Pauline LeVen

Assistant Professor

Pauline LeVen studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris), the Sorbonne and Princeton University, and earned a joint Ph.D from both in 2008. She was a Fulbright student in 2001–02 and the Phi Beta Kappa Sibley Fellow in Greek Studies in 2007–08.

Her dissertation and current book-project is a study of the extant corpus of fourth-century BC Greek lyric poetry; combining close readings of little-studied texts with attention to their intellectual and cultural context, it examines Greek literary history between the classical and Hellenistic periods and argues against the idea of the demise of mousikê in the late-classical period.

In addition to lyric poetry, LeVen’s research interests include the technical prose of the classical period, the interactions between prose and poetry (especially the discourse about musical practice), and the ancient novel. She has a forthcoming JHS article on Athenaeus’ reading of the ‘aulos revolution’ and is currently at different stages of the preparation of articles on the ‘spectacular obscurity’ of Timotheus of Miletus’ Persians, on Aristotle’s hymn to virtue and funerary epigraphy, and on Isyllus’ paean to Epidaurian Asclepius.

She is an enthusiastic member of Moisa and has recently hosted a conference on “music in non-musical texts in classical Athens” (September 14th, 2009).

Gaifman photo

Field Greek Literature and Language

Specialism Greek Poetry (especially Lyric), Ancient Novel, Ancient Literary Criticism, Musical Culture

Current Courses GREK 450/750: Euripides’ Helen, CLA 824: Classical Lyric Culture

Contact details

305 Phelps Hall

Phone (203) 432-0983

Fax (203) 432-1079

pauline.leven@yale.edu