Creative Misuse
With Valentine's Day Approaching, Why Not Try an Ancient Greek Love Spell?
We live in an era of convenience, and trying to make someone fall in love with you using only your personality is time-consuming. It might be time to try a different kind of charm: ancient Greek magic! The Core spoke with Chris Faraone, Frank Curtis Springer and Gertrude Melcher Springer in Classics, about the kinds of love spells described in his book Ancient Greek Love Magic. Faraone explained that men and women typically used different kinds of spells, an eros spell for men and a philia spell for women. The eros spell was used as more of a curse, designed to cause the woman an unbearable amount of torture which could only be relieved by the man who cast the spell. The philia spell was designed to bind the man closer to the woman, and was related more to healing magic than to torture (which presumably comes in the later stages of the relationship).
Richard G. Stern, 1928-2013
Richard G. Stern, the Helen A. Regenstein Professor Emeritus in English, died January 24 at age 84. Stern joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1955 and wrote over twenty books of fiction and nonfiction in his lifetime. He was friends with many distinguished writers, including Saul Bellow, X'39, and Philip Roth, AM'55, who credits Stern for the idea to write his novella Goodbye, Columbus. During his time at the University, Stern received the Award of Merit from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He was also a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Heartland Prize. The Paris Review describes him as "...a nurturing teacher and a powerful force in literature at the University of Chicago."
Valerie Snobeck, MFA’08, Creates Piece for Smart Museum Courtyard
Valerie Snobeck, MFA'08, has created a piece titled American Standard Movement as part of the annual Threshold series sponsored by the Smart Museum of Art. The site-specific work, presented in the Vera and A.D. Elden Sculpture Garden, re-uses debris netting that was previously part of a construction project on the University of Chicago campus in order to open up questions about environment, the passage of time, and progress.
Alumna Traces History of Bowl Belonging to Cleopatra Through 20th Century AD
Cultural historian Marina Belozerskaya, AM'92, PhD'97, has published the first book-length account of the Tazza Farnese, a libation bowl dating to Ptolemaic Egypt that once belonged to Cleopatra. The book, titled Medusa's Gaze: The Extraordinary Journey of the Tazza Farnese, charts the renowned artifact's journey through history, from Rome and Constantinople to the Holy Roman Emperor's court at Palermo and the French Revolution. It inspired artists such as Raphael and Botticelli and was owned by Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Mongol rulers. The Tazza Farnese's adventure continued even after it came to rest at the Naples National Archaeological Museum--it was nearly destroyed there in 1925 by a deranged guard.
For more information on alumni publications, visit the University of Chicago Magazine, or check out the catalog of alumni books on the magazine's Goodreads page.
