Books

  1. Metamorphoses
    Metamorphoses
  2. The Cryptographic Imagination: Secret Writing from Edgar Poe to the Internet (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture & Society S.)
    The Cryptographic Imagination: Secret Writing from Edgar Poe to the Internet (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture & Society S.)
  3. Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources: Vol 2
    Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources: Vol 2
  4. Greek Mythology: An Introduction
    Greek Mythology: An Introduction
  5. On the Edge of the Cliff: History, Language and Practices (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture & Society S.)
    On the Edge of the Cliff: History, Language and Practices (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture & Society S.)
  6. Zola: Life Pb: A Life
    Zola: Life Pb: A Life
  7. The Mystery to a Solution: Poe, Borges and the Analytic Detective Story
    The Mystery to a Solution: Poe, Borges and the Analytic Detective Story
  8. Oedipus: The Ancient Legend and Its Later Analogues
    Oedipus: The Ancient Legend and Its Later Analogues
  9. Writing Women's Literary History
    Writing Women's Literary History
  10. Information Multiplicity: American Fiction in the Age of Media Saturation
    Information Multiplicity: American Fiction in the Age of Media Saturation
  11. Sister/Brother:Gertrude Leo S Pb: Gertrude and Leo Stein
    Sister/Brother:Gertrude Leo S Pb: Gertrude and Leo Stein
  12. Enlightenment and Pathology: Sensibility in the Literature and Medicine of Eighteenth-century France
    Enlightenment and Pathology: Sensibility in the Literature and Medicine of Eighteenth-century France
  13. Strike Through the Mask: Herman Melville and the Scene of Writing
    Strike Through the Mask: Herman Melville and the Scene of Writing
  14. Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times
    Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times
  15. The Black Hunter: Forms of Thought and Forms of Society in the Greek World
    The Black Hunter: Forms of Thought and Forms of Society in the Greek World
  16. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: An Introduction
    Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: An Introduction
  17. Drunkard's Progress: Narratives of Addiction, Despair and Recovery
    Drunkard's Progress: Narratives of Addiction, Despair and Recovery
  18. Dickens: A Biography
    Dickens: A Biography
  19. The Americanization of the Holocaust
    The Americanization of the Holocaust
  20. Roman Literary Culture: From Cicero to Apuleius (Ancient Society & History S.)
    Roman Literary Culture: From Cicero to Apuleius (Ancient Society & History S.)
  21. Visible Spaces: Hannah Arendt and the German-Jewish Experience (Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies)
    Visible Spaces: Hannah Arendt and the German-Jewish Experience (Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies)
  22. Inventing Grand Strategy and Teaching Command: The Classic Works of Alfred Thayer Mahan Reconsidered (Woodrow Wilson Center Press S.)
    Inventing Grand Strategy and Teaching Command: The Classic Works of Alfred Thayer Mahan Reconsidered (Woodrow Wilson Center Press S.)
  23. The Economy of Literary Form: English Literature and the Industrialization of Publishing, 1800-1850
    The Economy of Literary Form: English Literature and the Industrialization of Publishing, 1800-1850
  24. The Domestic Revolution: Enlightenment Feminisms and the Novel
    The Domestic Revolution: Enlightenment Feminisms and the Novel
  25. 1915: The Death of Innocence
    1915: The Death of Innocence
Metamorphoses (Oxford World's Classics)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • An Anthology of Greek Mythology, Clothed in Latin Dress
  • (Un) pleasant surprises and no happy endings.
  • Superb Translation and Edition
  • Not all ancient books are great
  • Beware: Reviews Discuss Wildly Disparate Works
 Metamorphoses (Oxford World's Classics)
Ovid
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 019283472X

Book Description

The first and still the best modern verse translation of the Metamorphoses, Humphries' version of Ovid's masterpiece captures its wit, merriment, and sophistication.

Everyone will enjoy this first modern translation by an American poet of Ovid's great work, the major treasury of classical mythology, which has perennially stimulated the minds of men. In this lively rendering there are no stock props of the pastoral and no literary landscaping, but real food on the table and sometimes real blood on the ground.

