Professor Stephanie Nelson (AN 83), visiting tutor at St. John’s and Professor of Classical Studies at Boston University, will deliver her lecture, Aristophanes' Clouds and the Power of Logos.

Professor Nelson offers this introduction: It is not too much of a stretch to say that Aristophanes’ Clouds is primarily about two topics: logos and the gods – and about Socrates’ relation to them both. Aristophanes, in his most serious playful manner, challenges us to think about who gets to be a god, and even, this lecture will suggest, proposes the Logoi as the real gods of human experience. The play thus asks us to consider both the nature of gods and the nature of logos, and in so doing juxtaposes the way that Socrates views the relation of logos and reality to the way the comic poet sees the same question. 

This lecture is free and open to the public.