Last lecturer has a penchant for the ancient
This year’s Last Lecture will be given by Mark Damen, a professor of classics in the history department at Utah State University.
The study of classics is about ancient Greek and Roman culture and language. The walls of Damen’s office show his dedication to his field: they are covered with pictures of artifacts and maps of the ancient world.
“I like the value of something being around for a while,” he said while sitting in his office in Old Main. “Anything we do in the world now has been done before.” He said if something is relevant in any age, it has proven its value.
Damen will be giving the traditional Last Lecture at USU Thursday in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom in honor of the graduating seniors. The title of his lecture is “Look There, Look There: What’s The Past Imperative?” but Damen is giving few hints about the content.
Damen completed his undergraduate work at the University of Florida at Gainesville. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and began his work in ancient Greek drama. He said he and his wife, also a member of the classics faculty at USU, came here because of the opportunity to both have positions at the university, and also because he liked the physical, cultural and academic environments.
As a classicist, Damen studies the ancient languages of Latin and Greek. He said though his particular area of expertise is Greek theater, that won’t play a big part in his lecture. Damen said he has a love of things that have “survived the test of time” because they have a proven core value that new things don’t.
“The older something is, the more value it has,” he said. He said this value is different from the “neo-maniacal” attitude prevalent nowadays. He said some cultures took the view that if something was good, their ancestors would have thought of it already.
“I tolerate newness if it’s really old,” he said, jokingly.
He said his lecture will be based off his breadth of training in the classical world and the richness of ancient tradition.
“A play that survives 2,000 years was accepted by the society it was written in, by the barbarians that invaded and took over, by those during the Middle Ages, by those in the Renaissance period who hated [those in the Middle Ages], and has been accepted today,” he said, noting that a play that can survive that has proven its merit.
“Humanity does not remember things they don’t think have value,” he said. “Who wants to drag around a bunch of cargo in the back of their station wagon? Eventually, someone will look at something and say, ‘No one will ever read this again,’ and throw it away, or they will say, ‘This is evil and bad,’ and toss it.
Damen’s work is centered around this emphasis on things that have been proven worthy of attention. One of his students’ current projects is completing a manuscript by the Greek playwright Menander. Chunks of the play are missing in the first and second acts, Damen said, so his student has translated the play and written scenes to fill in the holes so it can be produced. The play will be read April 26 at the Studio Theater. Damen said the event will be open to the public. Recovering the theatrical values of ancient dramas is what his work is about, he said.
“The plays are not written to be read, they’re written to be seen,” he said. Much of the complexity of ancient dramas is lost when you read them instead of viewing them, he said.
The Last Lecture will be given Thursday in the TSC Ballroom at noon and is open to all students.
-ella@cc.usu.edu