Western mythology comes alive in this bold narration.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
In the most daring translation in generations of Ovid's major work, Boer, rather than offering an Ovidian smooth, sustained flow, pares narrative to the bone; consider his Callisto: "But girl? against Jove? what god can?/ Jove the winner, home to heaven; & her? she hates/ woods now." Whittling this scene from Ovid's 95 lines to a spare 77, Boer is deliberately staccato and jerky, evoking the violence latent in Ovid's silky transformations. Inspiration here appears to be Poundian--like the Cantos, Boer's work tends toward lyric episodes. But against Pound's nuanced, sonorous cadences, Boer, in moments of weakness, achieves the economy of Tarzan with Jane: "Phoebus In Love: sees/ Daphne & wants sex; what he wants, he expects. . . ."-- Stephen Scully, Boston Univ.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Boer creates an irresistible tension that pulsates between the dream-like state of epic events and [their] visceral responses." -- Small Press
The repertoire of the Latin poet Ovid, who wrote during the reign of Augustus, is so extensive that many tales of familiar literature and art are derived from his narration. Ironically, though Ovid appreciated mythology for its narrative qualities, he considered it nonsensical. In fact, Ovid may have been more removed from the psychological levels of the myths than a contemporary audience. Stories of factual and solemn truth to the early Greek poets Hesiod and Pindar or vehicles of deep religious truth to the Greed tragedians become idle tales, often witty and diverting, other times sentimental, and occasionally rhetorically trivialized in Ovid's renditions. Boer's translation does justice to Ovid's essential elegance, wit, and precision. Throughout the two hundred and fifty stories that "take us through history from the Creation of the world to Rome and finally to the poet himself," Boer conveys the integrity of the many narrators' individual voices. He also reestablishes both the rhythmic and hypnotic pulse of the many levels of language, and the savage beauty of the theme of change as it unfolds through this rhythm. The effect is riveting. Boer creates an irresistable tension that pulsates between the dream-like state of epic events and the visceral responses with which the characters experience these events. By recreating Ovid's original energy in The Metamorphoses, Boer also recharges the life of its characters and their battles, love affairs, and psyches. He also recaptures the "bodily" aspects of the tales: "Ovid's treatment of [life in flux] shows changes taking place in bodies but not necessarily in minds ... a feature ... that the uripsychological (in some cases ... even anti-psychological) translations of the 1950s did not or could not understand: the nineties are much closer both to body forms of psyche and the pathologized." Furthermore, Boer balances these physical considerations with Ovid's polytheism and psychological insight, "with its sense of suffering, yet never of tragedy." He. thereby, retains focus on the narrator, the essential "L" which simultaneously addresses the audience, the characters, and the act of narration. The effect is one of omnivorous awareness rather than egocentrism--or at least an egocentrism which is humanely self-aware and not narcissistic. In the 1950s translators changed the first-person perspective to third person, thereby diminishing the narrator's involvement and awareness and diluting the recursive tension between observer and participant. Recovering and reenvisioning the narrator's presence melds perfectly with the many other narrators in the poem. Boer's successful rendition transforms Ovid's Metamorphoses from a dulled corpus to its original gold. Strongly recommended for all college and university libraries and for classics and humanities collections. -- From Independent Publisher
The repertoire of the Latin poet Ovid, who wrote during the reign of Augustus, is so extensive that many tales of familiar literature and art are derived from his narration. Ironically, though Ovid appreciated mythology for its narrative qualities, he considered it nonsensical. In fact, Ovid may have been more removed from the psychological levels of the myths than a contemporary audience. Stories of factual and solemn truth to the early Greek poets Hesiod and Pindar or vehicles of deep religious truth to the Greed tragedians become idle tales, often witty and diverting, other times sentimental, and occasionally rhetorically trivialized in Ovid's renditions. Boer's translation does justice to Ovid's essential elegance, wit, and precision. Throughout the two hundred and fifty stories that "take us through history from the Creation of the world to Rome and finally to the poet himself," Boer conveys the integrity of the many narrators' individual voices. He also reestablishes both the rhythmic and hypnotic pulse of the many levels of language, and the savage beauty of the theme of change as it unfolds through this rhythm. The effect is riveting. Boer creates an irresistable tension that pulsates between the dream-like state of epic events and the visceral responses with which the characters experience these events. By recreating Ovid's original energy in The Metamorphoses, Boer also recharges the life of its characters and their battles, love affairs, and psyches. He also recaptures the "bodily" aspects of the tales: "Ovid's treatment of [life in flux] shows changes taking place in bodies but not necessarily in minds ... a feature ... that the uripsychological (in some cases ... even anti-psychological) translations of the 1950s did not or could not understand: the nineties are much closer both to body forms of psyche and the pathologized." Furthermore, Boer balances these physical considerations with Ovid's polytheism and psychological insight, "with its sense of suffering, yet never of tragedy." He. thereby, retains focus on the narrator, the essential "L" which simultaneously addresses the audience, the characters, and the act of narration. The effect is one of omnivorous awareness rather than egocentrism--or at least an egocentrism which is humanely self-aware and not narcissistic. In the 1950s translators changed the first-person perspective to third person, thereby diminishing the narrator's involvement and awareness and diluting the recursive tension between observer and participant. Recovering and reenvisioning the narrator's presence melds perfectly with the many other narrators in the poem. Boer's successful rendition transforms Ovid's Metamorphoses from a dulled corpus to its original gold. Strongly recommended for all college and university libraries and for classics and humanities collections. -- From Independent Publisher
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing,
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This review is from: Ovid's Metamorphoses (Dunquin Series) (Paperback)
It's a tragedy that as of this writing the other reviews for this work refer only to the audio edition, which is evidently crap. I assure you that the book itself is far from crap--that if you're looking for a different take on the classical world, a different voice that does not sound erudite and refined and prissy, Boer's translation is definitely worth a gander. I think of the narrator as an especially poetic caveman--alternately shouting and whispering language in its raw form, telling us many stories from classical mythology before a bonfire, omitting none of antiquity's horror or violence. This is not a dry encyclopedia of mythology ("Phaethon did this, and Phaethon did that after"), this is visceral beauty. Since the book is out of print and there's no preview availible, let me shut up and show you:(Jove is tricking yet another beautiful maiden: he's turned himself into a bull) Royal Girl Dares Climb Bull's Back! (not knowing whom she rides); god dips foot in water & drifts slowly from land & shore, ambles further: then rushes his prey mid-sea: scared seeing shoreline go, she clings one hand to horns, one to his back; her dress trembles & blows in the breeze Many of the stories of the Metamorphoses are well-known and easily located online in duller formats, but this fiery translation has been utterly forgotten. Rare, unique, fun, and worthwhile.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Glorious English!,
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This review is from: Ovid's Metamorphoses (Paperback)
Of course it is for Golding's translation ITSELF that this book is valuable. You might ask yourself, who is the author of this Metamorphosis, Ovid or Golding? Is the book less artistically important because it is Golding's vision of Ovid rather than an unprocessed Ovid? Just feel how nice and chewy Golding's language is. Resentful academic purists should read Ovid in the original Latin.
