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Aisling Gray

Doctoral student
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Image of the upper body of a young brunette woman against the background of trees

Aisling Gray is a DPhil student in Classical Languages and Literature at Jesus College, supervised by Prof. Pantelis Michelakis, and funded by the Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarship in the Humanities. Having completed a BA in Classical Studies and English Literature (RHUL) and an MA in The Classical World and its Reception (KCL), Aisling’s DPhil project explores receptions of ancient Greek literature in Ireland. With a particular focus on receptions of Sophoclean and Euripidean tragedy and Homeric Epic written in the North of Ireland during and after the Troubles, Aisling’s project examines the historical, social and political impact and functionality of classical literature in the Irish literary tradition. With an initial focus on reflexive processes of reception theory in colonial and post-colonial societies, Aisling has a particular interest in mapping the integration and appropriation of classical Greek literature into the Irish literary canon by looking at texts such as James Joyce’s Ulysses and W. B. Yeats’ Oedipus the King, before moving to later literary works produced by authors such as Michael Longley, Tom Paulin and Seamus Heaney.