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Metamorphoses: Translated by Stephanie McCarter

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Metamorphoses: Translated by Stephanie McCarter

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Overview

The first female translator of the epic into English in over sixty years, Stephanie McCarter addresses accuracy in translation and its representation of women, gendered dynamics of power, and sexual violence in Ovid’s classic.

A Penguin Classic Hardcover

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is an epic poem, but one that upturns almost every convention. There is no main hero, no central conflict, and no sustained objective. What it is about (power, defiance, art, love, abuse, grief, rape, war, beauty, and so on) is as changeable as the beings that inhabit its pages. The sustained thread is power and how it transforms us, both those of us who have it and those of us who do not. For those who are brutalized and traumatized, transformation is often the outward manifestation of their trauma. A beautiful virgin is caught in the gaze of someone more powerful who rapes or tries to rape them, and they ultimately are turned into a tree or a lake or a stone or a bird. The victim’s objectification is clear: They are first a visual object, then a sexual object, and finally simply an object. Around 50 of the epic’s tales involve rape or attempted rape of women. Past translations have obscured or mitigated Ovid’s language so that rape appears to be consensual sex. Through her translation, McCarter considers the responsibility of handling sexual and social dynamics.

Then why continue to read Ovid? McCarter proposes Ovid should be read because he gives us stories through which we can better explore ourselves and our world, and he illuminates problems that humans have been grappling with for millennia. Careful translation of rape and the body allows readers to see Ovid’s nuances clearly and to better appreciate how ideas about sexuality, beauty, and gender are constructed over time. This is especially important since so many of our own ideas about these phenomena are themselves undergoing rapid metamorphosis, and Ovid can help us see and understand this progression. The Metamorphoses holds up a kaleidoscopic lens to the modern world, one that offers us the opportunity to reflect on contemporary discussions about gender, sexuality, race, violence, art, and identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525506003
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Series:	A Penguin Classics Hardcover
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	608
Sales rank:	298,771
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) was born in central Italy. He was sent to Rome where he realised that his talent lay with poetry rather than with politics. His first published work was Amores, a collection of short love poems. He was expelled in A.D. 8 by Emperor Augustus for an unknown reason and went to Tomis on the Black Sea, where he died.

Stephanie McCarter is Professor of Classical Literature at the University of the South in Sewanee. She has published translated work on Horace and has written for Sewanee Review, Eidolon, Electric Literature and The Millions.

