-162)
ISBN : 9780199678921 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford

The Democratic Turn in (and through) pedagogy: a case study of the Cambridge Latin Course (2013-10-31)
Paul, Joanna
In: Hardwick, Lorna and Harrison, Stephen eds. Classics in the Modern World: A 'Democratic Turn'? (pp. 143-156)
ISBN : 978-0-19-967392-6 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford

Subverting sex and love in Alejandro Amenabar's 'Agora' (2013-01)
Paul, Joanna
In: Cyrino, Monica ed. Screening Sex and Love in the Ancient World (p 227)
ISBN : 9781137299598 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan

Pompeii, the Holocaust, and World War Two (2011-11-17)
Paul, Joanna
In: Hales, Shelley and Paul, Joanna eds. Pompeii in the Public Imagination from its Rediscovery to Today. Classical Presences
ISBN : 978-0-19-956936-6 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford

'I fear it's potentially like Pompeii’: disaster, mass media and the ancient city (2009-01)
Paul, Joanna
In: Lowe, Dunstan and Shahabudin, Kim eds. Classics for All: Reworking Antiquity in Mass Culture (pp. 91-108)
ISBN : 9781443801201 | Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing | Published : Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

Oliver Stone’s Alexander and the cinematic epic tradition (2009)
Paul, Joanna
In: Cartledge, Paul and Greenland, Fiona Rose eds. Responses to Oliver Stone’s Alexander: Film, History and Culture Studies (pp. 15-35)
ISBN : 9780299232849 | Publisher : University of Wisconsin Press | Published : Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Fellini-Satyricon: Petronius and Film (2009)
Paul, Joanna
In: Prag, Jonathan R. W. and Repath, Ian D. eds. Petronius: A Handbook (pp. 198-217)
ISBN : 9781405156875 | Publisher : Wiley - Blackwell | Published : Oxford, UK

Rome ruined and fragmented: the cinematic city in Fellini-Satyricon and Roma (2008-09-01)
Paul, Joanna
In: Wrigley, Richard ed. Cinematic Rome (pp. 109-120)
ISBN : 9781906510282 | Publisher : Troubadour Publishing Ltd | Published : Leicester, UK

Homer and Cinema: Translation and Adaptation in Le Mépris (2008-08-21)
Paul, Jo
In: Lianeri, Alekandra and Zajko, Vanda eds. Translation & The Classic: Identity as Change in the History of Culture. Classical Presences (pp. 148-165)
ISBN : 9780199288076 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Working with film: theories and methodologies (2007-12)
Paul, Joanna
In: Hardwick, Lorna and Stray, Christopher eds. A Companion to Classical Receptions (pp. 303-314)
ISBN : 9781405151672 | Publisher : Wiley - Blackwell | Published : Oxford, UK

Pompeii in the Public Imagination from its Rediscovery to Today (2011-11)
Hales, Shelley and Paul, Joanna eds.
Classical Presences
ISBN : 978-0-19-956936-6 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford