Metamorphic Readings: Transformation, Language, and Gender in the Interpretation of Ovid's Metamorphoses

258 Pages·2020·1.261 MB·

by  Mats Malm, Alison Sharrock, Daniel Möller

Metamorphic Readings

Metamorphic Readings
Transformation, Language, and
Gender in the Interpretation
’
of Ovid s Metamorphoses
Edited by
ALISON SHARROCK,
DANIEL MÖLLER,
and
MATS MALM
1
3
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Preface
Ovidclosedhisfifteen-bookepicoftransformationwiththemetamorphosisofthe
poet into his work and his work into its own reception, summed up in the final
word: uiuam (‘I shall live’). The prophecy has been self-fulfilling, in that the
Metamorphoses has entertained readers and inspired artists in different media
fortwomillenniasincethepoet’sdeathin17.Lovedforitsvastrepositoryof
mythicmaterialaswellasitssophisticatedmanipulationofstory-telling,thepoem
can be, and is, appreciated on many different levels and by audiences of very
different backgrounds and educational experiences, whether it is for the tale of
Pyramus and Thisbe or the endless but endlessly fascinating debate over the
generic status of this epic which breaks all the rules and yet somehow must be
includedinanycanonofRomanepics.
Thepresentvolumebeganlifeina2016internationalmeetingofMetamorphoses
scholarsinStockholm,fundedbytheRoyalSwedishAcademyofLetters,History,
and Antiquities, in conjunction with the publication of Ingvar Björkeson’s new
translationofthepoemintoSwedish.Itisdesignednotasahandbooktothepoem
or a comprehensive introduction to the critical debates surrounding it, but as a
collection of original scholarly articles addressing issues in the poem, articles
which are united by interest in metamorphosis of and in language, gender, and
theme. While all contributions are written for scholars, they seek also to be
accessible to undergraduate students and to non-specialists (all Latin and Greek
istranslated).
AS,DM,MM
UniversityofManchester
LundUniversity
UniversityofGothenburg

Acknowledgements
The editors acknowledge with gratitude the support of the Royal Swedish
Academy of Letters, History, and Antiquities. On behalf of all the contributors,
AlisonSharrockwouldliketothankMatsMalmandDanielMöllerfororganizing
the Stockholm conference which was the initial driver for this volume. We are
grateful also to Karen Raith and the team at OUP, especially our copy-editor
Christine Ranft, for all their work in the production of this book, and to Julene
Abaddel-Vecchioforherworkespeciallyontheindices.