Not only is Ovid's Metamorphoses a collection of all the myths of the time of the Roman poet as he knew them, but the book presents at the same time a series of love poems--about the loves of men, women, and the gods. There are also poems of hate, to give the proper shading to the narrative. And pervading all is the writer's love for this earth, its people, its phenomena.

Using ten-beat, unrhymed lines in his translation, Rolfe Humphries shows a definite kinship for Ovid's swift and colloquial language and Humphries' whole poetic manner is in tune with the wit and sophistication of the Roman poet.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars An Anthology of Greek Mythology, Clothed in Latin Dress.......2006-03-09

Ovid was undoubtedly the most prolific Latin poet; his enormous corpus of poetry gives credence to that fact. Naso's works ranged from lusty love poetry and somber exile literature (all elegies) to the sweeping heroic epic, of which his immortal Metamorphosis is styled upon. The work itself is an anthology of traditional Greek mythology, clothed in Latin dress. Its aim seems to have been twofold: for one, to establish a historical link between the gods of old and the new Roman empire, and two, to popularize the myths of Greece for the Roman nobility and populus. And so, as the Metamorphosis contains many tales, and is in a sense many books within a book, it invites us to read it in small doses. Moreover, it hardly has the capacity to steal your imagination like Virgil's Aenied, but it does have the virtue of being poetic and encyclopedic, while at the same time being entertaining and didactic. A.D. Mellville's translation is suggested; his English is so smooth it is almost therapeutic.

5 out of 5 stars (Un) pleasant surprises and no happy endings........2006-01-16

Publius Ovidius Naso was born in 43 B.C and died in 18 A.D.
He was banished for unknown reasons to Tomi, a barren place near the coast of the Black Sea. A few scholars believe that this was a literary hoax created by Ovid himself. It would enable him to write the 'Tristia' and 'Letters From The Black Sea'.

'Metamorphoses' is his main achievement. It contains 250 stories from the Greek Mythology and they all have in common that the principal character changes into another form. Most of the time they turn into an animal or a tree but also in a river, a constellation of stars, a rock or a flower and other pleasant surprises.

If you read this book you won't find many happy endings. The ancient Greeks didn't know the meaning of that expression.
It's not an easy read but if you persist it will be a rewarding literary experience.

5 out of 5 stars Superb Translation and Edition.......2005-09-30

This book is wonderful. The Rolfe Humphries is THE translation. This printing is also very nice. The paper, the type, everything makes it a good book. When you turn the page, it turns nicely and lies flat; how refreshing.

The stories of the Metamorphoses are, of course, wonderful. It's the book itself that I want to talk about.

The beautiful Waterhouse painting on the cover spans the front and part of the back covers. The line numbers at the top of each text page are those of the Latin text in the Loeb edition; how many translators would go to that kind of trouble for you? Rolfe Humphries' introduction is light, funny, and enjoyable. His love of his work shines through. The last line of his intro is, "So - here he is [Ovid], and I hope you like him."

The table of contents is annotated, making it easy to find any major story you are looking for. I also love the designs at the beginning of each book/chapter: such details enhance my enjoyment of reading this edition.

If you have never read Ovid's Metamorphoses, don't be intimidated. It is a collection of mythology stories, and you will find much that is probably familiar to you (Echo and Narcissus, Jason, Pygmalion, and more). If you are at all serious about literature, this is a basic building block in your knowledge. And even if you're not, it's just a damn good book.

The translation itself is so fluent and enjoyable. Just listen to the introduction:

My intention is to tell of bodies changed
To different forms; the gods, who made the changes,
Will help me - or so I hope - with a poem
That runs from the world's beginning to our own days.

This is exciting, eloquent stuff! Please do yourself a favor and make sure you read this at some point during your lifetime. To die without having read it would be almost like not having lived at all.

