Emily Hauser’s Visit

Year 12 reports: Emily Hauser OW offered an enchanting window into the life of a classicist, and all that has come her way – quite unlike what this teenager might have expected. An afternoon classics lecture at the end of a long week sounded pretty daunting, but the reality was quite otherwise. Emily quickly captured our attention with her anecdotes from Cambridge as an undergraduate and Yale as a post graduate, before launching into a concise summary of her first book, For The Most Beautiful, which gripped the audience from the first. Those who had not pre-ordered were soon regretting their inefficiency. Emily’s decision to retell the story of the sacking of Troy from the perspective of two minor female characters was compelling and empowering, and gave the lie to the belief that Greek mythology had to be about war and men. Her audience left enthralled and entertained, and with her name and that of her book the subject of intense conversation for many hours thereafter. We thank Emily for her time and her passion for her subject – truly inspiring.