Death and resurrection have always been strong themes within Prince’s body of work. Within the broader story he was trying to convey in the early to mid 1990s – or was making up as he went along – these themes are obvious. In the summer of 1993 Prince ‘died’ and resurrected as the ineffable one depicted as the symbol we have come to know all too well. One could see the ‘Come’ album as Prince’s journey through the underworld with its counterpart The Gold Experience as the resurrection in the form of ‘symbol’. In many ways that journey through the underworld is connected to 1993’s ‘Glam Slam Ulysses’ stage play. This presentation tries to connect the dots between Homer’s depiction of the aftermath of the Trojan war and the aftermath of Prince’s war with his record label.

Erica Thompson is a features reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times. Her articles have also appeared on Hapersbazaar.com, Billboard.com, Mic.com, HuffPost.com and TVLine.com.Her writing on race and gender has garnered awards from the National Association for Black Journalists, Society of Professional Journalists, Press Club of Cleveland, and the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Thompson has a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio University’s acclaimed E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, where she completed her thesis on Prince. She was invited to present her research on Prince’s spirituality at Purple Reign: An interdisciplinary conference on the life and legacy of Prince at the University of Salford, UK; the Prince from Minneapolis symposium at the University of Minnesota; the Prince EYE NO: Lovesexy symposium at New York University (NYU), the virtual Prince #DM40GB30 symposium at NYU; the virtual Prince #1plus1plus1is3 symposium at NYU; and the #SexyMF30 virtual symposium at NYU.

She has been published in Theology and Prince, an edited collection on theology and the life, music, and films of Prince Rogers Nelson. She is currently finishing her first book, a comprehensive study of Prince’s spiritual journey.