2 out of 5 stars Not all ancient books are great.......2005-04-18

I am amazed at how many good reviews this book received. I speak not of the translation, since I have discovered that Amazon, rather illiterately, lumps all translations together. I will simply talk about The Metamorphoses. While reading Ovid is sometimes enjoyable and easy, like ars amatoria, this book is both tiresome and inane. If you intend to teach mythology, there are many other texts, including something new called An Anthology of Classical Myth by Trzaskoma, Smith and Brunet, that provide the Greek religion from the Greeks themselves. There are also new books, like Antinomy: a union of mind by Whyte, that make good and novel use of classic motif in order to provide the reader with some form of intellectual stimulation. This almost meaningless amalgamation of different stories was put together in order to win back favor for Ovid from the emperor Augustus. It was a failure then as it is now. The theme is childish with bits of gore and mayhem and murder placed inside so as to titillate. The ending is supposed to be that of Augustus establishing an eternal empire and this too is made ridiculous. I suppose these stories could be told to children who have an interest in literature, but who do not like the kind, soft and saccharine tales they are ordinarily given, but on the whole the metamorphoses of The Metamorphoses are maddeningly repetitive; it is like someone is smacking you in the eye with a plastic spoon. Remember this: a work of ancient literature is not great literature simply because it is ancient. Some of it is inane rubbish.

5 out of 5 stars Beware: Reviews Discuss Wildly Disparate Works.......2004-09-12

The five stars are for Ovid. This note discusses the Indiana University Press edition of Rolfe Humphries' translation of the _Metamorphoses_.

Humphries provides a clear, workmanlike translation.

So far as I can tell, of all the editorial reviews and customer reviews currently (9/11/04) displayed on the page for Rolfe Humphries' translation of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, only the customer review posted by "elemental master" clearly refers to the Humphries translation.

The _editorial_ reviews describe a Cambridge University Press _Latin_ edition containing only Book Thirteen. Humphries' translation includes all fifteen books, of course. Several customer reviews evaluate books containing translations by Dryden, Innes, and Melville. Often, it is not possible to determine which translation a reviewer is considering. The work offered for sale on the page for Rolfe Humphries' translation of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ contains only Humphries' translation.

In short, shoppers should be aware that the reviews displayed on the page for Rolfe Humphries' translation of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ actually discuss wildly disparate works; most of them have little or nothing to do with the book being offered for sale.
Metamorphoses (Penguin Classics)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Hobbled by bad book design
  • Excellent edition and translation
  • (Un)pleasant surprises and no happy endings.
  • Metamorphosis & Banishment
 Metamorphoses (Penguin Classics)
Ovid
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 014044789X
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Book Description

Ovid's sensuous and witty poem brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation—often as a result of love or lust—where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy. Erudite but light-hearted, dramatic and yet playful, the Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists throughout the centuries from Shakespeare and Titian to Picasso and Ted Hughes.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars Hobbled by bad book design.......2007-05-15

It's not like designers at Penguin Classics are lacking
the knowledge
Of how to handle hexameters. Why then their failure
to use it
In Raeburn's recent translation of Metamorphoses?
On an average page, there's barely three verses that's
typeset within
A single line, with all others continued with vast
indent--
And most roving over a single word. The pages are
ugly,
Everything awkward to read. The font size is generous,
though,
So why not reduce it a point and gather more verses
together?
Nor does it help that the poem is written in thumping
sub-Longfellow,
With all of the beats but now with just one third the
sonority--
Dietetically versed. Avoid this volume. Feh, and more
feh.

