Ovid: A Poet on the Margins

Description

The Latin poet Ovid was famously exiled by the Emperor Augustus to the shores of the Black Sea for his self-confessed crimes of 'a poem and a mistake'. Throughout his poetry, he discusses his exile and embraces the themes of marginality and alterity. This core motif is explored throughout this overview of Ovid's life, the society he lived in and his innovative, perennially popular body of work. Presenting basic biographical information and the historical context of the newly Augustan Rome, the book details the contextual instabilities inherent in living at the border between republic and empire. Examining Ovid's poetic representations of 'otherness' from self-portraits to the mythological characters who populate his work, and his audacious experiments with genre, metre and poetic form, the book provides a coherent and original look at this much-studied author. An analysis of Ovid's parodic spirit alongside his more serious exposure of the workings of power reveals his focus on the powerless, the marginalized and the aberrant, as well as Ovid's treatment of the powerful and the abuses they perpetuate. Intelligible to readers with little or no experience of Ovid, all passages of Latin are translated and the work includes relevant maps, glossaries, a timeline and suggestions for further reading.

Laurel Fulkerson is Associate Professor of Classics and Director of Graduate Studies at Florida State University, USA. She is currently editor of The Classical Journal and her writing includes The Ovidian Heroine as Author (2005).

Effortlessly breezing through an astonishing number of themes, Fulkerson creates an exciting and well-rounded introduction to Ovid, his work and his world ... Not just for students, though, this book is a worthy read for anyone approaching the poet for the first time ... With a heady blend of history, politics, personality, poetry and biography, this concise book will encourage readers to dip into Ovid's work. * Minerva * [An] insightful and lively book ... [It] is delightfully illustrated with Ovid-inspired artworks; it lists good material for further reading and has a helpful glossary of proper names and Latin terms ... [A] splendid introduction to one of the world's great poets. * Classics for All Reviews * Fulkerson's study constitutes an ideal addition to the [Classical World] series, offering a brief and brilliant introduction to Ovid written in clear language and demanding no prior knowledge on the topic ... This book is a perfect introduction for Ovidian beginners but will also benefit and appeal to readers more familiar with Ovid thanks particularly to its fresh focus on Ovidian marginality. * Classics Ireland * The work of Ovid, a major poet of early imperial Rome, is often read (be it in Latin or in translation) in undergraduate courses, and it has recently become a flashpoint for discussions of trigger warnings because of the incidence of rape and objectification of women in the narratives. Released in the "Classical World Series," which offers brief introductions to ancient topics, Fulkerson's book occasionally addresses those issues within a broader focus on Ovid's themes of displacement, marginality, and the poet's own exile. Tracing topics that crisscross Ovid's works (rather than proceeding poem by poem), Fulkerson (Florida State Univ.) is especially alert to the polycentrism of Ovid's poetry and the slipperiness of his stance as authority, both focal points of recent criticism. Perhaps more could have been conceded to the concerns of nonspecialist readers; more numerous quotations and sustained discussion of particular texts might have provided hooks for a clearer understanding of what is at stake in engaging with this poet, even at the cost of less general discussion in this necessarily concise format. Fulkerson's enthusiasm and knowledge, however, make for a lively and accessible introduction to the poetry and the scholarship. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. * CHOICE * Fulkerson... encourages the reader to find in Ovid's corpus not only polished play with a variety of literary and generic traditions but also the presence of an ongoing debate about key existential conflicts within the individual. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review * This is an admirable first guide to Ovid that also rewards reading by more advanced Ovidian scholars for the breadth of topics Fulkerson covers. * Classical Journal * In order to frame the themes, artistry and spirit of Ovid's writings, Fulkerson notes that 'the lenses of exile and otherness, on the one hand, and of revision and repetition on the other, serve us throughout his work as structural metaphors' (p. 3). She applies these lenses with great expertise, reflecting magisterially the vast bibliography of recent decades, and yet manages to impose ideas of her own upon the subject that will delight both the casual and the professional reader of Ovid's works ... A very useful manual on Ovid's poems that combines old and new ideas about his works in a manner that is informative, eloquent and intriguing. * The Classical Review * I jumped at the chance to review Fulkerson's new study of Ovid ...The book prompts insightful thought. * Journal of Classics Teaching * This lively, elegant book is both suggestive and comprehensive, covering all of Ovid's poetry and placing it in contexts historical, political, and literary. Fulkerson's clearly written, witty volume provides a superb review, from Ovid's high-spirited youth to his distressed old age, from his often-maddening love poetry to his often-mystifying exilic works, with impressive attention to his Metamorphoses. It will make an ideal introduction to this complex, challenging, even infuriating, but critically important poet. Highly recommended. * Sharon L. James, Professor of Classics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA *