[Usyd_Classics_Events] CAH Research Seminar March 31st "Deleuze’s crystal images in Homer’s Odyssey"

[Ben Brown]

Dear Friends,

We are delighted to invite you to our next Classics and Ancient History/CCANESA online research seminar in our semester 1, 2022 series. Our program continues:

March 31st (4pm, AEDT UTC/GMT +11) with

Ben Ferris (University of Sydney)

"Deleuze’s crystal images in Homer’s Odyssey."



Abstract:

French philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) developed his understanding of Time by applying Henri Bergson’s ideas to the medium of cinema. One result of such a formulation of thought are Deleuze’s “crystal images” which conceive of Time operating like light through a crystal, simultaneously refracting into multiple parallel images, each one being as true as the other. In this conception, Time is not linear, but, rather, folding in upon itself, consists of simultaneous pasts, presents and futures. While Deleuze’s thinking has had some radical consequences for the study of cinema, it has only made a very recent entry into the field of Classics. My thesis proposes that Deleuzean thinking is particularly useful in how we can think about Homeric epic, and especially the Odyssey, with its radical temporalities and “indeterminacies.” It is possible, through Deleuze, to reconsider Homeric "multiforms” as self-conscious poetic expression of the contradictions inherent in an unstable universe. By way of example, I explore how the films of Alain Resnais, which are central to Deleuze’s thinking about the “crystal image” and which eschew mainstream narrative (and chronological) conventions, can be read productively alongside Homer’s Odyssey as forms of expression that seek to grapple poetically with some of the primal, invisible forces underlying the universe we inhabit.


Presenter biography

Ben Ferris is a film writer, director and producer. His films have screened and won major awards at film festivals internationally, including Sydney Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and London Film Festival. He is currently a producer at Breathless Films, and a board member of Documentary Australia. He was Founder and Director of the Sydney Film School 2004-2018. His lifelong love of the classics, instilled in him by his former supervisor Professor Kevin Lee at the University of Sydney, infuses his work, and most obviously Penelopa, a 2009 Croatian-Australian feature film adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, set against the backdrop of the 1990s Balkan wars. He is currently writing a PhD at the University of Sydney with the working title Deleuze’s “crystal images” in Homer’s Odyssey, under the supervisory triumvirate of Dr Robert Cowan, Dr Benjamin Brown and Dr Tamara Neale.
His film work and writing is available here: benferris.org<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/RD8dC71R2NTmALLqMH8KkkW?domain=t.e2ma.net>
His film Penelope is available in full here: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/QaUtC81V0PTj699r3h10BKq?domain=ozflix.tv<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/Q4gVC91WPRTmk881nH3C0oY?domain=t.e2ma.net>


Please register for this free online presentation (if you have not already registered for the series):
https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/tJ9SC0YKPvi2Gjj8vtW3A_a?domain=signup.e2ma.net<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/AsIFCgZ0N1ilA88k6sE1yue?domain=t.e2ma.net>

The Zoom meeting details for this seminar are:
https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/84490054700<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/6_VaCjZ1N7ijngg9EhneI8q?domain=t.e2ma.net>
Meeting ID: 844 9005 4700

Please note, our seminars begin promptly at 4 pm. To assist in facilitating the online space, please ensure that your Zoom username matches the name on your registration (where possible).

Please note further that by participating in this seminar, you agree to abide by the University of Sydney’s ICT policy. You can view the policy here: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/n0ozCk81N9tnOggNlUkqIwT?domain=sydney.edu.au<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/sdiqClx1Njio2LL7GtgZkBL?domain=t.e2ma.net>

An extra note on recording of seminars:

As part of a School initiative to preserve our online content for potential future use, we intend to record our seminars. If you would not like to be inadvertently recorded, please turn off your video and microphone after joining the meeting.

We look forward to seeing you as our program continues! For any further information or questions, please contact us at ccanesa.general at sydney.edu.au<mailto:ccanesa.general at sydney.edu.au>

Best wishes, Ben



DR BEN BROWN | Classics and Ancient History | School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI)
School Undergraduate Curriculum Coordinator (SOPHI)
School BAS Coordinator (SOPHI)
Research Seminar Coordinator (CAH)
Co-director Critical Antiquities Network
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY NSW 2006
Ph.: 9351 8983; Office: Main Quad J6.07
E benjamin.brown at sydney.edu.au<mailto:benjamin.brown at sydney.edu.au> | W https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/HkxaCmO5glu5jvv2XC4hKwx?domain=sydney.edu.au

Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral
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