Ovid A Very Short Introduction

Download or read book Ovid: A Very Short Introduction written by Llewelyn Morgan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Vivam" is the very last word of Ovid's masterpiece, the Metamorphoses: "I shall live." If we're still reading it two millennia after Ovid's death, this is by definition a remarkably accurate prophecy. Ovid was not the only ancient author with aspirations to be read for eternity, but no poet of the Greco-Roman world has had a deeper or more lasting impact on subsequent literature and art than he can claim. In the present day no Greek or Roman poet is as accessible, to artists, writers, or the general reader: Ovid's voice remains a compellingly contemporary one, as modern as it seemed to his contemporaries in Augustan Rome. But Ovid was also a man of his time, his own story fatally entwined with that of the first emperor Augustus, and the poetry he wrote channels in its own way the cultural and political upheavals of the contemporary city, its public life, sexual mores, religion, and urban landscape, while also exploiting the superbly rich store of poetic convention that Greek literature and his Roman predecessors had bequeathed to him. This Very Short Introduction explains Ovid's background, social and literary, and introduces his poetry, on love, metamorphosis, Roman festivals, and his own exile, a restlessly innovative oeuvre driven by the irrepressible ingenium or wit for which he was famous. Llewelyn Morgan also explores Ovid's immense influence on later literature and art, spanning from Shakespeare to Bernini. Throughout, Ovid's poetry is revealed as enduringly scintillating, his personal story compelling, and the issues his life and poetry raise of continuing relevance and interest. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Download or read book Ovid: a Very Short Introduction written by Llewelyn Morgan and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ovid, wittiest of ancient poets, has been an influential model for writers and artists throughout the ages. Llewelyn Morgan introduces the poet and his works, describing each of his poems in turn, setting them in their social and literary context, and considering the twist of events that led to the exile of Rome's most celebrated artist.

Download or read book Classical Literature written by William Allan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-03 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Allan's Very Short Introduction provides a concise and lively guide to the major authors, genres, and periods of classical literature. Drawing upon a wealth of material, he reveals just what makes the 'classics' such masterpieces and why they continue to influence and fascinate today.

Download or read book Metamorphoses written by Ovid and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now available for the first time in an annotated edition, Rolfe Humphriess legendary translation captures the spirit of Ovid's swift and conversational language, bringing the wit and sophistication of the Roman poet to modern readers. These are some of the most famous Roman myths as youve never read them before--sensuous, dangerously witty, audacious.

Download or read book Change Me written by Ovid and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ovid's stories melt moral conventions, explore ambiguities, and dissolve boundaries between men, women, animals, gods, plants, and the mineral world; in doing so they contrive to seduce readers. Ovid's dark pleasure in telling such stories with a full register of tones is palpable. But the stories of sexual encounter in the Metamorphoses are also infused with deep questions. What does it mean to have thoughts and passions trapped inside a changeable body? What is a self, and where are its edges? If someone can pierce you in sex and in love, how do you survive? And if your outer form changes, what lasts? In Change Me, Jane Alison, critically acclaimed author of The Love-Artist, renders substantial portions of Ovid's great epic into elegant and remarkably faithful English. Her focus is on episodes that involve desire, sexuality, and the transformations brought about by powerful emotion; because these themes are so central to the Metamorphoses, Alison introduces them with a selection of elegies from Ovid's Amores, the collection with which the poet launched his career. When these selections are taken together, Alison's Ovid comes alive; the Roman poet's great ability to perform contemporary themes through mythical subject matter, and vice versa, is Alison's guiding principle and Muse. Change Me will transform forever readers' experience of this most ingenious of poets. FEATURES The thematically organized translations are lucid, apt, precise, and playful Elaine Fantham's Foreword places Ovid in his Augustan context Alison Keith's introduction offers an overview of gender and sexuality in the ancient world Incorporates sixteen color plates from classical antiquity that illustrate Ovidian themes Audio recordings (read by Alison) of sixteen selected passages are available at www.oup.com/us/alison

Download or read book Homer written by Barbara Graziosi and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-28 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Homer's mythological tales of war and homecoming,the Iliad and the Odyssey, are widely considered to be two of the most influential works in the history of western literature. Yet their author, 'the greatest poet that ever lived' is something of a mystery. By the 6th century BCE, Homer had already become a mythical figure, and today debate continues as to whether he ever existed. In this Very Short Introduction Barbara Graziosi considers Homer's famous works, and their impact on readers throughout the centuries. She shows how the Iliad and the Odyssey benefit from a tradition of reading that spans well over two millennia, stemming from ancient scholars at the library of Alexandria, in the third and second centuries BCE, who wrote some of the first commentaries on the Homeric epics. Summaries of these scholars' notes made their way into the margins of Byzantine manuscripts; from Byzantium the annotated manuscripts travelled to Italy; and the ancient notes finally appeared in the first printed editions of Homer, eventually influencing our interpretation of Homer's work today. Along the way, Homer's works have inspired artists, writers, philosophers, musicians, playwrights, and film-makers. Exploring the main literary, historical, cultural, and archaeological issues at the heart of Homer's narratives, Graziosi analyses the enduring appeal of Homer and his iconic works. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. This book was previously published in hardback as Homer.

Download or read book Law and Love in Ovid written by Ioannis Ziogas and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2021-01-28 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Law and Love in Ovid challenges the view that legal language in poetry is a sign of frivolity and argues that it signals a radical return to the roots of law's creation.