Playing Gods: Ovid's Metamorphoses And The Politics Of Fiction
by Andrew Feldherr /
2010 / English / EPUB
2.4 MB Download
This book offers a novel interpretation of politics and identity
in Ovid's epic poem of transformations, the
This book offers a novel interpretation of politics and identity
in Ovid's epic poem of transformations, theMetamorphoses
Metamorphoses.
Reexamining the emphatically fictional character of the poem,
.
Reexamining the emphatically fictional character of the poem,Playing Gods
Playing Gods argues that Ovid uses the problem of fiction
in the text to redefine the power of poetry in Augustan Rome. The
book also provides the fullest account yet of how the poem
relates to the range of cultural phenomena that defined and
projected Augustan authority, including spectacle, theater, and
the visual arts.
argues that Ovid uses the problem of fiction
in the text to redefine the power of poetry in Augustan Rome. The
book also provides the fullest account yet of how the poem
relates to the range of cultural phenomena that defined and
projected Augustan authority, including spectacle, theater, and
the visual arts.
Andrew Feldherr argues that a key to the political as well as
literary power of the
Andrew Feldherr argues that a key to the political as well as
literary power of theMetamorphoses
Metamorphoses is the way it
manipulates its readers' awareness that its stories cannot
possibly be true. By continually juxtaposing the imaginary and
the real, Ovid shows how a poem made up of fictions can and
cannot acquire the authority and presence of other discursive
forms. One important way that the poem does this is through
narratives that create a "double vision" by casting characters as
both mythical figures and enduring presences in the physical
landscapes of its readers. This narrative device creates the kind
of tensions between identification and distance that Augustan
Romans would have felt when experiencing imperial spectacle and
other contemporary cultural forms.
is the way it
manipulates its readers' awareness that its stories cannot
possibly be true. By continually juxtaposing the imaginary and
the real, Ovid shows how a poem made up of fictions can and
cannot acquire the authority and presence of other discursive
forms. One important way that the poem does this is through
narratives that create a "double vision" by casting characters as
both mythical figures and enduring presences in the physical
landscapes of its readers. This narrative device creates the kind
of tensions between identification and distance that Augustan
Romans would have felt when experiencing imperial spectacle and
other contemporary cultural forms.
Full of original interpretations,
Full of original interpretations,Playing Gods
Playing Gods constructs
a model for political readings of fiction that will be useful not
only to classicists but to literary theorists and cultural
historians in other fields.
constructs
a model for political readings of fiction that will be useful not
only to classicists but to literary theorists and cultural
historians in other fields.