John Gordon Fitch is a classical scholar. He works chiefly on Roman poetry, especially Lucretius and the dramas of Seneca, and his interests also include Greek and Roman texts on agriculture and medicine. He is a professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria.
John Fitch | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British and Canadian |
| Occupation(s) | Scholar, translator, poet |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge Cornell University |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Victoria |
| Main interests | Roman poetry, poetry of knowledge, Senecan drama |
| Website | www |
Education
editHe was educated at East Ham Grammar School, London, and King's College, Cambridge. He received his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University (1965) and his Ph.D. from Cornell University (1974).
Career
editFitch was assistant professor at Ball State University (1972–73), and was then appointed at the University of Victoria, where he progressed to Associate Professor and then Professor and Chair in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies. He became Professor Emeritus on retirement from the University in 1999.
In 1981 he proposed a new relative dating of Seneca's dramas, based on the structure of the iambic trimeter.[1] This was followed by a detailed edition with commentary of Seneca's Hercules, and simultaneously by a study of the anapaestic verses in the dramas (both 1987). Later came an edition of all the dramas in the bilingual Loeb Classical Library, accompanied by a separate textual commentary (both 2004). He has also written on the construction of selfhood[2] and on the meaningful use of proper names in the dramas.[3]
Fitch is also interested in the poetry of knowledge, particularly that of Lucretius and Vergil. In 2018 he published The Poetry of Knowledge and the ‘Two Cultures’, which examines the interrelationship of knowledge and poetry across a wide range of literature from antiquity to the twenty-first century, and argues for their compatibility.[citation needed]
He has also published an illustrated translation of Palladius' Opus Agriculturae.[4] In 2022 he published the first English translation of On Simples, a Greek medicinal text of the first century A.D., traditionally (though wrongly) attributed to Dioscorides. Separately he published discussions of textual issues in each of these works.[citation needed]
Selected works
edit- Seneca's Hercules Furens: A Critical Text with Introduction and Commentary, Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1987, ISBN 0-8014-1876-3[5]
- Seneca's Anapaests. Metre, Colometry, Text and Artistry in the Anapaests of Seneca's Tragedies, Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987, ISBN 1-555-40214-3[6][7]
- Seneca, Tragedies (Loeb Classical Library), Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Vol. 1, 2002; vol. 2, 2004. Both volumes revised 2018.[8][9]
- Annaeana Tragica: Notes on the Text of Seneca's Tragedies, Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2004, ISBN 90-04-14003-4
- Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Seneca (editor), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-928209-8[10]
- Palladius: The Work of Farming (translator), Totnes: Prospect Books, 2013, ISBN 978-1-903018-92-7
- The Poetry of Knowledge and the ‘Two Cultures’, Palgrave Macmillan 2018, ISBN 978-3-319-89559-8
- On Simples, Attributed to Dioscorides: Introduction, Translation, Concordances, Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2022, ISBN 978-90-04-51371-6
References
edit- ^ Fitch, John G. (1981). "Sense-Pauses and Relative Dating in Seneca, Sophocles and Shakespeare". The American Journal of Philology. 102 (3): 289–307. doi:10.2307/294132. JSTOR 294132.[non-primary source needed]
- ^ Fitch, John G.; McElduff, Siobhan (2002). "Construction of the Self in Senecan Drama". Mnemosyne. 55 (1): 18–40. doi:10.1163/156852502753776939. JSTOR 4433292.[non-primary source needed]
- ^ Fitch, John G. (2016). "Speaking Names in Senecan Drama". Wordplay and Powerplay in Latin Poetry. pp. 313–332. doi:10.1515/9783110475876-017. ISBN 978-3-11-047587-6.[non-primary source needed]
- ^ Spanier, Ethan (2014). "Palladius". The Classical Review. 64 (1): 172–173. doi:10.1017/S0009840X13002862. JSTOR 43301837. S2CID 231892382.
- ^ Gahan, John J. (1989). "Seneca's Hercules Furens ed. by John G. Fitch (review)". Echos du Monde Classique: Classical Views. 33 (3): 401–407. doi:10.1017/S0009840X00253638. JSTOR 3066075. S2CID 161864544. Project MUSE 653969.
- ^ Mayer, Roland (October 1989). "John G. Fitch: Seneca's Anapaests: Metre, Colometry, Text and Artistry in the Anapaests of Seneca's Tragedies. (American Classical Studies, 17.) Pp. ix + 103. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1987. $21.95 ($16 members price); paper $13.95 ($10 members price)". The Classical Review. 39 (2): 391–392. doi:10.1017/S0009840X0027248X. S2CID 162331194.
- ^ Motto, Anna Lydia; Clark, John R (1990). "John G. Fitch, Seneca's Anapaests: Metre, Colometry, Text and Artistry in the Anapaests of Seneca's Tragedies (Book Review)". The Classical Bulletin. 66 (1): 55. ProQuest 1296277585.
- ^ Tarrant, Richard. "Review of Seneca: 'Hercules, Trojan Women, Phoenician Women, Medea, Phaedra'". JSTOR 25067766.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Giardina, Giancarlo (2005). "Seneca, Tragedies, Vol. I: Hercules, Trojan Women, Phoenician Women, Medea, Phaedra, ed. by John G. Fitch, and: Vol. II: Oedipus, Agamemnon, Thyestes, Hercules Oetaeus, Octavia, ed. by John G. Fitch (review)". Mouseion: Journal of the Classical Association of Canada. 5 (2): 159–176. doi:10.1353/mou.2005.0026. S2CID 164486103. Project MUSE 591358.
- ^ Walsh, Lisl (2009). "Review of Seneca (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies)". The Classical Outlook. 86 (3): 108. JSTOR 43939868.