The Road Back from War

Coming Home in Classic and Contemporary Literature and Culture, Peter Molin, Rutgers- New Brunswick United States Army (Retired)

June 25, 2018
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Location
Carson L02
Sponsored by
Classics Department
Audience
Public
More information
Carol Bean-Carmody

In The Road Back from War: Coming Home in Classic and Contemporary Literature and Culture, Peter Molin explores the appeal of classic Greek literature for veteran and non-veteran writers about America’s twenty-first century wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In particular, the works of Homer have provided contemporary fiction authors, poets, memoirists, and playwrights with a wealth of stories, images, ideas, and themes relevant to their own interest in redeployment from war, reintegration into the civilian sphere, and assuming post-service identities as veterans, often while coping with war-related trauma and physical disability. Even as classic Greek literature has provided a fruitful framework for understanding war and the return from war for many writers and artists, however, some authors and critics have questioned the making of too-easy connections between the modern and Attic worlds, especially by wondering about the relevance of classic Greek literature to the military experience of women, racial minorities, and citizen-soldiers who served without fighting on the frontlines.    

Peter Molin is a retired United States Army infantry officer who currently teaches in the Writing Program at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While in the Army, Molin served overseas in South Korea, the Sinai, Kosovo, and Afghanistan and for many years taught in the Department of English and Philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He possesses a PhD from Indiana University, and MA from the University of California-Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.

This event is free and open to the public!

Sponsored by the Classics Department, the Leslie Center for the Humanities, Associate Dean of the Arts and Humanities, the Provost, and the President
Location
Carson L02
Sponsored by
Classics Department
Audience
Public
More information
Carol Bean-Carmody