Classics Scholar Wins Goodwin Award
January 2008
Associate professor of classical studies Peter Struck was honored by the American Philological Association (APA) for the best book in the field of classical studies published in the last three years. The association named Struck the recipient of its 2007 Goodwin Award of Merit for his book Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of their Texts (Princeton 2004). The book, selected from among nearly 200 entries, is a “fascinating exploration of how ancient thinkers confronted the mysteries of creative writing.” It was cited for its “crystalline writing, magisterial learning, presence and voice, and important things to say.”
Struck, a winner of Penn’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, conducts research on Greek and Roman theories of signs and interpretation. His first project focused on the symbol as a category in ancient literary criticism. Currently, he is at work on a study of ancient theories of divine signs in oracles, omens and dreams. Other interests include ancient mythology, medicine and magic.
The Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit, named in honor of a long-time member and generous benefactor of the American Philological Association, is the APA’s single honor for scholarly achievement. Awarded annually, it recognizes an outstanding contribution to classical scholarship published during the previous three years. The American Philological Association, founded in 1869, is the principal learned society in North America for the study of ancient Greek and Roman languages, literatures and civilizations.