List of Contributors
MonikaAsztalosisProfessorEmeritaofLatinattheUniversityofOslo.Shehaswrittenon,
andpublishedcriticaleditionsof,MedievalLatintextsandisabouttocompleteacritical
edition, with a commentary and translation into English, of Boethius’s Commentary on
Aristotle’sCategoriesfortheBrillseriesPhilosophiaantiqua.Herinterestintextualcriticism
inahistoricalperspectiveasaninterpretativetoolinthestudyofRomanpoetry,manifested
inthepresentcontribution,hasresultedinanonlineRepertoryofConjecturesonHorace
andanarticleonCarmen4.10inHSCP93.
AlessandroBarchiesiisProfessorofClassicsatNewYorkUniversity.HisworkonOvid
includes a commentary on books 1 3 of Metamorphoses, in a multi author commentary
issuedbytheFondazioneValla,andageneralintroductiontothepoem.
AndrewFeldherrisProfessorofClassicsatPrincetonUniversity.Hehaspublishedwidely
onLatinLiterature,particularlyinhistoriographyandthepoetryoftheAugustanperiod.
HisbooksincludeSpectacleandSocietyinLivy’sHistory(1998)andPlayingGods:Ovid’s
MetamorphosesandthePoliticsofFiction(2010).ArticlesincludestudiesonOvid,Virgil,
Sallust,Catullus,andLivy.
Mathias Hanses is Assistant Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at
PennStateUniversity.HismainresearchinterestslieinRomancomedyanditsreceptionin
Latinliterature;acrostics,telestichs,andrelatedformsofwordplay;andBlackClassicism.
PhilipHardieisaFellowofTrinityCollege,Cambridge,andEmeritusHonoraryProfessor
of Latin Literature in the University of Cambridge. His interests are chiefly in Latin
literature and its Renaissance reception. His books include Ovid’s Poetics of Illusion
(2002)andClassicismandChristianityinLateAntiqueLatinPoetry(2019).
NiclasJohanssonisSeniorLecturerinLiteratureatMälardalenUniversity.Hisresearchhas
focusedondecadent,symbolist,andmodernistliteratureinFrench,German,English,and
Swedish. He is the author of The Narcissus Theme from Fin de Siècle to Psychoanalysis:
CrisisoftheModernSelf(2017).
Aaron Joseph Kachuck is Junior Research Fellow in Latin and Neo Latin Literature at
Trinity College, Cambridge. He works on the development of political and religious
symbolismandtheirliteraryformintheearlyPrincipate,aswellasontheirintertwined
receptioninlaterperiods,especiallyEarlyModernEurope.
MatsMalmisProfessorofComparativeLiteratureattheUniversityofGothenburg.Hehas
published monographs on Early Modern Scandinavian historiography, the first Swedish
novels,onSwedishBaroqueandonthevoiceinpoetry(Poesinsröster,2011).Hismono
graphsinEnglishtreattheSwedishBaroquefromtheperspectiveofhistoryofliterature,
xii   
ideas,andmedia,andthereceptionofAristotle’sPoetics,followingthedefinitionofthesoul
ofpoetryuptoRomanticism.
DanielMöllerisAssociateProfessorofComparativeLiteratureatLundUniversity.Hehas
published two monographs on seventeenth and eighteenth century Swedish literature,
DumbBeastsinHallowedTombs:SwedishFuneraryPoetryforAnimals1670 1760,trans.
AlanCrozier(2015)andRolldiktningenspoetik.OlofvonDalinsexperimentellatillfällesdiktning
(ThePoeticsofRoleplayingPoetry:OlofvonDalin’sExperimentalOccasionalVerse,2019).
MöllerhasalsocoeditedananthologyonSwedishversec.500 2016,Svenskpoesi(Swedish
Poetry,2016)andwrittenseveralarticlesonSwedishandEuropeanBaroqueandtheClassical
tradition.
EleniNtanouisLecturerinClassicsattheNationalandKapodistrianUniversityofAthens.
Sheismainlyinterestedinpastoralandepicpoetryand,generally,thestudyofgenreaswell
as gender in Augustan and Flavian literature. Alongside these interests, she works with
migrationnarratives,literarygeographies,andidentity.
Alison Sharrock is Professor of Classics and Head of Department of Classics, Ancient
History,Archaeology,andEgyptologyattheUniversityofManchester.Shehaspublished
extensively on Latin poetry, especially Ovid and Roman comedy, and has particular
interestsinliterarytheoryandfeministapproachestoclassicalliterature.Sheistheauthor
ofReadingRomanComedy:PoeticsandPlayfulnessinPlautusandTerence(2009),andof
Seduction and Repetition in Ovid’s Ars Amatoria 2 (1994). She is co editor, with David
Konstan,oftheseriesOxfordStudiesinClassicalLiteratureandGenderTheory.
LouiseVingeisProfessorEmeritaofComparativeLiteratureatLundUniversity.Sheisthe
author of many books and articles on comparative literature, including The Narcissus
ThemeinWesternEuropeanLiteratureuptotheEarly19thCentury(1967)andTheFive
Senses:StudiesinaLiteraryTradition(1975).
RobinWahlstenBöckermanisaSwedishResearchCouncilpostdoctoralresearcheratthe
Department of Romance Studies and Classics, Stockholm University, and visiting
researcher at the Centre for Medieval Literature, University of Southern Denmark. His
researchisfocusedonthemedievalcommentarytraditiononOvid.