Marguerite Johnson

Marguerite Johnson is Professor of Classics at The University of Newcastle. She is a writer and academic specialising in the widespread influences of the ancient Mediterranean on post-antiquity. Her focus is on the reception of Greek and Roman cultures in colonial Australia, including literature and art. She also researches gender and sexualities in antiquity through to modernity, with a particular interest in twentieth and twenty-first century Australia. Marguerite is the author of several scholarly books, numerous articles and chapters, and has also published a series of short stories (one of which was awarded a Scarlet Stiletto). She is a regular contributor to The Conversation and the ABC.

Marguerite Johnson reviews 'The Odyssey' by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson, and 'The Iliad: A new translation' by Homer, translated by Peter Green

December 2018, no. 407 • 01 November 2018

For as long as I have studied Classics, first as a high-school student, later as an undergraduate and PhD student, and now as a professor, I have carried Homer’s poems close to me. The Iliad and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Odyssey are my touchstones. All that needs to be known can be found in them. I have taught them for more years than I care to remember. I still cry at certain parts. I s ... (read more)

Marguerite Johnson reviews 'How to Die: An Ancient guide to the end of life' by Seneca, edited and translated by James S. Romm

September 2018, no. 404 • 27 June 2018

Studies of the ancient Mediterranean are increasingly popular. Once a privilege of the élite, whose schools prepared predominantly male students for tertiary study of Greek and Latin, Classics now has a much wider audience. This is partly the result of scholars such as Mary Beard (recently the recipient of a damehood) who have made inroads into popularising ancient Greece and Rome. While general ... (read more)

'Picnic at Hanging Rock fifty years on' by Marguerite Johnson

December 2017, no. 397 • 24 November 2017

Everyone agreed that the day was just right for the picnic to Hanging Rock – a shimmering summer morning warm and still ... Far from being a flimsy, frilly story for women full of antique charm and middle-class manners, Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock is a novel of sharp social observations and nuanced critique; subtle and sometimes latent sensuality; and layered, intricate allegory. Th ... (read more)