Byron MacDougall

Assistant Professor

Byron MacDougall teaches courses on ancient and medieval literatures—especially Ancient and Byzantine Greek literature—and their modern reception. Before coming to RISD, he taught at Brown University, the University of California Davis and Salve Regina University, and he has held research fellowships at Dumbarton Oaks, the University of Vienna and Princeton University. His research focuses on Greek literary, philosophical and religious culture of Late Antiquity and Byzantium. In addition to his first book, Philosophy at the Festival: The Festal Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Classical Tradition (Brill 2022), his work has also been featured in academic journals including Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, American Journal of Philology, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, The Medieval Review, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, Journal of Early Christianity, Journal of Late Antiquity, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik and Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies.

Academic areas of interest

ancient, late antique, and medieval literature and book culture, Byzantine Studies, ancient and medieval philosophy, reception studies (especially the reception of ancient philosophy, rhetoric and the Ancient Greek Novel), Early Christianity

Courses

Fall 2024 Courses

LAS E101-09 - FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR
Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

LAS E101-09

FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR

Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: MW | 9:40 AM - 11:10 AM Instructor(s): Byron MacDougall Location(s): Washington Place, Room 021B Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year Students are pre-registered for this course by the department.

Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Transfer Students register into designated section(s).

Major Requirement | BFA

LAS E101-23 - FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR
Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

LAS E101-23

FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR

Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: MTH | 1:10 PM - 2:40 PM Instructor(s): Byron MacDougall Location(s): College Building, Room 424 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year Students are pre-registered for this course by the department.

Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Transfer Students register into designated section(s).

Major Requirement | BFA

LAS E548-01 - HAUNTING TOLKIEN: GHOSTS OF THE WEST
Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

LAS E548-01

HAUNTING TOLKIEN: GHOSTS OF THE WEST

Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: TH | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Byron MacDougall Location(s): College Building, Room 424 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

A study of the works and influence of J.R.R. Tolkien at the intersection of Postcolonial studies, Classics, and Byzantine and Medieval Studies. Particular attention is paid to themes including: the influence of 19th-century scholarship and its fixation on ideologies of the Volk and the genealogies and wanderings of nations"; legacies of empire and colonialism; discourses of Orientalism and antisemitism; medieval nostalgias from the Victorian to the Second Elizabethan Era; the Claims of Philology; source criticism and Tolkien's literary/historical influences; distortions and elisions of Byzantium and other cultures in the discursive construction of Western Civilization; and contemporary concerns including racist backlash to the casting of people of color in recent adaptations."

Spring 2025 Courses

LAS E315-01 - BYZANTIUM & GLOBAL MEDIEVAL LITERATURES
Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

LAS E315-01

BYZANTIUM & GLOBAL MEDIEVAL LITERATURES

Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: TH | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Byron MacDougall Location(s): College Building, Room 424 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

The Middle Ages were defined by translation, and at the hub of the interlingual and intercultural networks crisscrossing western Eurasia was the Greek-speaking civilization known today as Byzantium. In this class we approach literature of the medieval millennium (roughly the 5th to the 15th century CE) by focusing on the period's truly global best-sellers: works of fiction, mysticism, folktale, romance, and philosophy that were each translated multiple times from one language to another, and that enjoyed massive popularity in each new cultural setting. Instead of being viewed as an incubator of distinct "national" literatures, the medieval period becomes an opportunity to explore literary forms, themes, and universal human concerns that transcended linguistic, religious, and national borders. Texts studied include both works originally written in Greek as well as others that made their way from Persian, Arabic, Syriac, and Georgian into Greek, and then through Greek into other languages of the Near East and Europe. Readings include but are not limited to: Barlaam and Josaphat; The Book of Syntipas the Philosopher ("the Byzantine Sinbad"); the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius; The Alexander Romance; and John Climacus's Ladder of Divine Ascent. Assessments include a short response paper, midterm examination, and a final research paper.

Elective

LAS E363-01 - GREEK TRAGEDY: FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE AGE OF NETFLIX
Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

LAS E363-01

GREEK TRAGEDY: FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE AGE OF NETFLIX

Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: T | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Byron MacDougall Location(s): College Building, Room 412 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This past August, extensive fragments of two lost plays by the Ancient Greek tragedian Euripides were published for the first time. You will be among the first students—ever—to read and explore them in this class on Ancient Greek Tragedy. In addition to those newly discovered fragments, we read select complete plays of Euripides and his fellow Athenian poet-playwrights, Aeschylus and Sophocles, and devote special attention to key themes including: their literary structure and stagecraft; their original performative context in fifth-century BCE Athens; the history of their transmission and survival; and their reception—that is, how Prometheus Bound for example went from being a script for a play put on one spring day in Athens almost 2500 years ago, to a source of inspiration behind a black comedy series that dropped on a major streaming service this summer. Assessments include one short response paper, a midterm, and a final project. All readings in English translation.

Elective