Gregory Nagy
Encyclopedia
Gregory Nagy , born in Budapest Hungary
in 1942, is an American
professor of Classics
at Harvard University, specializing in Homer
and archaic Greek poetry. Nagy is known for extending Milman Parry
and Albert Lord
's theories about the oral composition-in-performance of the Iliad
and Odyssey
. Since 2000, he has been the director of the Center for Hellenic Studies
, a Harvard school in Washington DC. He is the Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard, and continues to teach half-time at the Harvard campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From 1994 to 2000, he served as Chair of the Classics Department at Harvard University. He was Chair of Harvard's undergraduate Literature Concentration from 1989 to 1994. He served as the president of the American Philological Association in the academic year 1990-91.
Nagy and his wife, Olga Davidson, lecturer in Brandeis' Humanities Program and chair of the Ilex Foundation, served as co-masters of Currier House
at Harvard from 1986 to 1990.
Nagy has two brothers in allied fields: Blaise Nagy is a professor of Classics
, at the College of the Holy Cross
in Worcester, MA while Joseph F. Nagy is a professor of Celtic
folklore and mythology at UCLA.
As editor or co-editor:
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
in 1942, is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professor of Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at Harvard University, specializing in Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
and archaic Greek poetry. Nagy is known for extending Milman Parry
Milman Parry
Milman Parry was a scholar of epic poetry and the founder of the discipline of oral tradition.-Biography:He was born in 1902 and studied at the University of California, Berkeley and at the Sorbonne . A student of the linguist Antoine Meillet at the Sorbonne, Parry revolutionized Homeric studies...
and Albert Lord
Albert Lord
Albert Bates Lord was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard University who, after the death of Milman Parry, carried on that scholar's research into epic literature.-Personal life:...
's theories about the oral composition-in-performance of the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
and Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
. Since 2000, he has been the director of the Center for Hellenic Studies
Center for Hellenic Studies
The Center for Hellenic Studies is a research institute for classics located in Washington, D.C. at 3100 NW Whitehaven Street. It is affiliated with Harvard University....
, a Harvard school in Washington DC. He is the Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard, and continues to teach half-time at the Harvard campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From 1994 to 2000, he served as Chair of the Classics Department at Harvard University. He was Chair of Harvard's undergraduate Literature Concentration from 1989 to 1994. He served as the president of the American Philological Association in the academic year 1990-91.
Nagy and his wife, Olga Davidson, lecturer in Brandeis' Humanities Program and chair of the Ilex Foundation, served as co-masters of Currier House
Currier House
Currier House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses of Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Opened in September 1970, it is named after Audrey Bruce Currier, a member of the Radcliffe College Class of 1956 who, along with her husband, was killed in a plane crash in 1967...
at Harvard from 1986 to 1990.
Nagy has two brothers in allied fields: Blaise Nagy is a professor of Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, at the College of the Holy Cross
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
in Worcester, MA while Joseph F. Nagy is a professor of Celtic
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
folklore and mythology at UCLA.
Books
As sole author:- Nagy, Gregory, Homer's Text And Language (University of Illinois Press, 2004)
- Nagy, Gregory, Homeric Responses (University of Texas Press, 2003)
- Nagy, Gregory, Plato's Rhapsody and Homer's Music : The Poetics of the Panathenaic Festival in Classical Athens (Harvard University Press, 2002)
- Nagy, Gregory ed., Greek Literature (Taylor and Francis, London, 2001); ch. 14 was reprinted without the author's explicit permission; the editor has subsequently apologized to the author, without offering any financial compensation.
- Nagy, Gregory, The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry, Revised Edition (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998; original publication, 1979)
- Nagy, Gregory, Poetry as performance. Homer and beyond. (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
- Nagy, Gregory, Homeric Questions (University of Texas Press, 1996)
- Nagy, Gregory, Greek Mythology and Poetics (Cornell University Press, 1990)
- Nagy, Gregory, Pindar's Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990)
- Nagy, Gregory, Comparative Studies in Greek and Indic Meter (Harvard University Press, 1974)
- Nagy, Gregory, Greek Dialects and the Transformation of an Indo-European Process (Harvard University Press, 1970)
As editor or co-editor:
- Victor Bers and Nagy, G. eds., The Classics In East Europe: From the End of World War II to the Present (American Philological Association Pamphlet Series, 1996)
- Nicole Loraux, Nagy, G., and Slatkin, L., eds., Postwar French Thought vol. 3, Antiquities (New Press, 2001)
Articles
- Nagy, Gregory, "The Crisis of Performance," in The Ends of Rhetoric: History, Theory, Practice (ed. J. Bender and D.E. Wellbery; Stanford 1990) 43-59
- Nagy, Gregory, "Distortion diachronique dans l'art homérique: quelques précisions" in Constructions du temps dans le monde ancien (ed. C. Darbo-Peschanski; Paris 2000) 417-426.
- Nagy, Gregory, "The Professional Muse and Models of Prestige in Ancient Greece," Cultural Critique 12 (1989) 133-143
- Nagy, Gregory, Early Greek Views of Poets and Poetry," in The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, vol. 1 (ed. G. Kennedy; Cambridge 1989; paperback 1993) 1-77