Professor Ian Johnston | |
---|---|
Born | Ian C. Johnston Valparaíso, Chile |
Occupation | Professor (retired), author, translator |
Language | English |
Alma mater | McGill University University of Bristol University of Toronto |
Genre | Languages |
Spouse | Colleen Johnston |
Ian C. Johnston (born September 27, 1938) is a Canadian author and translator, a retired university-college instructor and a professor emeritus at Vancouver Island University. [1]
Johnston was born in Valparaíso, Chile, to Dorothy and Kenneth Johnston. He attended the University of Toronto Schools during his high school years. At the post-secondary level, he was educated at McGill University, Montreal (BSC in Geology and Chemistry 1959); at the University of Bristol (BA in English and Greek, 1968); and at the University of Toronto (MA in English, 1969).
He holds certificates from Ontario College of Education, Heidelberg University, and the Jarvis School of Welding.
Johnston taught high-school physics and chemistry at Upper Canada College, Toronto (1959–60) and high-school biology, mathematics, and Latin at Port Perry High School, Port Perry, Ontario (1961-1963). From 1969-70 he taught undergraduate English courses at the University of British Columbia. After that he joined the faculty of the College of New Caledonia, Prince George, British Columbia, where he taught undergraduate English and Classics from 1970 to 1975. From 1975-2004 he taught at Malaspina College and Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo (now Vancouver Island University).
Johnston is the author of The Ironies of War: An Introduction to Homer's Iliad (University Press of America, 1987). [2] He has translated classic works from Greek, Latin, German, and French. Several of these translated works have been published by Broadview Press, including his translation of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, and/or produced as audiobooks by Naxos Audio Books in the UK.
A number of his translations have also been issued in book form by Richer Resources Publications. [3] Johnston has posted over 75 essays and lectures on various literary topics on his website, as well as workbooks on essay writing, grammar, statistics, and the history of science. [4] [5]
Johnston has also written Essays and Arguments: A Handbook for Writing Student Essays, released by Broadview Press in 2015.
Johnson lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, with his wife, Colleen Johnston. [9]
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus.
Aeschylus was an ancient Greek tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Formerly, characters interacted only with the chorus.
Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him, but the Suda says it was ninety-two at most. Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived more or less complete. There are many fragments of most of his other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly because his popularity grew as theirs declined—he became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education, along with Homer, Demosthenes, and Menander.
In Greek mythology, Telephus was the son of Heracles and Auge, who was the daughter of king Aleus of Tegea. He was adopted by Teuthras, the king of Mysia, in Asia Minor, whom he succeeded as king. Telephus was wounded by Achilles when the Achaeans came to his kingdom on their way to sack Troy and bring Helen back to Sparta, and later healed by Achilles. He was the father of Eurypylus, who fought alongside the Trojans against the Greeks in the Trojan War. Telephus' story was popular in ancient Greek and Roman iconography and tragedy. Telephus' name and mythology were possibly derived from the Hittite god Telepinu.
Electra, also spelt Elektra, is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies. She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, Electra by Sophocles and Electra by Euripides. She is also the central figure in plays by Aeschylus, Alfieri, Voltaire, Hofmannsthal, and Eugene O'Neill. She is a vengeful soul in The Libation Bearers, the second play of Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy. She plans out an attack with her brother to kill their mother, Clytemnestra.
In Greek mythology, Aerope was a Cretan princess as the daughter of Catreus, king of Crete. She was the sister to Clymene, Apemosyne and Althaemenes. Aerope's father Catreus gave her to Nauplius, to be drowned, or sold abroad, but Nauplius spared her, and she became the wife of Atreus, or Pleisthenes, and by most accounts the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus. While the wife of Atreus, she became the lover of his brother Thyestes, and gave Thyestes the golden lamb, by which he became the king of Mycenae.
In Greek mythology, Pleisthenes or Plisthenes, is the name of several members of the house of Tantalus, the most important being a son of Atreus, said to be the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Although these two brothers are usually considered to be the sons of Atreus himself, according to some accounts, Pleisthenes was their father, but he died, and Agamemnon and Menelaus were adopted by their grandfather Atreus.
The Dionysia was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the second-most important festival after the Panathenaia. The Dionysia actually consisted of two related festivals, the Rural Dionysia and the City Dionysia, which took place in different parts of the year. They were also an essential part of the Dionysian Mysteries.
The Frogs is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in Athens, in 405 BC and received first place.
Greek tragedy is one of the three principal theatrical genres from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia, along with comedy and the satyr play. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy.
Robert Fagles was an American translator, poet, and academic. He was best known for his many translations of ancient Greek and Roman classics, especially his acclaimed translations of the epic poems of Homer. He taught English and comparative literature for many years at Princeton University.
Philip Humphrey Vellacott was an English classical scholar, known for his numerous translations of Greek tragedy.
Dudley Fitts was an American teacher, critic, poet, and translator. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Harvard University, where he edited the Harvard Advocate. He taught at The Choate School 1926–1941 and at Phillips Academy at Andover 1941–1968. He and his former student at Choate, Robert Fitzgerald, published translations of Alcestis of Euripides (1936), Antigone of Sophocles (1939), Oedipus Rex (1949), and The Oedipus Cycle (1949). Their translations were praised for their clarity and poetic equality.
Women of Trachis or The Trachiniae c. 450–425 BC, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles.
Arthur Sanders Way, was a classical scholar, translator and headmaster of Wesley College, Melbourne, Australia.
Peter Meineck is Professor of Classics in the Modern World at New York University. He is also the founder and humanities program director of Aquila Theatre and has held appointments at Princeton University and University of South Carolina.
Marianne McDonald is a scholar and philanthropist. Marianne is involved in the interpretation, sharing, compilation, and preservation of Greek and Irish texts, plays and writings. Recognized as a historian on the classics, she has received numerous awards and accolades because of her works and philanthropy. As a playwright, she has authored numerous modern works, based on ancient Greek dramas in modern times. As a teacher and mentor, she is highly sought after for her knowledge of and application of the classic themes and premises of life in modern times. In 2013, she was awarded the Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Classics, Department of Theatre, Classics Program, University of California, San Diego. In 1994, she was inducted into the Royal Irish Academy, being recognized for her expertise and academic excellence in Irish language history, interpretation and the preservation of ancient Irish texts. As a philanthropist, Marianne partnered with Sharp to enhance access to drug and alcohol treatment programs by making a $3 million pledge — the largest gift to benefit behavioral health services in Sharp’s history. Her donation led to the creation of the McDonald Center at Sharp HealthCare. Additionally, to recognize her generosity, Sharp Vista Pacifica Hospital was renamed Sharp McDonald Center.
The Oxford University Classical Drama Society (OUCDS) is the funding body behind the triennial Oxford Greek Play, an institution that has lasted for over 130 years.
Johann Jakob Christian Donner was a German classical philologist and translator.
Peter Nielsen Østbye was a Norwegian philologist and academic administrator. He taught classical languages and was a proponent of learning the Latin language. He was an education official at Fredrikstad between 1894-1910 and at Drammen between 1910-1926. He is principally known for his translations of Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey from Ancient Greek into Norwegian.