Classics professor publishes new interpretation of classic Medieval work

Classics professor Joel C. Relihan reversed the traditional publishing pattern for scholars and in the process developed a new interpretation of a classic work of literature.

After the publication of his book Ancient Menippean Satire (Johns Hopkins 1993), Relihan began writing a critical monograph on Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy. The opportunity to publish a new translation of the classic, however, led him to put aside an early draft of his book.

"Most people who produce scholarly translations do so after they've written the monograph," said Relihan. "I ended up doing it the other way round."

The hiatus proved fortuitous. When Relihan returned to his manuscript, he found himself re-thinking (and revising) much of what he had written

The result: The Prisoner's Philosophy: Life and Death in Boethius's Consolation (University of Notre Dame Press), which re-interprets Boethius's work as a literary experiment in satire.

The Roman philosopher Boethius wrote Consolation in prison during the sixth century while awaiting his execution for treason. In it, the narrator--an unnamed Boethius--has a long dialog with a female muse named Philosophy, who represents the views of philosophy. When she appears in the beginning, Philosophy wears rags and is looking for someone to understand her, to be her champion. But she's later shocked to find that her subject, Boethius, is not living up to her expectations.

''Consolation is really about somebody who's trying to keep Philosophy talking, because as long as she's talking, she can't take him away to heaven, which means he won't die,'' says Relihan. ''Philosophy tries to encourage him to escape with her. She wants him to go to heaven with her and look down on people and laugh at the choices they've made. But he proves that he's a true philosopher by not going off with Philosophy. He chooses to stay and pray.''

Relihan says ''Everyone thinks that the way to view Consolation is to see a Roman aristocrat who's very highly placed turn back to the truth of pagan philosophy, which gives him the strength to face his death. I argue that Consolation is a Christian text that advocates the path of humble (Christian) prayer over the path of pagan transcendence.''

''We've all been reading it wrong,'' he says. ''Consolation actually belongs in the satirical literary tradition.''

Relihan explains that Consolation should be viewed as one of a number of literary experiments of late antiquity, taking its place alongside Augustine's Confessions and Soliloquies as a spiritual meditation, as an attempt by Boethius to speak objectively about the life of the mind and its relation to God.

Scholars across the country say Relihan's new literary analysis is ''an excellent new work of scholarship and of communication in support of a provocative thesis,'' and ''a tour de force that belongs in the library of all those who appreciate Boethius's depth and subtlety.''

It's worth noting that even though Boethius wrote Consolation in the sixth century, the book has parallels in modern literature that many people may not realize. The structure of John Kennedy Toole's 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning A Confederacy of Dunces is similar to the structure of Consolation, and the main character Ignatius Reilly's favorite book is Consolation, a copy of which is central to the story. Ignatius is a young medievalist writing his own history, mad about the degeneracy of the modern world, which has abandoned not only religion but geometry as well. He also has a girlfriend who is directly modeled after Boethius's Philosophy.

Additionally, ''Boethius's Consolation character was probably imprisoned on 'trumped up' charges," says Relihan. ''And under those circumstances, the book is studied in parallel with other classics of prison literature.''

''From what I see at our campus there is a greater interest among students of the Classics in religion, and they are interested in the overlap between classical studies and religious studies. To address this we've put together an Ancient Studies track.''

Relihan adds that more students are interested in teaching Latin in secondary school than in the past. ''After a bottoming out 20 years ago, things are coming back and students are glad to pursue that route.''

In keeping with the Wheaton tradition of close collaborative relationships between students and faculty, two years ago Relihan had three students take a year's worth of Coptic (an ancient Egyptian language) with him, during which they collaborated on the outlines of a grammar and reading book that he would like to produce, a bilingual edition of a gospel (probably Mark) in Coptic and Greek, aimed at teaching Coptic to students of Greek.

He's also had student research assistants help him with the initial preparations for a textbook of Euclid designed to be a reader for third-semester Greek.

Relihan adds, ''These two books will be, I hope, the first two volumes in a projected series, Wheaton Intermediate Classics Texts. These are only hopes and plans at this point, but they are interesting hopes and plans, and underscore the commitment of the Classics department to scholarship that has direct application in the undergraduate classroom.''