5 out of 5 stars Excellent edition and translation.......2006-01-09

After reading the old Penguin edition of this work, I was amazed at the improvement in not only the translation, but the organization and supplemental material as well. The old edition I read was written in prose (yuck), the translation was was dry and boring, the text was not broken up into sections, and there were no notes to speak of. This edition, however, has really come a long way. The text has been translated into a more modern voice, making it much more user friendly and fun to read. And it's written in verse form (as is should be). The organization is top-notch: not only is it divided into "books", but is further divided into the individual stories with appropriate headings (like "Mars and Venus" and "Pyramus and Thisbe"), so it's easy to find your favorite myth and know where you are in the epic. There's also an excellent introduction to the entire work as well as introductions to each individual book, providing insights and background information. The notes in the back of the book are very comprehensive and helpful, adding greatly to your understanding of the work. On top of all that, there's a glossary of the characters in the back which not only tells you who they are, but where they are featured in the epic. And finally, as if there wasn't enough already, there's even a map in the back of Rome during Ovid's time. Needless to say, this edition is chock full of stuff to please both casual readers of the work and scholars looking to get a little more in-depth. I believe this is one of the most important and influential works of Western civilization, and everyone should have a copy. It's especially great for those who love Greek and Roman myths, since it's packed full of just about every classical myth ever conceived. And since it's broken down so nicely into individual stories and books, you can read a story here and there instead of the whole thing at once, if you choose. Though since all the stories are connected and flow seamlessly into one another, reading it through from beginning to end is very rewarding and highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars (Un)pleasant surprises and no happy endings. .......2005-05-04

Publius Ovidius Naso was born in 43 B.C and died in 18 A.D.
He was banished for unknown reasons to Tomi, a barren place near the coast of the Black Sea. A few scholars believe that this was a literary hoax created by Ovid himself. It would enable him to write the 'Tristia' and 'Letters From The Black Sea'.

'Metamorphoses' is his main achievement. It contains 250 stories from the Greek Mythology and they all have in common that the principal character changes into another form. Most of the time they turn into an animal or a tree but also in a river, a constellation of stars, a rock or a flower and other pleasant surprises.

If you read this book you won't find many happy endings. The ancient Greeks didn't know the meaning of that expression.
It's not an easy read but if you persist it will be a rewarding literary experience.

5 out of 5 stars Metamorphosis & Banishment.......2004-12-21

In Ovid's elegiac Metamorphoses, love conquers all. Love conquers the humans, and love conquers the gods. For when Cupid is insulted by Phoébus Apollo, Apollo is hit with Cupid's golden arrow. Apollo's beloved Daphne is hit with a lead arrow, the result being unrequited love which causes her plea to her father for help resulting in her transformation from a human into a laurel tree. Punishment, unrequited love, transformation. Why is transformation the chosen theme of punishment? Simply because transformation is something between life and death. Metamorphosis is not as final as being sent down to Aïdoneus in the underworld, nor as easy as deterring menin and living. Something in between the two (life and death), could also be banishment. As the author himself was banished by Cæsar Augustus, his own life is beginning to fit the equation: Punishment (his banishment), unrequited love (of state) and yet to be seen is his transformation. Everyone is punished, both the victim and the punisher, at every level both mortal and divine.

In the stories of Cerastae and Propoetides, Pygmálion, Actaeon one sees evidence of this and in this edition the layout by Penguin makes the stories easy to read and wonderful to enjoy.
Metamorphoses: A Play
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Love of language
  • AWSOME PLAY
  • I would give it 10 stars out of five
  • I got a chance to perform in Metamorphoses at my university!
  • Plays better than it reads
 Metamorphoses: A Play
Mary Zimmerman
Manufacturer: Northwestern University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0810119803

Book Description

Based on Ovid's fifteen volume work of transformation myths, the tone of Mary Zimmerman's drama superbly echoes the play's theme of change as its physical production evolves onstage.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Love of language.......2006-02-13

I am currently involved in this play with my local theatre, and when we first read through the script I was floored. As an actor of Shakespeare I fell in love instantly with the play and the language. Even though we cannot get every amazing visual down pat, the script gives so much to work with. I can't imagine reading this and never seeing it done. But even just to read is amazing.

5 out of 5 stars AWSOME PLAY.......2005-04-30

My high school preformed this show and i must say it was absolutely amazing. Even as just a script, it was fantastic. it is absolutely worth buying just to read the words. the script is fantastic, and the stories are moving, provocative, and beautiful all in their own.
This is indeed one of the best plays i have ever read or been involved with.

5 out of 5 stars I would give it 10 stars out of five.......2004-10-19

Having been someone who has been intimatly involved with this play; I have read it, seen it, and been in it, I can tell you that this is one of the best American plays of the 20th century if not ever.

As for a book, it is amazing. Mary Zimmerman's language is stunningly beautiful; her amalgam of her own language and that of Ovid or Rilke and others is seemless. The words are often profound, and always beautiful.

Small parts of the text are lost without a visual aid, but these are rare and easy to imagine.

We can only hope that Mary Zimmerman keeps writing amazing works of theatre and makes them available to the public.

5 out of 5 stars I got a chance to perform in Metamorphoses at my university!.......2004-04-19

I was cast in this play and trust me when I say this is a great script. Not because of what it contains- but because of what it doesn't. Mary Zimmerman has left so much of her play open for interpretation, and we certainly took that to heart.

The poetry of Ovid is mesmerizing, and David Slavitt's translation is a must read. But to truly understand the inspiration of this work, see this play and read this script with your mind open.

3 out of 5 stars Plays better than it reads.......2003-08-19

This is not a play script in the traditional sense. This is part of the new trend of director-centered theater, where concept is all. In this case the concept is a pool, where several of Ovid's tales of strange-changes-in-the-night take place in and around. This is one of the better examples of concept theater, and it won many awards on Broadway (but not for script). Reading the original Ovid is preferable to reading descriptions of how the pool should be lit, or what music plays through scene changes. But seeing it? If done right, this material could be incredibly visually striking.

I'd advise stage directors to take a peek. This is director-friendly material. Actors, playwrights, and general readers I'd steer towards Ted Hughes' TALES FROM OVID.

The Metamorphoses of Ovid
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Excellent translation, but no annotations
  • Good Mythology and a Strong Translation
  • (Un) pleasant surprises and no happy endings.
  • Everything a book should be
  • Your next "ought to read that" read
 The Metamorphoses of Ovid
Ovid
Manufacturer: Harvest/HBJ Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156001268

Amazon.com

Publius Ovidius Naso, whom we know as Ovid, was already established as a writer when The Metamorphoses was published in A.D. 8, when he was 52 years old. It had taken him a decade to compose his great poem, during which time he published little, but the Roman world was still abuzz with excitement over his richly erotic Art of Love. So, unfortunately, was the court of Augustus Caesar, and the emperor banished the poet to what is now Romania. Augustus may have taken exception to the poet's turn to the impolite realm of the body--or he may have objected to a rumored affair between Ovid and the emperor's nymphomaniacal daughter Julia, who figures so prominently in Robert Graves's Claudius novels. The poet who had declared Rome to be his only home could have found no worse punishment than exile, but no amount of pleading could sway Augustus, and Ovid died on the shores of the Black Sea a decade later. Full of veiled political and historical references, The Metamorphoses lived on to become a permanent fixture in the canon of European literature. In Allen Mandelbaum's hands, it lives on for a new generation.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Excellent translation, but no annotations.......2007-06-27

Mandelbaum's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses is the best I have seen so far. It is a very accurate and original rendition of the poem, while also being very readable. This is my most highly recommended edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses because of its highly readable, enjoyable verse translation. Mandelbaum, who won the National Book Reward for his classic verse translation of Virgil's Aeneid, displays his unmatched skill and heart at translating Latin classics in this edition of Ovid's poem.

My only complaint about this book is that the book does not have any footnotes or table of contents whatsoever. The book has to be navigated by looking at the top margins.

I personally do not recommend the Oxford and Penguin editions of this book, as they are not as close to the original Latin, and the rhetorical quality is also not as good. Focus Classical Library's edition of
Ovid's Metamorphoses is very highly annotated with indispendable footnotes, outlines, headings, and index, but unfortunately its translation complicated is not as readable as Mandelbaum's.

For serious mythology learners who want an accurate, original rendition of the poem, I would recommend getting both this book and Mandelbaum's translation. Because of the Focus Classical Library edition's indispensable annotations and more literal translation (which includes all of the proper names Ovid uses in his original poem) and outline, serious readers might want to also buy that one in addition to the Mandelbaum translation.

Overall, this is THE edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses that you should get, whether you are a new reader or longtime classicist. This vivid, accurate, readable, page-turning book is truly a modern masterpiece.

4 out of 5 stars Good Mythology and a Strong Translation.......2007-06-18

Most mythology I have read has been in a prose format. Reading Ovid was a bit of a challenge but I found this translation much cleaner then several of the others I tried to read.

If you think by reading one mythology text you have already encountered everything you needed to know, you are of course wrong, I found new characters, new stories that I am weaving into my own writing.

I highly recommend this translation.

5 out of 5 stars (Un) pleasant surprises and no happy endings........2006-01-16

Publius Ovidius Naso was born in 43 B.C and died in 18 A.D.
He was banished for unknown reasons to Tomi, a barren place near the coast of the Black Sea. A few scholars believe that this was a literary hoax created by Ovid himself. It would enable him to write the 'Tristia' and 'Letters From The Black Sea'.

'Metamorphoses' is his main achievement. It contains 250 stories from the Greek Mythology and they all have in common that the principal character changes into another form. Most of the time they turn into an animal or a tree but also in a river, a constellation of stars, a rock or a flower and other pleasant surprises.

If you read this book you won't find many happy endings. The ancient Greeks didn't know the meaning of that expression.
It's not an easy read but if you persist it will be a rewarding literary experience

5 out of 5 stars Everything a book should be.......2006-01-14

Sumptuous, gorgeous. From the creation of the world to the birth of Julius Caesar. If only the Bible was written as well or made as much sense. And how thrilling to discover Shakespeare stealing wholesale from it: eg. Titania's "Nine men's morris" comes from Medea. One of the great reading experiences of a lifetime. And this translation sings and stuns and entertains. Buy it. And give it to all your friends. If you love them and fear for their souls.

5 out of 5 stars Your next "ought to read that" read.......2005-02-20

Ovid is something that people interested in Shakespeare and mythology and Western culture in general ought to read, and Mandelbaum's translation will make you glad while you read it.

Ovid's poem begins with a creation out of chaos and into the golden age, traces the famous careers of Orpheus, Hercules, and Achilles, and culminates with the ascension of Augustus Caesar. Along the way, his tales of young lust, treachery, and enough shape-changes to keep George Lucas in business for decades will pull you into a world in which men contend with gods (and usually, but not always, lose), true love can forestall even death (or make death kidnap a goddess's daughter), and Morpheus is not a gun-toting cyber-revolutionary but a servant of Sleep and a master of imitation.

Mandelbaum's translation balances beauty of language and flow of story to make this classic compilation of Roman myths a page-turner. A beginner might want to acquire an edition with footnotes, but a reader with sufficient background or the resources to research references would do well to acquire this translation of this wonderful text.
Ovid III: Metamorphoses, Books I-VIII (Loeb Classical Library #42)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Ovid is the Master
  • Finest Book by Rome's Greatest Author
  • A Must for anyone interested in Latin!
 Ovid III: Metamorphoses, Books I-VIII (Loeb Classical Library #42)
Ovid
Manufacturer: Loeb Classical Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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  4. Ovid: The Art of Love and Other Poems (Loeb Classical Library No. 232)
  5. The Iliad: Volume I, Books 1-12 (Loeb Classical Library No. 170)

ASIN: 0674990463

Book Description

Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BC-AD 17), born at Sulmo, studied rhetoric and law at Rome. Later he did considerable public service there, and otherwise devoted himself to poetry and to society. Famous at first, he offended the emperor Augustus by his Ars Amatoria, and was banished because of this work and some other reason unknown to us, and dwelt in the cold and primitive town of Tomis on the Black Sea. He continued writing poetry, a kindly man, leading a temperate life. He died in exile.

