Professor David Ricks

Biography

David Ricks graduated in classics and philosophy from Christ Church, Oxford and was awarded his doctorate by the University of London. Previously British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Birmingham, he has taught at King’s since 1989. His first book, The Shade of Homer (1989) and many of his later publications maintain an interest in the longue durée of literature in Greek. He has published Byzantine Heroic Poetry (1990) and co-edited a related volume, Digenes Akrites (1993): two further co-edited volumes, Byzantium and the Modern Greek Identity (1998) and The Making of Modern Greece (2009), explore ideologies of modern Greece. Modern Greek Writing (2003) is an anthology, and his own translations have appeared in journals and anthologies. His many essays cover a wide range of poets from Solomos, Kalvos, and Rangavis to Patrikios, Vayenas, and Ganas, and he has published widely on Cavafy.

Research Interest

"Modern Greek poetry and short fiction; classical tradition; translation"