• Date of Birth: October 23, 1936
  • Born City: New York
  • Born State/Country: NY
  • Date of Death: December 25, 1993
  • Death City: Columbus
  • Death State/Country: OH
  • Married: Helena Rebecca Frenkil, 23 July 1967.
  • Education:

    B.A. Columbia, 1956; M.A., 1958; Ph.D., 1968.

  • Dissertation:

    “The Structure of the ‘Metamorphoses’ of Apuleius" (Columbia, 1968).

  • Professional Experience:

    Tchr, Case Institute of Technology, Montclair Academy, Barnard School for Girls, New York, part-time lctr, Rutgers, 1958-68; Instr. classics, Rutgers U., 1964-66; preceptor Gk & Lat., Columbia, 1966-67; asst. prof. Ohio State U.1967-73; assoc. prof. classics, , 1973-86; prof. 1986-93; vis. prof. Haifa U., 1975-76; resident, Center for Humanities, Wesleyan U., 1983-84.  

  • Publications:

    “The Curiosity of the Golden Ass,” CJ  64 (1968) 120-25;  “Platonica in the Metamorphoses of Apuleius,” TAPA 101 (1970) 477-87; “The Scholarship on Apuleius since 1938,” CW 64 (1971) 285-309; Cupid and Psyche. Apuleius and the Monuments (University Park, PA: APA, 1976) REVS: Litmus 37 (1978) 240-2 Turcan | CR 28 (1978) 159 Dowden; “Sex and Sanctity. The Relationship of Male and Female in the Metamorphoses,” in Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass, ed. B.L. Hijmans and R. Th. van der Paardt (Groningen: Bouma, 1978) 95-105; “Diana and Actaeon. Metamorphoses of a Myth,” ClAnt  3 (1984) 82-110; The Metamorphoses of Apuleius: On Making an Ass of Oneself (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press ; London: Duckworth, 1992) REVS: CR 43 (1993) 63-64 S. J. Harrison | BMCRev 4 1993 125-127 J. Farrell | CW 89,6 (1995-6) 498-9 Alvin P. Dobsevage | Litmus 54,4 (1995) 892-4 Nicole Fick | Mnemosyne ser. 4, 49, 3 (1996) 358-366 Maaike Zimmerman; “Cupid and Psyche: Folktale and Literary Narrative,” in Groningen Colloquia on the Novel V, ed. Heinz Hofmann (Groningen: Forsten, 1993) 63-73; “A Review of Scholarship on Apuleius' Metamorphoses 1970-1998,” Lustrum 42 (2000) 7-230.

  • Notes:

    Born into a family of engineers, Carl attended Stuyvesant High School and then Columbia College. From Columbia University came his master's degree and his doctorate, with Gilbert Highet and Moses Hadas as his principal professors. In the ten years between his graduate degrees he taught Latin as an instructor at Case Institute of Technology, Montclair Academy and Barnard School for Girls, and finally as a part-time instructor at Rutgers. He joined the faculty at Ohio State University in 1967, and achieved the professorship in 1986. Carl's principal scholarship developed slowly, but effec­tively, from his dissertation topic and was marked by a series of articles and presentations on Apuleius and related authors that led to two signal accomplishments, Cupid and Psyche: Apuleius and the Monuments and The Metamorphoses of Apuleius: On Making an Ass of Oneself. He published also on later Latin topics, ranging from Gentile da Foligno to Caelio Calcagnini and Cassandra Fidelis, and in recent years had become much involved with the letters of Boccaccio and several works dealing with the so-called New World. He was a fre­quent presenter at conferences on Apuleius and the novel, notably at the Groningen Colloquia, and at meetings that engaged Neo-Latin; valued on the international scene as a thoughtful and informed scholar, he also produced a number of careful and informative reviews and was noted for his bibliographical expertise and surveys.Carl thoroughly enjoyed the preparation of courses and the discussion of materials and ideas with students. He taught a wide range of subjects in both classical languages and at all levels; his teaching was always a learning process for him as well as for his students. His fascination with the potential of words led him to design a course in etymology, and many a discussion sent him to etymological sources for resolution. As a colleague he was kind and thoughtful, con­cerned for the feeling of others and a humane mediator when disagreements arose, qualities that he also brought to thesis and dissertation work. Many turned to him for advice in scholarly areas and not infrequently in personal matters. His sense of collegiality informed his relationships in all his activities, academic and other.Pride in the accomplishments of his wife and daughters, awareness of his responsibility to his religious and cultural background, informed curiosity about all kinds of social, his­torical and artistic matters, a love for travel and learning it engendered, a sense of the meaning and obligation of friendships, delight in a good conversation or meal or cultural event in the company of friends, a love for music and for dancing, a willingness more than academic to share knowledge, ideas and concerns with others ~ these are char­acteristics his students, colleagues and friends from all his many interests will long remember and value. Most of us will keep fresh in our hearts the image of Carl at a lecture or a paper at the University or at one of the many organiza­tions he served: eager to learn, careful to question, enjoying the realization of the community of scholars to which his own example gave constant meaning. He died from the effects of a cancer that had for several years threatened him but had not diverted him sig­nificantly from teaching until this past year. During autumn 1993 he managed to complete his one class, fittingly a graduate course on Apuleius, with fierce determination. A few weeks after submitting his final grades he failed quite rapidly.

  • Sources:

    DAS 9th ed., 1:509; APA Newsletter (April 1994) 18-19; Ellen Finkelpearl, “Carl Schlam (1939-1993),” Lustrum 42 (2000) 10-11.

  • Author: Charles L. Babcock