News from the Division of Languages and Literature

In ancient Greece, an elite fighting unit, known for its courage and esprit de corps, was composed of male lovers sworn to mutual loyalty. “James Romm brings to the fore a striking aspect of Thebes’ varied history: a group of warriors who originated there and who, over four decades in the fourth century B.C., fought throughout central Greece, helping to defeat formidable foes and solidifying Thebes’ decade-long dominance. Mr. Romm . . . deftly pieces the story together from the limited sources that have come down to us.” James Romm is the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics and director of the Classical Studies Program at Bard.
 

The writer Francine Prose teaches literature at Bard College, and one of her classes is about totalitarianism. In her latest novel, The Vixen, she explores the moral ambiguity of 1950s America, the height of McCarthyism. Her book is loosely based on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the suspected spies for Russia who were executed in 1953. Turns out, Francine Prose has a real-life family connection to the Rosenbergs. Prose speaks with Sacha Pfeiffer on NPR.
 

Michael Sadowski’s memoir, Men I’ve Never Been, recounts his shunning of his queer identity and sexuality as a boy in order to become the man society wants him to be—“bringing to light the kinds of lies we tell ourselves about our identities, and the price of maintaining them.” Sadowski is interim dean of graduate studies, director of inclusive pedagogy and curriculum, and associate professor in the Bard MAT Program. James Romm “has written a tale of the greatest military corps during the last decades of ancient Greek freedom—The Sacred Band, a unit 300 strong composed of 150 pairs of male lovers.” Romm is James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics and director of the Classical Studies Program.