Dr Maeve O'Brien
Biography
Maeve O’Brien lectures in the Department of Ancient Classics, National University of Ireland, Maynooth. She has published on Latin Literature especially Apuleius; her book, Apuleius' Debt to Plato in the Metamorphoses, was published 2002 (The Edwin Mellen Press). She is now researching the reception of the Classics in eighteenth-century English poetry written in Ireland.
Maeve is on the board of Directors of the Irish institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens (I.I.H.S.A.) and is Secretary to the current Central Council of the Classical Association of Ireland (C.A.I www.classicalassociation.com). She is former secretary to the managing committee of the I.I.H.S.A. She has served as Chairperson and Secretary to the National Committee of Greek and Latin Studies at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA).
Research Interests
Maeve O’Brien’s principal research subject is the second-century-AD Latin writer Apuleius. She works chiefly on his novel the Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass), but is also interested in his philosophical writing. Beyond this, her specialist areas extend to take in Petronius and the genre of the ancient novel generally; Middle Platonism and other philosophical doctrines of the period known as the Second Sophistic; and the reception of the classical world in Irish writing of the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on women writers and their reading publics.
Publications
Book
Apuleius’ Debt to Plato in the Metamorphoses (The Edwin Mellen Press, 2002).
Articles
'Apuleius and the concept of philosophical rhetoric', Hermathena 151 (1991), 39-50.
'"For every tatter in its mortal dress": Love, the Soul and her Sisters,' in M. Zimmerman (ed.),Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass, Volume II: Cupid and Psyche (Groningen, 1998), 23-34.
'Seneca's hint of political dissidence', in Kieran McGroarty (ed.), Eklogai: Studies in Honour of Thomas Finan and Gerard Watson (Maynooth, 2001), 35-43.
O’Brien, M. ‘Happier transports to be: Catullus’ Poem 4 Phaselus ille’ Classics Ireland 13 (2006) pp.59-75.
Chapters in Books
O’Brien, M. ‘For Every tatter in its Mortal Dress: Love, The Soul and her Sisters’, M. Zimmerman et al. (eds.), Aspects of Apuleius’ Golden Ass Volume 2, Groningen 1998, 23 – 34.
Chapters in Festscriften
O’Brien, M. ‘Seneca’s Hint of Political Dissidence’ K. McGroarty (ed.) Eklogai: Studies in Honour of Thomas Finan & Gerard Watson, Maynooth: Department of Ancient Classics 2001, 35-43.
O’Brien, M. ‘Thelyphron the ‘weak-minded’ or what’s in a name?’ in M. Zimmerman and R. van der Paardt (eds.), Metamorphic Reflections: Essays presented to Ben Hijmans on his 75th birthday, Peeters: Leuven 2004.
O’Brien, M. & James, P. ‘To Baldly Go: A Last look at Lucius and his Counter-Humiliation Strategies’ in W.H. Keulen, R.R. Nauta and S. Panayotakis (eds.), Lectiones Scrupulosae: Essays on the Text and Interpretation of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses in honour of Maaike Zimmerman,Groningen 2006, pp. 234-251.
Reviews
O’Brien, M.: Review of S.J. Harrison, Apuleius: A Latin Sophist, Oxford 2000. Pp. 281. Hermathena 168 (Summer 2000), pp. 105–7.
O’Brien, M.: Review of ‘S. Dixon, Reading Roman Women: Sources Genres and real Life, London: Duckworth 2001. Pp. 242. Classics Ireland 10 (2003).
O’Brien, M.: Review of M. Zimmerman, S. Panayotakis, V.C. Hunink, W.H. Keulen, S.J. Harrison, Th.D. McCreight, B. Wesseling, D. Van Mal-Maeder (eds.), Apuleius Madaurensis. Metamorphoses books iv 28-35, v and vi 1-24. The Tale of Cupid and Psyche. text, introduction and commentary. Groningen: Egbert Forsten 2004. Pp. 596. Journal of Roman Studies XCVI 2006 pp. 269-70.
O’Brien, M.: Review of G. Jensson, The Recollections of Encolpius: the Satyrica of Petronius as Milesian Fiction (AN Supplementum 2), Groningen: Barkhuis, 2004. Pp. xii + 327. Journal of Roman Studies XCVI 2006 pp. 270-72.
O’Brien, M: Review of J.M.Dillon, Salt and Olives: Morality and Custom in Ancient Greece, Edinburgh 2004. Pp. xvii + 217. Classics Ireland 13 (2006), pp. 91-94.