Reading the Ovidian Heroine: "Metamorphoses" Commentaries 1100-1618 (original) (raw)
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Journal of Roman Studies, 2002
REVIEWS Dryden in order to justify Heywood's humanist 'translation-as-imitation' (io), but his comprehensive study of the cultural, economic, and literary conditions in which Heywood translates Ovid renders such justification unwarranted. A complete translation of the proem and all three books of Ovid's Ars Amatoria then follows, each book supported by a detailed commentary in which S. highlights the relation between Heywood's Ars and the Ovidian text. Appendices include textual notes for each of the books, including discrepancies and editorial emendations, a brief but useful bibliography of primary and secondary sources, and separate indices for introduction and commentaries, and for the translation itself. However, it is somewhat unfortunate that, given Heywood's particular-and, for a classicist of his time, unusual-concern for the accurate spelling and printing of his work-this new edition should be not entirely free from typographical errors (4 'may' for 'many'). In his introduction S. observes that Heywood's 'colleagues in the theaters and courts thought his translation worth reading; literary pirates proved that it was worth stealing; the consumers and publishing underworld of the next generation demonstrated that Loues Schoole was worth reading and stealing-again and again' (29). Colleagues in the field of Classical reception, literary critics of Renaissance literature, and a new generation of readers may well agree.
The Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature, Vol. 1: The Middle Ages. Ed. Rita Copeland. , 2015
2015
1. Introduction James G. Clark 2. Ovid's metempsychosis: the Greek East Elizabeth Fisher 3. Ovid's Metamorphoses in the school tradition of France, 1180-1400: texts, manuscript traditions, manuscript settings Frank T. Coulson 4. Recasting the Metamorphoses in fourteenth-century France: the challenges of the Ovide Moralise Ana Pairet 5. Gender and desire in medieval French translations of Ovid's amatory works Marilynn Desmond 6. Ovid in medieval Italy Robert Black 7. Dante's Ovids Warren Ginsberg 8. Ovid from the pulpit Siegfried Wenzel 9. Ovid in the monasteries: the evidence from late medieval England James G. Clark 10. Gower and Chaucer: readings of Ovid in late medieval England Kathryn L. McKinley 11. Ovid in medieval Spain Vicente Cristobal 12. A survey of imagery in medieval manuscripts of Ovid's Metamorphoses and related commentaries Carla Lord 13. Shades of Ovid: the pseudo-Ovidiana in the Middle Ages Ralph J. Hexter Appendix: annotated list of selected Ov...
In the modern popular imagination, the periods of the Late Roman Republic and Augustan Principate are extremely sexualized. The imagination conjures up orgies at Roman banquets, couples copulating around every corner, and hordes of prostitutes plying their wares on the streets. While it can be argued that these periods are sexually licentious, the image in our minds is probably hyperbolic. There may be some truth that it was a period of sexual openness. In her discussion on the texts from this period, Catherine Edwards writes: "Historians ancient and modern commonly depict the late republic as a period when sexual license flourished. This license is particularly associated with women of the senatorial elite, the wives, daughters, and sisters of Rome’s political leaders." Therefore, elite women enjoyed more sexual freedom than their predecessors or their poorer contemporaries. Poets, like Catullus, Horace, and Ovid, wrote explicit works about their sexual trysts with aristocratic matrons, courtesans, and prostitutes. Publius Ovidius Naso, or Ovid, was born in 43 B.C.E. He wrote for over forty years. He is best known for writing The Metamorphoses. However, his work encompasses many genres, including but not limited to: love elegy, tragedy, heroic, and lamentation elegy. For this project, I discuss Ovid’s treatment of women in his amatory works: The Loves (three books), The Art of Love (three books plus The Art of Beauty), and the Heroines (fifteen letters). Through these works, I will show that Ovid’s depiction of women is gendered. Ovid’s depiction of women cannot be considered a historically accurate portrayal of the lives of women during the Augustan Principate. While autobiographical in tone, Ovid writes to entertain his audience. Therefore, his work is literary rather than historical. This fact does not negate the importance of his work to ancient historians and classicists. His depictions provide us with insight into the social world of his time. For example, his women characters join their men at dinner parties, the theatre, and the gladiatorial shows. His descriptions point to a historical period where women participated in the social entertainments of the city. Ovid is one of the first ancient male writers who give women a voice in literature. Feminists have a difficult time with assessing whether ancient male writers, like Ovid, contribute to misogyny or highlight its unfairness. I particularly like Dorothea Wender’s definition of the word feminist: “When I say “feminist,” I mean a man or woman who believes that women should be given a “better” place in society (legally, politically, professionally, etc.) or one which more closely approximates that held by men of the same class.” Based on this definition, Ovid is not a proto-feminist. He is a humorist, often employing the comedic devices of irony and exaggeration. While he portrays women in a sexist way, it is entirely plausible that he writes in this manner for comedic effect. Although Ovid is often sympathetic to women, his amatory works remain part of the patriarchal literature since he portrays his female characters from a masculine perspective in three ways: (1) women assume the traditional Roman male role in romantic affairs; (2) the female heroines are caricatures of the worst female traits; and (3) the female lovers behave more as courtesans than matrons.