Weidensall Hall
Room 201
300 North Washington St.
Gettysburg, PA 17325-1400
Education
BA Columbia University, 2006
BA Magdalen College, Oxford University, 2008
MA University of California, Berkeley, 2009
PhD University of California, Berkeley, 2015
Academic Focus
Homer, Greek and Latin poetry, gender and sexuality studies, critical theory
Professor Lesser teaches courses in Greek and Latin language and literature, Greek history, and gender and sexuality in ancient Greece. Her primary research interests are in Greek poetry and culture, and she uses a variety of modern critical theories and approaches in her work. She focuses particularly on desire, gender, and narrative in early Greek poetry, and her first book, Desire in the Iliad: The Force That Moves the Epic and Its Audience, was published by Oxford University Press in 2022. She is also interested in the modern reception of the classics, and recently published an article on the representation of the enslaved woman Briseis in the Iliad, Ovid's Heroides 3, Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls (2018) and Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles (2011). She is currently working on a second book project that investigates the epic tradition using queer theories of temporality, tentatively titled Queer and Straight Trajectories in the Trojan War Epic Tradition.
Courses Taught
Exploration of great works of ancient Greek and Latin literature, including epic, lyric poetry, drama, philosophical dialogue, and literary criticism. Through analysis of these texts in discussion and writing, we consider what it means to be human, the shape of justice and morality, the power of rhetoric, social and political dynamics of gender, race, and class, and strategies of representation. Authors read may include Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Lucretius, Seneca, and others.
What determines our sex and gender? What sorts of romantic and sexual relationships are acceptable, and why? Who and what define the binaries of male and female, gay and straight, and can individuals move fluidly between them? How do people’s gender and/or sexuality relate to their social and economic positions? This course investigates ancient Greece as a case-study for the way that gender and sexuality works, providing new perspective on our own world. WGS 240 and CLA 240 are cross-listed.
Survey of Hellenic civilization from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period. CLA 251 and HIST 251 are cross-listed. Offered every other year.
In this course, we will study a selection of Ancient Greek tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and Roman tragedies by Seneca. We will consider the following questions: what defines tragedy as a genre, how and in what context were ancient tragedies performed, what do tragedies tell us about Greek and Roman values and beliefs, what were the social and political functions of tragedy in the ancient world, and what meanings and uses can re-performance of these tragedies have in diverse contexts in the modern world? Course activities may include performance and/or adaptation of ancient tragedy, and attending a live production of a tragedy.
This First Year Seminar investigates the history of same-sex desire in the West. Our central aim in this course will be to ascertain how far our contemporary conception of homosexuality is universal and transhistorical and to what extent it is historically contingent and constructed- and how the answer changes the way we perceive our own identities and those of others around us. We will study what it meant for two women or two men to be in an erotic of sexual relationship at various historical moments- how they experienced their own desire, how others regarded them, and what their place was in society. We will also consider how other categories, such as gender, race, and social class, intersect with and inform the way same-sex desire and sexuality is enacted and perceived.
Introduction to ancient Greek in preparation for reading Attic and New Testament texts, with emphasis on vocabulary, pronunciation, morphology, and syntax.
Continuation of Greek I, introduction to ancient Greek in preparation for reading Attic and New Testament texts, with emphasis on vocabulary, pronunciation, morphology, and syntax. Offered every spring. Prerequisite: Greek 101 or placement.
Designed to increase the student's skill in reading texts. Selections chosen at the discretion of the instructor. Offered every other fall. Prerequisite: Greek 102 or placement.
Introduction to reading and pronunciation of Latin, with emphasis on vocabulary, morphology, syntax. Juniors and Seniors need permission of Department Chair.
Continuation of Latin I, introduction to reading and pronunciation of Latin, with emphasis on vocabulary, morphology, syntax.
The purposes of this course are to develop students’ Latin reading skills and to familiarize them with the distinguishing features of various genres and authors of Latin prose. In addition to developing students’ command of Latin grammar and vocabulary acquired in prior study, the course will focus on central questions involved in the interpretation of Latin prose and the significance of particular authors and their works in the broader context of Roman literary history and culture. Authors and texts studied will vary from semester to semester. With departmental permission, students may repeat the course. Students who enroll in this course at the 303 level will have additional/special assignments as set by the instructor. Pre-requisite for Latin 203: Latin 102 or by departmental permission or placement.
The purposes of this course are to develop students’ ability to read Latin verse, familiarizing them with various meters, genres, and authors of Latin poetry. In addition to developing students’ command of Latin grammar and vocabulary acquired in prior study, the course will focus on central questions involved in the interpretation of Latin poetry and the significance of particular poets and their works in the broader context of Roman literary history and culture. Poets and texts studied will vary from semester to semester. With departmental permission, students may repeat the course. Students who enroll in this course at the 304 level will have additional/special assignments as set by the instructor.
Pre-requisite for Latin 204: Latin 102 or by departmental permission or placement.