Emily Austin

Biography

Emily Austin is an Associate Professor of Classics and the College at the University of Chicago, where she has taught since 2016. Prior to becoming a faculty member at the University of Chicago, she received a B.A. in Classics from the University of Dallas (2006), and a Ph.D. in Classical Studies from Boston University (2016). Her teaching and research focuses on Homer, especially emotions, as well as literary depictions of solitude in ancient Greece. Her first book, Grief and the Hero: the Futility of Longing in the Iliad, explores the nexus of grief, longing, and anger in the Iliad. She is currently working on a second book, Solitude and its Powers in Ancient Greece, which identifies surprising moments when ancient Greek poetry conceives of solitude as a good thing. 

Academic biography

Research topics

• Homer, especially the role of emotions in the Iliad
• Greek literature
• Conceptions of solitude in the ancient world