Face of Nature - Wit, Narrative, and Cosmic Origins in Ovid''s Metamorphoses

In these reflections on the mercurial qualities of style in Ovid's Meta-morphoses, Garth Tissol contends that stylistic features of the ever-shifting narrative surface, such as wordplay, narrative disruption, and the self-conscious reworking of the poetic tradition, are thematically significant. It is the style that makes the process of reading the work a changing, transformative experience, as it both embodies and reflects the poem's presentation of the world as defined by instability and flux. Tissol deftly illustrates that far from being merely ornamental, style is as much a site for interpretation as any other element of Ovid's art.

In the first chapter, Tissol argues that verbal wit and wordplay are closely linked to Ovidian metamorphoses. Wit challenges the ordinary conceptual categories of Ovid's readers, disturbing and extending the meanings and references of words. Thereby it contributes on the stylistic level to the readers' apprehension of flux. On a larger scale, parallel disturbances occur in the progress of narratives. In the second and third chapters, the author examines surprise and abrupt alteration of perspective as important features of narrative style. We experience reading as a transformative process not only in the characteristic indirection and unpredictability of Ovid's narrative but also in the memory of his predecessors. In the fourth chapter, Tissol shows how Ovid subsumes Vergil's Aeneid into the Metamorphoses in an especially rich allusive exploitation, one which contrasts Vergil's aetiological themes with those of his own work.

Originally published in 1997.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

List of contents

Acknowledgments Ch. 1Glittering Trifles: Verbal Wit and Physical Transformation Transgressive Language: Narcissus and Althea Indecorous and Transformative Puns Misunderstanding aura: Cephalus, Procris, and the Pun Divinatory Wordplay: The Pun Overheard Vox non intellecta: Irony and Metamorphic Wordplay (Myrrha) Littera scripta manet - Or Does It? (Byblis) Self-Cancelling and Self-Objectifying Witticisms Wordplay, Personification, and Phantasia True Imitation: Ceyx, Alcyone, and Morpheus The House of Reception Ch. 2The Ass's Shadow: Narrative Disruption and Its Consequences Some Exemplary Interruptions Daedalus and Perdix Cyclopean Violence and Narrative Disruption Some Scandalous Passages Ch. 3Disruptive Traditions Indecorous Possibilities: Callimachus's Hymn to Artemis and Ovidian Style Elegiac Contributions: Propertius's Tarpeia and Ovid's Scylla Epic Distortions: The Hecale in the Metamorphoses Ch. 4Deeper Causes: Aetiology and Style Aetiological Wordplay Ovid's Little Aeneid Aetiology and the Nature of Flux Conclusion App. AG. J. Vossius on Syllepsis oratoria App. BSyllepsis and Zeugma App. CFurther Examples of Syllepsis in Ovid References Index locorum Index

About the author

Garth Tissol

Summary

In these reflections on the mercurial qualities of style in Ovid's Meta-morphoses, Garth Tissol contends that stylistic features of the ever-shifting narrative surface, such as wordplay, narrative disruption, and the self-conscious reworking of the poetic tradition, are thematically significant. It is the style that makes the process of reading the work a changing, transformative experience, as it both embodies and reflects the poem's presentation of the world as defined by instability and flux. Tissol deftly illustrates that far from being merely ornamental, style is as much a site for interpretation as any other element of Ovid's art.

In the first chapter, Tissol argues that verbal wit and wordplay are closely linked to Ovidian metamorphoses. Wit challenges the ordinary conceptual categories of Ovid's readers, disturbing and extending the meanings and references of words. Thereby it contributes on the stylistic level to the readers' apprehension of flux. On a larger scale, parallel disturbances occur in the progress of narratives. In the second and third chapters, the author examines surprise and abrupt alteration of perspective as important features of narrative style. We experience reading as a transformative process not only in the characteristic indirection and unpredictability of Ovid's narrative but also in the memory of his predecessors. In the fourth chapter, Tissol shows how Ovid subsumes Vergil's Aeneid into the Metamorphoses in an especially rich allusive exploitation, one which contrasts Vergil's aetiological themes with those of his own work.

Originally published in 1997.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Additional text

"Tissol's book offers ample evidence of the poem's perennial appeal. . . . His generally effective English versions of his Greek and Latin sources enrich and broaden the book, thus extending its functional importance well beyond the classics seminar."

Product details

• Authors: Garth Tissol, Tissol Garth
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 14.07.2014
• EAN: 9780691600390
• ISBN: 978-0-691-60039-0
• No. of pages: 252
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library; Princeton Legacy Library
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; HISTORY / Ancient / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Ancient History, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval