Title: Assistant Professor
Dept: Classics
Office: Eleanor Butler Sanders Hall 120
Ext: 5602
Contact Rachel Friedman
Rachel Friedman started teaching at Vassar in 1997 after receiving her Ph. D. in Classics from Columbia University and her B.A. from Barnard College. She is a Hellenist who specializes in the literature of the Archaic and Classical periods. Of particular interest to her is the figure of the poet in ancient literature and the way that he positions himself in relation to his inherited traditions. She has explored various aspects of this interest in articles on Homer, Herodotus and Euripides. Recently she has expanded this focus in work on postcolonial appropriations of classical texts, looking at Derek Walcott’s use of Homer and Michael Ondaatje’s use of Herodotus in The English Patient. In addition to classes in Greek and Latin language and literature, she enjoys teaching courses that situate classical texts in a broader context such as the College Course (Civilization in Question), a Freshman course comparing the study of Greek and Hebrew mythology, and a course on the writings of Caribbean poet Derek Walcott and his relationship to Homer. Her interest in post-colonialism has led her to develop a new course on Classics and Colonialism and to revisit her background in biblical and rabbinic literature in her Jewish Studies 201 course which explores the idea of the wandering Jew. In this course she brings modern critical theory on the idea of diaspora to an examination of classical Jewish texts. She plans in future work to continue exploring some of the ways that a postcolonial poetics can give us a productive lens through which to read and understand ancient texts.