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.
By:
Laurel Fulkerson (Florida State University USA)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 6mm
Weight: 180g
ISBN: 9781472531346
ISBN 10: 1472531345
Series: Classical World
Pages: 120
Publication Date: 02 June 2016
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations of Ovidian Works Chapter 1: Life on the margins 1.1Truth Stranger than Fiction: Poet Exiled Under Suspicious Circumstances! 1.2 Meanwhile, Back in Rome…: Ovid’s Historical Context Chapter 2: Repetition compulsion and Ovidian excess 2.1 Now you see him, now you still see him: Ovidian narrative style and metre 2.2 Same Story, Different Day: Repetition and Reception Chapter 3: Romans at Home and Abroad: Identity and the Colonial Subject 3.1 Strangers in a Strange Land: Explorers and Exiles 3.2 Speaking and silence; Victims and Victimizers 3.3 Empire and Colonialism Further Readings Glossary of proper names and Latin terms Index
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).
Reviews for Ovid: A Poet on the Margins
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 [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