Ovid's main surviving works are the Metamorphoses, a source of inspiration to artists and poets including Chaucer and Shakespeare; the Fasti, a poetic treatment of the Roman year of which Ovid finished only half; the Amores, love poems; the Ars Amatoria, not moral but clever and in parts beautiful; Heroides, fictitious love letters by legendary women to absent husbands; and the dismal works written in exile: the Tristia, appeals to persons including his wife and also the emperor; and similar Epistulae ex Ponto. Poetry came naturally to Ovid, who at his best is lively, graphic and lucid.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Ovid is in six volumes.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Ovid is the Master.......2006-08-04

I wrote a thesis on Ovid in college, so I'm a little biased, but this is one great translation. I love the Loeb series in general, and haven't seen a single edition that hasn't been well translated and edited. If you're reading a classic, read a Loeb.

5 out of 5 stars Finest Book by Rome's Greatest Author.......2000-02-26

Ovid is by far the greatest Roman poet. Certainly, Vergil's work must not be overlooked, with his excellent style and powerful emotion (a favorite scene of mine is the death of Laocoon); however, Ovid surpasses Rome's poet laureate by leaps and bounds: Ovid's dactylic hexameter is ornate and precise, and his poetry contains a daring irreverence that outraged Augustus. Few authors have surpassed the power of Ovid's pen, and his _Metamorphoses_ is his best work.

Although I am not entirely impressed with pedestrian prose translations of poetry, the Lobe edition's side-by-side translation provides the reader an adequate aid to begin to grasp the poet's beauty.

(If one desires to read Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ in English, I highly recommend Rolfe Humprhies's excellent translation.)

5 out of 5 stars A Must for anyone interested in Latin!.......1998-09-25

The Metamorphoses, of course, is one of, if not the, classical world's greatest mythological treatises. The Loeb edition's convenient format of original Latin text opposite a clear, concise English translation is invaluable for anyone who has ever been interested in Latin, and a wonderful study guide for the Latin scholar. Highly recommended.
Ovid : Metamorphoses Books 9-15 (Ovid, Volume 4 - Loeb Classical Library)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Glad to have this in my collection.
 Ovid : Metamorphoses Books 9-15 (Ovid, Volume 4 - Loeb Classical Library)
Ovid , and G. P. Goold
Manufacturer: Loeb Classical Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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  1. Ovid III: Metamorphoses, Books I-VIII (Loeb Classical Library #42)
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  4. Ovid: The Art of Love and Other Poems (Loeb Classical Library No. 232)
  5. Heroides. Amores (Loeb Classical Library)

ASIN: 0674990471

Book Description

Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BC-AD 17), born at Sulmo, studied rhetoric and law at Rome. Later he did considerable public service there, and otherwise devoted himself to poetry and to society. Famous at first, he offended the emperor Augustus by his Ars Amatoria, and was banished because of this work and some other reason unknown to us, and dwelt in the cold and primitive town of Tomis on the Black Sea. He continued writing poetry, a kindly man, leading a temperate life. He died in exile.

Ovid's main surviving works are the Metamorphoses, a source of inspiration to artists and poets including Chaucer and Shakespeare; the Fasti, a poetic treatment of the Roman year of which Ovid finished only half; the Amores, love poems; the Ars Amatoria, not moral but clever and in parts beautiful; Heroides, fictitious love letters by legendary women to absent husbands; and the dismal works written in exile: the Tristia, appeals to persons including his wife and also the emperor; and similar Epistulae ex Ponto. Poetry came naturally to Ovid, who at his best is lively, graphic and lucid.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Ovid is in six volumes.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Glad to have this in my collection........2007-05-21

It's a hardcover book I purchased for the Orpheus and Eurydice myth (for research.) It includes the entire story with information I had not seen in other versions of Ovid. It has the Latin across the page from the English.

The Pygmalian story and others in this volume will also be useful for future lectures.

My only quibble: the print is so small.

