Weekend Reading: Welcome, New Readers!

In the space of the last couple of weeks I’ve gained almost 100 new Classics students, and will be running into many more through tutorials over the next month. It’s definitely the most exciting time of the year!

So this post will serve as an introduction to my little Classical Studies Support site for all those new readers – and perhaps also for regular readers who (like me, worryingly!) have forgotten what’s on here. Over the years this website has turned into the online equivalent of my junk drawer in the kitchen – I have no memory of half the things in it!

Weekend Reading Posts

I try (during term time at least) to do one of these posts every Friday, to alert people to the things that catch my eye each week: recent blogposts, competitions, offers and podcasts in Classics and Classics-adjacent fields. I miss a LOT, so if you want a more exhaustive round-up you should check in with the Rogue Classicist every day. I also tend to share only the stuff that I think might interest my students – and I’m not always right about that! So these posts give you a place to start, not a full list of all the great stuff out there.

I used to collect all the Weekend Reading posts in an archive, but eventually I got bored and stopped. But you can always look up things in the Search bar at the side of each page.

Comfort Classics

This was my pandemic project. During lockdown I interviewed hundreds of people in Classics (students, academics, writers, artists, teachers etc) about the sources that make them happy. If you’re feeling down – or just curious! – you can while away a few cheerful hours reading through them! Who knows… if the world keeps on descending into gloom, I may have to start the project up again!

About Me

This is where I post information about myself – mainly so that I don’t have to talk about myself when I meet new students every year! Here you’ll find links to some of the projects I’ve worked on. If you want to find out more about my current activities in different areas of Classics, I have a profile website over at https://corabethfraser.wordpress.com/ (pretentious? me? never!).

Subject Pages

This is where I host all of my resources for the modules I teach. If you’re studying the new Myth course you’ll have to wait a few weeks for me to sort out a page for that: but for everyone else there are all sorts of freely downloadable materials.

Vita Brevis

This is a set of resources I imported from David Hogg’s ‘Ars Longa’ archive when it closed down. It’s a list of novels, music, movies and other things which have a classical connection, with brief reviews. I’m keen to expand it, so feel free to send me contributions!

The Library

Finally there’s the Library: the ultimate website junk drawer. Here you’ll find all sorts of things, both serious and silly. I have guest posts from former students with study advice; travel features; random classical stuff; lots of Lego; audio recordings; painfully cheesy videos; and all sorts of things I can’t remember making (yes, I’ve just lost quite a bit of time digging through it all!). I recommend the Lego material – I’m particularly proud of that!

My most popular page

Ages ago I did a post on Horace’s ‘carpe diem’ poem. For some reason it pops up on the first page of a Google search, so it gets dozens of views every single day – and it’s really not that good!

So if this is the first time you’ve visited the site, welcome! If you’d like to write for the site, just let me know – we’re all friendly here, so it can be a nice way to get started in public-facing Classics. Feel free to subscribe to the site (by putting your email address into the box at the bottom of the Home page) to get these regular posts by email, and don’t forget to check the Subject Pages regularly for new resources!