Isabel Ruffell

Isabel Ruffell is a Classicist. She is a Professor of Greek Drama and Culture at the University of Glasgow.

Education

Ruffell received her DPhil. from the Faculty of Literae Humaniores, Oxford University, in 1999. Her doctoral thesis was entitled A Poetics of the Absurd: Reforming Attic Old Comedy.[1] Her supervisor was Oliver Taplin.[2]

Career and research

Following her DPhil, Ruffell was first a lecturer at The Queen's College and Wadham College, University of Oxford and then held a Junior Research Fellowship at Christ Church College.[3] Ruffell's doctoral research was published in 2011 by Oxford University Press as Politics and Anti-realism in Athenian Old Comedy: The Art of the Impossible.[4] Reviews of this book described it as "a novel and systematic approach to humour in Old Comedy" aiming "to explain the complex relationship between humour and politics; [Ruffell] therefore combines theoretical analysis applied to selected close readings with the cognitive responses and the role of the audience",[5] and as a "rich academic study of the intellectual and political context of the plays... Ruffell refreshingly connects Platonic theories of art and letters with familiar cultural references to cinema and television, from Airplane! to Monty Python and South Park".[6] Ruffell has also published a companion to the tragedy Prometheus Bound, praised by a reviewer as "cover[ing] all the bases with well-documented scholarship and eminent fairness to all sides of what has become in the last few decades a very perplexing and controversial drama... does an admirable job of embedding the play within its political and intellectual context",[7] as well as further articles on Greek and Roman comedy,[8][9] tragedy,[10] and satire;[11] ancient automata;[12][13] and queer readings of classical literature.[14][15]

Ruffell's research project Hero of Alexandria and his Theatrical Automata, ran from 2014 until 2018, and was funded by the Leverhulme Trust (£282,881).[16][17]

In 2007, Ruffell provided the English translation for the National Theatre of Scotland's production of the Bacchae, an ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides. Her translation was adapted by David Greig and directed by John Tiffany. The play opened the Edinburgh International Festival in 2007.[18][19][20] Ruffell also provided the literal translation for Grieg's production of Aeschylus' Suppliant Women (2016).[21]

Ruffell is a member of the Council of University Classics Departments' Equality, Diversity & Inclusivity Committee[22] and in 2022 joined the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles,[23] commenting that "It is morally indefensible for them [the Parthenon Marbles] to be in London".[24]

Select bibliography
  • I. Ruffell and L. I. Hau (eds) Truth and History in the Ancient World: Pluralising the Past (London: Routledge, 2016)
  • Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound. Companions to Greek & Roman Tragedy (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2012)
  • Politics and Anti-realism in Athenian Old Comedy: the Art of the Impossible (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2011)

Isabel Ruffell's staff page, University of Glasgow

"Why is 'Medea' Shocking? Myths of Safe Spaces and the Anti-Trans Backlash", online seminar given by Isabel Ruffell

References
  1. Ruffell, I. (1999). A Poetics of the Absurd : Reforming Attic Old Comedy. University of Oxford: DPhil thesis.
  2. "The Open University". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  3. Ruffell, Ian (2011). Politics and Anti-Realism in Athenian Old Comedy: The Art of the Impossible. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-958721-6.
  4. Ruffell, Ian (2011). Politics and Anti-Realism in Athenian Old Comedy: The Art of the Impossible. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-958721-6.
  5. Foka, Anna (April 2013). "HUMOUR AND POLITICS - I.A. Ruffell Politics and Anti-Realism in Athenian Old Comedy. The Art of the Impossible. Pp. xii + 499, figs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Cased, £70, US$160. ISBN: 978-0-19-958721-6". The Classical Review. 63 (1): 37–39. doi:10.1017/S0009840X12002247. JSTOR 43301271. S2CID 159257652. ProQuest 1313394733.
  6. Pritchard, Arthur (October 2014). "Politics and Anti-realism in Athenian Old Comedy: The Art of the Impossible. By Ian Ruffell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. 499. £74 Hb". Theatre Research International. 39 (3): 240–241. doi:10.1017/S0307883314000273. S2CID 156468024. ProQuest 1562093828.
  7. Storey, Ian C. "Review of: Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound. Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy". Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
  8. "Conservative and Radical: Aristophanic Comedy and Populist Debate in Democratic Athens". Aristophanes and Politics. 2020. pp. 60–89. doi:10.1163/9789004424463_006. ISBN 978-90-04-42446-3. S2CID 213724043.
  9. Ruffell, Ian (2013). "Old Comedy at Rome: Rhetorical Model and Satirical Problem". Ancient Comedy and Reception. pp. 275–308. doi:10.1515/9781614511250.275. ISBN 978-1-61451-166-3.
  10. Ruffell, I. A. (2023). "Prometheus Bound : The Principle of Hope". A Companion to Aeschylus. pp. 158–170. doi:10.1002/9781119072348.ch12. ISBN 978-1-4051-8804-3.
  11. Ruffell, I. A. (November 2003). "Beyond Satire: Horace, Popular Invective and the Segregation of Literature". Journal of Roman Studies. 93: 35–65. doi:10.2307/3184638. JSTOR 3184638. S2CID 162548305.
  12. Ruffell, I. (2019). "Rebooting antiquity's robots". Argo: A Hellenic Review. 9: 17–20.
  13. Keenan-Jones, Duncan; Ruffell, Ian; McGookin, Euan (2016). "Taking a bearing on Hero's anti-crane and its un-windlass: the relationship between Hero of Alexandria's mobile automaton and Greco-Roman construction machinery". In DeLaine, Janet; Camporeale, Stefano; Pizzo, Antonio (eds.). Arqueología de la Construcción: Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on the Archaeology of Roman Construction, Oxford, April 11-12, 2015. Man-made materials, engineering and infrastructure. V. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. pp. 168–184. ISBN 978-84-00-10142-8.
  14. Ruffell, Isabel (2022). "Bacchae—"An Excessively High Price to Pay for Being Reluctant to Emerge from the Closet"?". Queer Euripides. doi:10.5040/9781350249653.ch-021. ISBN 978-1-350-24965-3. S2CID 247048645.
  15. Ruffell, Isabel (October 2020). "Poetics, Perversions, and Passing: Approaching the Transgender Narratives of Thesmophoriazousai". Illinois Classical Studies. 45 (2): 333–367. doi:10.5406/illiclasstud.45.2.0333. S2CID 246640740.
  16. "Grant listings | The Leverhulme Trust". www.leverhulme.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  17. "University of Glasgow - Schools - School of Humanities | Sgoil nan Daonnachdan - Research in the School of Humanities - Classics Research - Research projects - Hero and his Automata". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  18. "The Open University". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  19. Isherwood, Charles (5 July 2008). "A Greek God and His Groupies Are Dressed to Kill". The New York Times.
  20. "Wine, women and snogs". HeraldScotland. 28 July 2007. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  21. "The Suppliant Women". Belfast International Arts Festival. 2016-06-23. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  22. "About". CUCD EDI. 2020-12-17. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  23. "Isabel Ruffell, professor of Greek drama and culture at Glasgow University, reflects on the Partheno". www.parthenonuk.com. 2022-12-15. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  24. Crae, Ross. "Calls to send famous Marbles home to Greece from British Museum". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
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