Sharon Lynn James (2 January 1960 – 28 December 2023) was a

Classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Classics at

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. She was an expert in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

poetry, women and gender in

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

New Comedy Ancient Greek comedy () was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece; the others being tragedy and the satyr play. Greek comedy was distinguished from tragedy by its happy endings and use of comically ...

, and Italian epic.

Education

James received her PhD in 1991 in Comparative Literature from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. Her doctoral thesis, ''"Dolcezza di figlio, pieta del vecchio padre": Parents and Children in

the Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

, the

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

, and the

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

'', examined child-parent relationships in Homer, Vergil, and Dante.

Career

James began her career teaching at

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

, and the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

. She joined UNC-Chapel Hill in 1999, teaching there for 24 years. In 2012, James co-led an NEH summer institute program, "Roman Comedy in Performance." Following her death, James was described as 'a pioneer in the scholarship and teaching of women in antiquity'. She held numerous national leadership positions, including chair for the Society for Classical Studies Membership Committee (2018–2021), sitting on the editorial board of the journal ''Mouseion'' (2012–2015); and serving on the prize committee for the

American Journal of Philology The ''American Journal of Philology'' is a quarterly academic journal established in 1880 by the classical scholar Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. It covers the field of philology, and related areas ...

(2016–2018).

Bibliography

* ''Learned Girls and Male Persuasion: Gender and Reading in Roman Love Elegy'' (University of California Press, 2003) * (edited by Sharon James and Sheila Dillon) ''A Companion to Women in the Ancient World'' (London: Blackwells, 2012) * (Dorota Dutsch, Sharon James, and David Konstan) ''Women in Roman Republication Drama'' (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2015) * (edited by Sharon James and Sheila Dillon) ''Women in the Classical World'' (London: Routledge, 2017) * (edited by Sharon James) ''Golden Cynthia. Essays on Propertius'' (Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Sharon American women academics University of California, Berkeley alumni 1960 births 2023 deaths