Dr. Laura Mcclure

Biography

Laura McClure is the Halls-Bascom Professor of Classical Literature Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She received her Ph.D. in Classical Languages and Literature from the University of Chicago in 1991. Her diverse research interests encompass Athenian drama, ancient gender studies, and classical reception, particularly in the context of women in Greco-Roman antiquity and the late nineteenth to early twentieth century classical reception. McClure has published several scholarly monographs, including 'Spoken Like a Woman: Speech and Gender in Athenian Drama' (Princeton University Press, 1999), 'Courtesans at the Table: Gender in Greek Literary Culture' (Routledge, 2003), and 'Women in Classical Antiquity: Birth and Death' (2019), with her forthcoming work titled 'Phryne of Thespiae: Courtesan, Muse, Myth' (Oxford University Press, 2024) and 'Modernist Women and the Greek Chorus' (Oxford University Press, 2025). She has also edited several collections of essays addressing the roles of women in Greek literature and the broader classical world. McClure's research has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Loeb Classical Library Foundation. Over the years, she has actively participated in various academic organizations, including serving as president of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South and as a trustee for the Society for Classical Studies. As a passionate teacher, McClure regularly offers courses on ancient Greek language and literature, Homer, Greek drama, choral lyric, and the feminist receptions of Greek literature and myth.

Research Interests