Carol Dougherty
Professor of Classical Studies
Specializes in the literature and culture of Ancient Greece; teaches Greek drama and myth, and the theme of travel in literature.
Carol Dougherty is Professor Classical Studies and Director of Comparative Literature at Wellesley College. Her research focuses on the intersection of history, literature, and culture of archaic and classical Greece (8-6th centuries BCE). Her first two books explored the transformative and tumultuous period of the eighth century—a time when Greeks settled new lands, engaged in far-reaching trade networks, and embarked upon radical new experiments in politics, economics, and communication. The Poetics of Colonization (Oxford University Press 1993) reads the kinds of stories the Greeks told themselves about founding new colonies abroad, and The Raft of Odysseus (Oxford University Press 2001) looks at ways that Homer’s Odyssey represents a culture engaged in negotiating a new place for itself in a rapidly changing world. Her most recent book, Travel and Home in Homer and Contemporary Literature (Oxford University Press 2019) brings the Odyssey together with readings of contemporary novels (e.g. M. Robinson, Housekeeping, M. Ondaatje, The English Patient, C. McCarthy, The Road) that are equally interested in questions of travel and homecoming. Her current research explores the way that Athenian tragedy confronts and elaborates the challenges that mobility places upon issues of civic belonging and identity in Athens of the fifth century BCE.
Education
- B.A., Stanford University
- M.A., University of California-Santa Barbara
- M.A., Princeton University
- Ph.D., Princeton University
Current and upcoming courses
Beginning Greek 1
GRK101
Greek 101 and 102 will teach you all you need to know to learn to read Plato, Sappho, Sophocles, and Herodotus in their original language, with no previous knowledge required. While learning Greek, you will also learn another amazing language at the same time: English. Students who study Greek also learn English grammar and vocabulary with a level of detail and clarity that you must experience to believe. Students interested in math and the sciences will excel at Greek and benefit enormously from the vocabulary you learn, since 90% of scientific vocabulary comes from classical languages. In Greek 101, you will learn how to pronounce ancient Greek, and we will cover more than half of Greek grammar, so by the end of the year, you will be reading Attic Greek.
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Introduction to Comparative Literature
CPLT180
Comparative literature is the study of literature and other forms of creative expression from an interdisciplinary and global perspective. Emphasizing the practice of close reading and embracing the benefits and challenges of reading texts in translation, this course introduces students to foundational and emerging methods in literary studies and lays the groundwork for a rich discussion of literature across a broad spectrum of literary forms, national traditions, historical moments and social identities. Readings will range from ancient epic to Afrofuturism, from fairy tales to speculative fiction, from sonnets to graphic novels and more. All readings will be done in English. Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.