Sarah Graham-Shaughnessy

PhD Student

Biography

I am interested in the different ways that people tell stories across time––especially when they retell the same stories differently. I tackle that broad field with a focus on Classical literature, particularly Latin Epic. I earned my B.A. from The University of Western Ontario with a double major in The School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities (SASAH) and English Language and Literature, along with a minor in Classical Studies; I graduated with distinction and the Gold Medal for English. SASAH, Western’s flagship program for the arts, trained me in the interdisciplinary approaches I incorporate in my work today. My M.A. in Classical Studies, also from Western, was funded by the CGS-M and focused on intertextuality in Statius’ Thebaid. I am now pursuing my Ph.D. in Classics (Literature Stream) at the University of Toronto, funded by the CGS-D. I intend to further my research on the Thebaid, adding elements of gender and theory to explore narrative frames and ekphrases within the text. Overall, my scholarship combines traditional Latin philology with approaches from the digital humanities, gender and sexuality studies, critical theory, reception studies, and comparative literature.