Philip Purchase

Philip Purchase

Senior ​Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Thought
PhD, University of Southern California
research interests:
  • Hellenistic poetry
  • Classical reception
  • Pastoral literature
  • Psychoanalytic theory

contact info:

  • Pronouns: He/Him
  • Email: purchase@wustl.edu
  • Phone: 314-935-8653
  • Office: Umrath Hall, Room 218

office hours:

  • ​By Appointment

mailing address:

  • Washington University
    CB 1029-150-207
    One Brookings Drive
    St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

​Philip Purchase teaches courses in Greek and Latin, as well as courses for the department of Comparative Literature & Thought.

Teaching in Text and Traditions defines and nourishes my intellectual life at Washington University.

It is a delight regularly to revisit works such as the Iliad, the lyrics of Sappho, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and Madame Bovary; to do so in the company of others is a privilege. I approach the literature survey courses as evolving meditations on the uses of tradition. Similarly, my Pastoral Literature class engages the rich transformative history of the singing shepherd, a figure whose course we trace from ancient Greece to contemporary America.

I also take great pleasure in teaching Greek and Latin at all levels, from introductory grammar to literary and rhetorical analysis.

In my research, I trace currents of inheritance and transformation in various literary fields. I am currently considering the representation of the city in the poetry of Theocritus and Cavafy, and I am pursuing the interplay of psychoanalytic thought and artistic practice in the writings of Marion Milner, D. W. Winnicott, and Joyce Cary.

Recent Courses

COMPLITTHT 2107-02 - Classical to Renaissance Literature: Text & Traditions


Description
Students enrolled in this course engage in close and sustained reading of a set of texts that are indispensable for an understanding of the European literary tradition, texts that continue to offer invaluable insights into humanity and the world around us. Homer's Iliad is the foundation of our class. We then go on to trace ways in which later poets and dramatists engage the work of predecessors who inspire and challenge them. Readings move from translations of Greek, Latin, and Italian, to poetry and drama composed in English. In addition to Homer, we will read works of Sappho, a Greek tragedian, Plato, Vergil, Ovid, Petrarch, and Shakespeare.

COMPLITTHT 4900-01 - Senior Thesis Workshop

A working group for thesis writers in the humanities. Permission of department required.