Items related to Metamorphoses
The Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising fifteen books and over 250 myths, the poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Although meeting the criteria for an epic, the poem defies simple genre classification by its use of varying themes and tones. Ovid took inspiration from the genre of metamorphosis poetry, and some of the Metamorphoses derives from earlier treatment of the same myths; however, he diverged significantly from all of his models. One of the most influential works in Western culture, the Metamorphoses has inspired such authors as Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William Shakespeare. Numerous episodes from the poem have been depicted in acclaimed works of sculpture, painting, and music. Although interest in Ovid faded after the Renaissance, there was a resurgence of attention to his work towards the end of the 20th century; today, the Metamorphoses continues to inspire and be retold through various media. The work has been the subject of numerous translations into English, the first by William Caxton in 1480. Ovid's decision to make myth the dominant subject of the Metamorphoses was influenced by the predisposition of Alexandrian poetry. However, whereas it served in that tradition as the cause for moral reflection or insight, he made it instead the "object of play and artful manipulation". The model for a collection of metamorphosis myths derived from a pre-existing genre of metamorphosis poetry in the Hellenistic tradition, of which the earliest known example is Boio(s)' Ornithogonia — a now-fragmentary poem collecting myths about the metamorphoses of humans into birds. There are three examples of the Metamorphoses by later Hellenistic writers, but little is known of their contents. The Heteroioumena by Nicander of Colophon is better known, and clearly an influence on the poem — 21 of the stories from this work were treated in the Metamorphoses. However, in a way that was typical for writers of the period, Ovid diverged significantly from his models. The Metamorphoses was longer than any previous collection of metamorphosis myths (Nicander's work consisted of probably four or five books) and positioned itself within a historical framework. Some of the Metamorphoses derives from earlier literary and poetic treatment of the same myths. This material was of varying quality and comprehensiveness — while some of it was "finely worked", in other cases Ovid may have been working from limited material. In the case of an oft-used myth such as that of Io in Book I, which was the subject of literary adaptation as early as the 5th century BC, and as recently as a generation prior to his own, Ovid reorganises and innovates existing material in order to foreground his favoured topics and to embody the key themes of the Metamorphoses.
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About the Author:
Ovid (43 BCE–18 CE) was born at Sulmo (modern Sulmona) in central Italy. Coming from a wealthy Roman family and seemingly destined for a career in politics, he held minor official posts before leaving public service to write, becoming the most distinguished poet of his time. His works, all published by Penguin Classics, include Amores, a collection of short love poems; Heroides, verse-letters written by mythological heroines to their lovers; Ars Amatoria, a satirical handbook on love; and Metamorphoses, his epic work that has inspired countless writers and artists through the ages.
David Raeburn (translator) is a lecturer in Classics at Oxford, and has also translated Sophocles’ Electra and Other Plays for Penguin Classics.
Denis Feeney (introducer) is a professor of Classics at Princeton.
Coralie Bickford-Smith (cover illustrator) is an award-winning designer at Penguin Books (U.K.), where she has created several highly acclaimed series designs. She studied typography at Reading University and lives in London.
Review:
David Raeburn (translator) is a lecturer in Classics at Oxford, and has also translated Sophocles’ Electra and Other Plays for Penguin Classics.
Denis Feeney (introducer) is a professor of Classics at Princeton.
Coralie Bickford-Smith (cover illustrator) is an award-winning designer at Penguin Books (U.K.), where she has created several highly acclaimed series designs. She studied typography at Reading University and lives in London.
Metamorphoses -- The title of Ovid's most famous work, Metamorphoses, means "changes of shapes." He tells the reader at the very beginning, "My purpose is to tell of bodies which have been transformed into shapes of different kinds." Using a new translation of the work by Ian Johnston, Naxos AudioBooks has issued a 14-CD complete reading that is quite frankly stunning. The reader is British actor David Horovitch, who is best known as the sour Inspector Slack in the older Miss Marple series with Joan Hickson. It must be pointed out that Ovid was in deep trouble with Augustus, because many of Ovid's books displeased his Emperor who declared a family values campaign in Rome. So Ovid, knowing that Roman emperors believed they would be turned into stars (Julius Caesar) or gods (Caligula declared himself divine while still alive), patterned his newest book in such a way that man-into-god transformations seemed perfectly natural. To avoid monotony, Ovid is careful to vary the tone and length of one story after another. Characters in one story actually tell the story of another metamorphosis just before experiencing their own. He also treats his tales very dramatically, inventing dialogue so the myth reads like a drama. I was particularly impressed with the speech the God of the Sun, Phoebus, gives to his son Phaethon. Having promised him anything he wanted, Phoebus immediately regretted his unbreakable promise when Phaethon wanted to drive the Golden Chariot for a day. Ovid tells one rattling good yarn after another. While following without a written text, the listener might lose his way as to what character is now playing the lead, so to speak; but Horovitch's acting skills keep in synch with Ovid's moods and pacing, and hearing this Naxos set is quite a riveting experience. The total playing time is 17:32 hours. The tracking list must be downloaded from a website given on the back of the jewel case. Mine came to 11 pages. --Frank Behrens - BRATTLEBORO REFORMER
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- PublisherCreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Publication date2017
- ISBN 10 1544233655
- ISBN 13 9781544233659
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages508
- Rating
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