2.0 out of 5 stars
MISSING PAGES!!,
By
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This review is from: Ovid's Metamorphoses (Paperback)
THIS REVIEW APPLIES TO THE EDITION EDITED BY MADELEINE FOREY (Hopkins, 2002)I own two copies of this book and in both it is missing pages! Specifically, it is missing pages 251-98, or parts of book 8 and 10 and all of book 9. I don't know if other people are also missing pages, but as I say I own two and they're identical. I like this edition in every other way and so to have discovered this is a major disappointment. The book appears only to have been printed once and so it's conceivable that all existing copies are missing these pages. If so, it is impossible for me to recommend. Here are the stories my copies are missing in whole or part: THE EIGHTH BOOK Althaea's revenge -- Achelous and the nymphs -- Baucis and Philemon -- The sacrilege of Erysicthon -- Etysicthon's daughter THE NINTH BOOK Achelous and Hercules -- The shirt of Nessus -- The death of Hercules -- The transformation of Galantis -- The transformation of Dryope -- Iolaus recovers his youth -- Caun and Byblis --The transformation of Iphis THE TENTH BOOK Orpheus and Eurydice
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First Sentence:
The classics were the raw material of the English Renaissance; to write in the sixteenth century meant to engage in dialogue with the great writers of ancient Greece and Rome. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
lenger time, everych one, idiomatic rendition, fro thence, battle ray, royal mace, native shape, wretched wight, thou dost desire, earnest suit, mortal wight, wretched case, mortal folk, means whereof, doth show, selfsame thing, doth reign, doth bear, humble wise, country clown, scattered hair, thee pray Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Arthur Golding, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Dame Venus, Would God, Golding's Metamorphosis, New York, Dame Iris, Queen Juno, University Microfilms, Bodleian Library, Earl of Leicester, Golding's Medea, King Minos, English Renaissance, John Calvin, King Aeacus, King Cephey, Old Testament, Ovid's Latin, Sir Ajax, Sir Palamed, William Caxton, Dame Nature, Dame Pallas, Huntington Library New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The classics were the raw material of the English Renaissance; to write in the sixteenth century meant to engage in dialogue with the great writers of ancient Greece and Rome. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
lenger time, everych one, idiomatic rendition, fro thence, battle ray, royal mace, native shape, wretched wight, thou dost desire, earnest suit, mortal wight, wretched case, mortal folk, means whereof, doth show, selfsame thing, doth reign, doth bear, humble wise, country clown, scattered hair, thee pray Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Arthur Golding, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Dame Venus, Would God, Golding's Metamorphosis, New York, Dame Iris, Queen Juno, University Microfilms, Bodleian Library, Earl of Leicester, Golding's Medea, King Minos, English Renaissance, John Calvin, King Aeacus, King Cephey, Old Testament, Ovid's Latin, Sir Ajax, Sir Palamed, William Caxton, Dame Nature, Dame Pallas, Huntington Library New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 36
books:
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81
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- Ovid in English (Penguin Classics) by Ovid on page 22, and page 25
- Pagan Mysteries In The Renaissance by Edgar Wind on page 16, and page 25
- A Defence of Poetry by Sir Philip Sidney on page 7
- Venus and Adonis. by William Shakespeare in Back Matter
- The Metamorphosis of Ovid: From Chaucer to Ted Hughes by Sarah Annes Brown on page 24
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- Shakespeare and the Classical Tradition: An Annotated Bibliography, 1961-1991 (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) by Lewis Walker on 6 pages
- Shakespeare's Ovid: The Metamorphoses in the Plays and Poems by A. B. Taylor in Front Matter, page 46, and page 156
- Faultlines: Cultural Materialism and the Politics of Dissident Reading by Alan Sinfield on page 191, and Back Matter
- Shakespeare's Reading (Oxford Shakespeare Topics) by Robert S. Miola in Table of Contents, and page 19
- Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History by Alden T. Vaughan on page 24, and page 60
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