Kathleen Burt
Metamorphoses: Towards a Materialist Theory of Becoming (Short Introductions)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Metamorphoses: Towards a Materialist Theory of Becoming (Short Introductions)
    Rosi Braidotti
    Manufacturer: Polity Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0745625770
    Ovid's Metamorphoses
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • Glorious English!
    		 Ovid's Metamorphoses
    Ovid
    Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0801870607

    Book Description

    This landmark translation of Ovid was acclaimed by Ezra Pound as "the most beautiful book in the language (my opinion and I suspect it was Shakespeare's)". Ovid's deliciously witty and poignant epic starts with the creation of the world and brings together a series of ingeniously linked myths and legends in which men and women are transformed -- often by love -- into flowers, trees, stones, and stars. Golding's robustly vernacular version was the first major English translation and decisively influenced Shakespeare, Spenser, and the character of English Renaissance writing.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Glorious English!.......2004-09-11

    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.
    The Metamorphoses of Ovid
    Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    • For the less scholarly among us
    • an honest, earnest translation
    • Ovid in the Hands of a Master Poet and Translator
    • The Worst English Translator of the Twentieth Century
    • A poor translation
    		 The Metamorphoses of Ovid
    Ovid
    Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0801847982

    Book Description

    First published in 8 A.D. when he was 52, Ovid's epic poem contains profoundly entertaining tales of Adonis, Midas, Apollo, Icarus, and many others. (Poetry)

    Customer Reviews:

    4 out of 5 stars For the less scholarly among us.......2007-03-11

    I can see why, if you are a Latin scholar, or very serious about Ovid, you might be put off by this free translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Slavitt writes, in the middle of Book Seven, that "any sensible poet would lay (the background story) out somehow", and that Ovid has written "footnotes without a text, a quiz, or a gazetteer of distractions, its only sense in what it refuses to say." Useful, interesting opinions, of the sort typically encountered while reading an author's note. But these comments (and others like them) are inserted directly into the text. So yes, I could see how purists would not like that. Although, I have to admit that I loved it. The tone was very conversational, making the translation easy to understand. And now I feel like I have a good grasp of many of the Greek/Roman myths. In my opinion, this is a very approachable translation of one of those books you've always meant to read.

    5 out of 5 stars an honest, earnest translation.......2003-03-21

    Slavitt's free translation of Ovid is generally very true to the tone of the original, & only sometimes slightly awkward. Slavitt's understanding of Ovid & of translation is great. The Ovid he presents modern English-speaking readers with is much more human & easily flowing than the Ovid of many other translators. Ovid's Metamorphoses is one of the greatest classics of western literature, Ovid one of the most significant writers of our thousands of years of literature, & Slavitt does the man, the book, & readers a good service with this translation.

    5 out of 5 stars Ovid in the Hands of a Master Poet and Translator.......2003-02-12

    So many translations suffer one of two fates: either the translator has a wonderful grasp of the foreign language in question but is not a very talented poet in his own, or he is a wonderful poet but a terrible linguist. David R. Slavitt is both an extremely prolific and talented poet, novelist, and essayist in his own native English, and an excellent linguist. This translation of a classic that is so often translated may seem unnecessary. Why have one more translation of Ovid's "Metmorphoses"? Read this version and you'll see why.

    1 out of 5 stars The Worst English Translator of the Twentieth Century.......2001-02-20

    Whenever you see David Slavitt's name on a translation, look elsewhere. He's a third-rate poet who has made a career of destroying the great works of other poets. This translation is a good example of that. At various points he goes off on tangents, commenting--shallowly, I might add--on the contents of the poem he is supposed to be translating. You read things such as "What is Ovid doing here with this boring passage?" But it won't be a footnote, it will be inserted into the body of the poem. For this one, read Mandelbaum's translation. Stay away from Slavitt.

    1 out of 5 stars A poor translation.......1998-09-06

    If you are interested in Slavitt, read this translation. If you are interested in Ovid, do not.
    Selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses: Baucis and Philemon/Acis, Galatea, and Polyphemus/Narcissus and Echo/Pentheus (Longman Latin Reader)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		Selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses: Baucis and Philemon/Acis, Galatea, and Polyphemus/Narcissus and Echo/Pentheus (Longman Latin Reader)
      William S. Anderson , and Mary Frederick
      Manufacturer: Longman Publishing Group
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0582367484

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