Center for Ancient Studies

Dr. Daniel Heller-Roazen, Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton

Presented by the NYU Comparative Literature, Department of Classics, Department of Religious Studies, and the Advanced Certificate Program on Poetics & Theory. In-person lecture at NYU Department of Comparative Literature (19 University Place, Room 101, New York, NY 10003). Advance registration required.

Abstract

“Several Roman authors claim that omens are by definition sonorous and discursive events. For Varro, the word omen drives from oresmen, because “it was first uttered from the mouth (ex ore)”; similarly, Festus holds, the omen is “augury made by the mouth, rather than by means of birds.” Yet might there be such a thing as a soundless omen? If there were, how could they be detected and interpreted, and what might their power be? In diverse settings and for different reasons, philologists and theologians, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and philosophers have all posed those questions. This talk will explore them, with attention to some indications about soundless omens to be gleaned from Lacan, Heidegger, and the fabled life of Socrates.”