Prof. Dr. Verena Schulz

Project 1: The rhetoric of breaking rules: successful against the norms

Antiquity has left us detailed precepts for the performance of the orator. The most extensive instructions are preserved in the Rhetorica ad Herennium and in Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria. They describe meticulously how the orator should correctly use his voice, his facial expressions, and his gestures. Divergence from these rules is clearly interpreted as a mistake and can be ridiculed. But by breaking rhetorical rules an orator can also achieve specific effects which make his performance stand out in a positive way.

This project analyses why the breaking of rules of oratorical performance is sometimes judged as a failure and sometimes as success: which rhetorical, social, and individual criteria determine whether the breaking of a rule is criticized, accepted, or praised? It focuses on both the communication between speaker and audience and the dialogue between rhetorical theory and practice.

Project 2: Theory and text – Modern literary and cultural approaches and ancient literature

Classical Philologists read, apply, and work with modern approaches taken from literary and cultural theory. Theories, concepts, and methods developed in modern philologies, sociology, philosophy and other disciplines are often at the heart of the interpretation of ancient texts. Over the last decades these approaches have become more prominent and have been further developed and refined.

The aim of this project is a study book that presents an up to date introduction to modern theories, concepts, and methods, which are illustrated through discussions of exemplary text analyses. It strives to foster the dialogues both between antiquity and contemporary thinking, and between Classical Philology and other disciplines that work with similar theoretical concepts and approaches.