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Lädt ... On Ovid's Metamorphoses (Core Knowledge)von Gareth Williams
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“You can’t read the Metamorphoses passively,” Gareth Williams declares in the Epilogue of the work under review, “and the challenge is to try to meet Ovid at least halfway” (p. 162). Of all the ways of approaching Ovid’s Metamorphoses offered in the book, this pronouncement is its methodological core, and there are few better to issue this challenge on behalf of Ovid than Williams, who has published extensively on Ovid for the last thirty years. Williams succeeds, in On Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in compelling us to read the Metamorphoses actively with him. The book is full of lively and provocative readings of Ovid’s greatest work, careening through its changing tales and tales about change to portray a work which, having endured throughout the two millennia since its composition, find a deep resonance even in—or especially in—the 2020s. Gehört zu Verlagsreihen
Ovid's Metamorphoses has entranced audiences for two thousand years, from Rome under Augustus to humanities classrooms today. Borrowing liberally from Greek and Roman mythology, the poem tells hundreds of stories that share one essential theme: each tale depicts a transformation from one physical form into another. Drawing on many years of teaching the Metamorphoses, Gareth Williams offers a brisk and lively reading of the poem that emphasizes why it speaks in compelling ways to a twenty-first-century audience. He shows how the Metamorphoses is not just a colorful collection of stories about change but an exploration of change itself. Ovid challenges us to recognize flux as fundamental to human experience: circumstances shift, fortunes ebb and flow, and our very identities ceaselessly evolve across from one life stage to another. Capturing the energy and excitement that Ovid's poem generates among readers, Williams also sheds new light on its modern provocations. His fresh interpretations of the Metamorphoses reveal its power to enrich and inform our daily existence amid the uncertainties of life today. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)873.01Literature Latin Epic poetry, Latin to ca. 499, Roman periodKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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With the exception of a couple of the stories, it has been a long time, decades, since I have read the entire work. In addition to reading in translation, one of my undergrad professors, for an independent study course, had me translate several books. That gave me a whole new appreciation for the work.
So picking up this book by Williams both brought back some great memories and made me interested in rereading the entire work again. Rather than work through the entire Metamorphoses, we are treated to more detailed readings of a few of the stories that highlight ideas and themes that run throughout. But while there is a bit of historical contextualization, we also see how we can bring some of the lessons and insights into our contemporary lives.
Williams makes no excuses for the elements of the society in which Ovid wrote, but at the same time points out the ways in which there are indeed progressive ways to read and understand the work. The idea of change, whether through effort or fate, is looked at from many perspectives by Ovid and while this book doesn't try to be exhaustive it does try to prepare the reader to engage with the work in an active and personal manner.
Highly recommended for those who have already read Ovid. I think it would also be useful for those about to read it as well, as long as you don't let any of the more detailed sections inhibit your reading. Williams tries to guard against a prescriptive reading other than to insist it must be read actively.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )