Metamorphoses: A New Translation by Charles Martin [Paperback]

Ovid (Author), Charles Martin (Translator), Bernard Knox (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 2005

"A version that has been long awaited, and likely to become the new standard."—Washington Post

Ovid's epic poem—whose theme of change has resonated throughout the ages—is one of the most important texts of Western imagination, an inspiration from Dante's times to the present day, when writers such as Salman Rushdie and Italo Calvino have found a living source in Ovid's work. Charles Martin combines a close fidelity to Ovid's text with verse that catches the speed and liveliness of the original. Martin's Metamorphoses will be the translation of choice for contemporary readers in English. This volume also includes endnotes and a glossary of people, places, and personifications. "Martin's complete text is clearly something to look forward to with high expectations."—Bernard Knox, The New York Review of Books "A reader who wants to understand Ovid's poem as a whole, as well as to learn its many famous stories, will find Mr. Martin's clarity and tact invaluable."—The New York Sun "Smoothly readable, accurate, charming, subtle yet clear....A lucidly fluent version of this most flowing of poems."—Richard Wilbur

Editorial Reviews

Review

A reader who wants to understand Ovid's poem as a whole...will find Mr. Martin's clarity and tact invaluable. -- New York Sun

Martin's complete text is clearly something to look forward to with high expectations. -- Bernard Knox, New York Review of Books

Smoothly readable, accurate, charming, subtle yet clear....A lucidly fluent version of this most flowing of poems. -- Richard Wilbur

About the Author

Charles Martin is a poet, critic, and translator. He lives in Syracuse, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (January 17, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039332642X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393326420
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great classic and great translation, December 4, 2007

By 

Taka (T.Kyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Metamorphoses: A New Translation by Charles Martin (Paperback)

Ovid, or Publius Ovidius Naso, justly deserves his acclaim as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature alongside Horace and Virgil. And he knows it and doesn't bother to hide it, as he appends this bit of encomium to himself at the very end:

My work is finished now: no wrath of Jove
nor sword nor fire nor futurity
is capable of laying waste to it.
...
wherever Roman governance extends
over the subject nations of the world,
my words will be upon the people's lips
and if there is truth in poets' prophesies [sic, Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus, as the Romans would say]
then in my fame forever I will live.

So he is the worst kind of genius: a genius who knows he is a genius. Witty, elegant, and lively, his Metamorphoses is a masterpiece of epic poetry that tells of the myriad odd transformations that mythical (and sometimes historical) figures from Orpheus and Icarus to Romulus and Julius Caesar go through. Throughout, he is delightfully and cuttingly mocking of pretty much the entire epic tradition and every great poet that came before him, including no less authors than Virgil and Homer themselves. In at least three elaborate scenes, he makes so much fun of epic battles and they are hilariously and eerily reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's comical massacre scene in his Kill Bill Vol. 1. Hell, Ovid can be tragic, comic, moving, and sarcastic/satirical all at the same time without lacking in elegance. The poem, 15 books of 1,000 lines per book, so seamlessly integrates story after story of wildly differing genres and plots and lengths that it feels like you're reading a single monomyth without getting bored or overwhelmed. In fact, befitting its title, the stories are constantly changing and sprouting out - each little story feeding into the next and each book spilling into the next without pauses - always keeping the reader on his toe and more often than not leaving the reader breathless and reeling.

Charles Martin did a superb job translating the work. He uses free verse in rendering Latin dactylic hexameter into iambic-friendly English, and it is really good. It's lively, swift, and above all, elegant - or in other words, as Ovid ought to be. Except in the scene where the Muses battle it out with the Pierides, a.k.a. P-Airides whose verse is rendered in modern rap, the translation had everything right and good (though even the surreal rap battle scene was not so bad - just weird). If you're looking to read Ovid, buy this edition. It apparently doesn't add anything new to the original (as many editions do, rather profusely and liberally and thus preposterously), faithful to the original, and very reader-friendly. In my opinion, it belongs to the best translations of the classics.

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Workshop Participants Love this Translation!, February 19, 2007

By 

Amy Barr "www.lukeion.org" (H.S., N.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Metamorphoses: A New Translation by Charles Martin (Paperback)

I teach mythology and literature in translation. In my mythology section I had my students read a version of Ovid available online. They found the experience painful and dull, even though they were somewhat familiar with the story line. So, when I assigned a translation for my workshop on Ovid, I chose this one on the strength of various reviews. Its a real pleasure to have a group of students become ecstatic about a piece of ancient literature! The Lukeion Project will now being using this translation as required reading.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Translation of Ovids masterpiece, January 9, 2008

By 

Serge Marinkovic MD (Lafayette, Lousiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Metamorphoses: A New Translation by Charles Martin (Paperback)

Ovids Metamorphoses was Leonardo Da Vinci favorite piece of literature with this well written translation I have become a lover of his work. This edition is both well documented with footnotes and endnotes that are clear and concise. The books print is also easy to read. Metamorphoses is collection of short stories some with morales and many with just plain ideas on conduct with in society. Ovid is a master story teller with beautiful fluidity of prose and ideas. His imagery is so colorful that the characters truly come to life on the page before us. This is the third translation I have read and this is by far the best version it is well worth the invest because to introduce your children to this epic with this translation will be magic to their imaginations. Good reading.