Roman Conceptions of Queerness & Gender Non-Conformity
Having literally run out of Latin classes to take, I thought the Signature Program would be a fantastic opportunity to continue my Latin education while combining it with something else I love: the LGBTQ+ community. This project is focused on translating queer Latin texts into English, analyzing them for Roman literary tropes, and then turning those into short stories that are accessible to queer youth.
The Break-Down
Sometimes it's hard to really understand a project and put together what the real point of it is. So, let's break my Signature project down what I'm actually going to be doing:
​
1) Translate queer romances present in ancient Roman literature, such as Nisus & Euryalus, into English.
2) Analyze them for techniques and ideas commonly used in Roman literature, such as Alexandrianism.
3) Write a series of short queer romances in English, each one incorporating a different aforementioned technique or idea.
4) Distribute these short stories to queer teenagers who are interested in the Classics. These stories will teach them that Roman literature is more diverse than most people think, while also helping them to learn the basic concepts needed to analyze and understand classic Roman literature.
​
"Then, pierced through, he threw himself on the lifeless body
of his love, and found peace at last in the calm of death."