Preface xi

Introduction Stephanie McCarter xv

A Note on the Translation xxxi

Suggestions for Further Reading xxxvii

Metamorphoses

Book 1

Proem 1

The Creation of the World 2

The Creation of Human Beings 5

The Ages of Humankind 6

The Gigantomachy 9

The Council of the Gods 10

Lycaön 12

The Flood 14

Deucalion and Pyrrha 17

The Python 21

Apollo Attempts to Rape Daphne 23

Jove Rapes and Transforms lo 27

Syrinx and Pan 31

Mercury Kills Argus 32

Io Regains Her Form 33

Phaethon 34

Book 2

Phaethon (continued) 36

Reactions to Phaethon's Death: The Heliades, Cycnus, and the Sun 46

Jove Rapes Callisto 49

The Raven and Coronis 54

The Crow and Nyctimene (the Owl) 55

The Raven and Coronis (continued) 57

Ocyrhoë Becomes Hippe 59

Battus 61

Mercury, Herse, and Aglauros 63

Jove Rapes Europa 67

Book 3

Cadmus 69

Diana and Actaeon 73

Jove and Semele 77

Tiresias 79

Echo and Narcissus 80

Pentheus 86

Acoetes' Crew Becomes Dolphins 89

Pentheus (continued) 93

Book 4

The Daughters of Minyas 95

Pyramus and Thisbe 97

Venus and Mars 101

The Sun Rapes Leucothoë 102

Salmacis Rapes Hermaphroditus 105

The Daughters of Minyas Become Bats 109

Ino and Athamas 111

Cadmus and Harmonia Become Snakes 116

Perseus and Atlas 118

Perseus and Andromeda 120

Perseus and Medusa 124

Book 5

The Battle for Andromeda 126

Perseus, Proetus, and Polydectes 133

Minerva and the Muses 134

Pyreneus Tries to Rape the Muses 135

The Pierides Challenge the Muses 137

Pluto Kidnaps and Rapes Proserpina 139

Alpheus Tries to Rape Arethusa 146

Triptolemus 149

The Pierides Become Magpies 150

Book 6

Arachne 151

Niobe 156

Lycian Rustics Become Frogs 162

Apollo Flays Marsyas 165

Pelops Mourns for Niobe 166

Tereus Rapes Philomela 167

Boreas Rapes Orithyia 175

Book 7

Medea and Jason 177

Medea and Aeson 182

Medea and Pelias 187

Medea's Flight 189

Theseus 191

Minos 193

The Arrival of Cephalus in Aegina 195

The Plague at Aegina 197

Cephalus and Procris 202

Book 8

Scylla and Minos 209

The Labyrinth 214

Daedalus and Icarus 216

Daedalus and Perdix 218

The Calydonian Boar Hunt 220

Althaea and Meleager 226

Acheloüs 230

The Echinades 232

Acheloüs Rapes Perimele 233

Baucis and Philemon 235

Erysichthon and His Daughter Mestra 239

Book 9

Acheloüs and Hercules 245

Hercules, Deianira, and the Centaur Nessus 249

The Death of Hercules 251

Hercules and Lichas 254

The Deification of Hercules 255

Alcmena and the Birth of Hercules 257

Dryope 259

Iolaüs and the Prophecy of Themis 262

Byblis and Caunus 265

Iphis and Ianthe 272

Book 10

Orpheus and Eurydice 277

Orpheus Charms the Trees 280

Cyparissus 281

The Songs of Orpheus 283

Jove Rapes Ganymede 284

Apollo and Hyacinthus 285

The Cerastae and the Daughters of Propoetus 287

Pygmalion and the Ivory Statue 289

Myrrha and Cinyras 291

Venus and Adonis 298

Atalanta and Hippomenes 300

The Death of Adonis 305

Book 11

The Death of Orpheus 307

Punishment of the Maenads 310

Midas 311

The Foundation of Troy 315

Peleus Ranes Thetis 317

Peleus at the Court of Ceÿx 319

Daedalion and Chione 321

Psamathe's Wolf 323

Ceÿx and Alcyone 326

The Storm at Sea 329

The House of Sleep 333

Aesacus and Hesperia 338

Book 12

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia 340

The House of Rumor 342

Achilles and Cycnus 344

Nestor's Tales 348

Neptune Rapes Caenis/Caeneus 349

The Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs 350

Cyllarus and Hylonome 356

Caeneus 358

Hercules and Periclymenus 362

The Death of Achilles 364

Book 13

Ajax and Ulysses Contend for Achilles' Armor 366

The Fall of Troy 378

The Sacrifice of Polyxena 380

Hecuba and Polymestor 383

Aurora and Memnon 385

Aeneas' Travels 387

Anius and His Daughters 388

The Daughters of Orion 390

Apneas' Travels Resumed 391

Galatea, Acis, and Polyphemus 393

Scylla and Glaucus 398

Book 14

Glaucus, Scylla and Circe 401

The Travels of Aeneas Resumed 404

The Sibyl and Apollo 406

Macareus and Achaemenides Swap Tales 408

Achaemenides' Tale: The Cyclops 409

Macareus' Tale (I): Circe and Odysseus' Men 411

Macareus' Tale (II): Circe, Picus, and Canens 414

Aeneas' Wars in Latium 419

Diomedes' Men Become Birds 420

The Apulian Shepherd 422

Aeneas' Ships Become Sea Nymphs 423

The Defeat of Turaus 425

Ardea Transforms into a Heron 426

The Deification of Aeneas 427

The Alban Kings 429

Pomona and Vertumnus 430

Iphis and Anaxarete 433

Pomona and Vertumnus (continued) 436

War with the Sabines 437

The Deification of Romulus 439

The Deification of Hersilia 441

Book 15

Numa 443

Myscelos and the Founding of Croton 444

Pythagoras 446

Egeria and Hippolytus/Virbius 459

Cipus 462

Asclepius 465

The Deification of Julius Caesar 469

Epilogue 474

Glossary and Index of Principal Names and Places 475

Notes 507

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“Ovid’s Metamorphoses resists easy categorization. It is, strictly put, an epic poem, but one that upturns almost every convention of ancient epic poetry,” McCarter (Carmen Saeculare) writes in the fascinating introduction to her trailblazing translation. As the first female translator of Ovid’s epic into English in over 60 years, she brings thoughtful attention to the poem’s subjects, remarking that “(power, defiance, art, love, abuse, grief, rape, war, beauty, and so on) is as changeable as the beings that inhabit its pages.” Her knowledgeable contextualizing remarks address questions of accuracy in translation and past representation of women in Ovid’s oeuvre, while her use of iambic pentameter gives the poem a regularity that doesn’t sacrifice the dynamism of its language. In one of the most famous scenes, “Apollo Attempts to Rape Daphne,” she describes, “Then with the blunted dart the god struck Daphne/ and pierced the sharp one through Apollo’s bones./ One loves at once; one flees love’s very name... Though many sought her, she refused them all./ She did not want a man and never had.” McCarter’s excellent poetic instincts and thorough understanding of the text makes this a timely and invaluable contribution to classical and poetic scholarship. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

The true brilliance, that is, the true reading, the accessibility, of McCarter’s tapestry lies in her use of poetic form.(…) Throughout, McCarter produces gorgeous basso continuo undertones juxtaposed against sharp and high-pitched rhymes. Such formal elements of the translation ultimately represent McCarter’s interpretation of Metamorphoses and the art of translation itself—that humble human craft that has the capacity to stand against and despite the will of gods, power, and time. McCarter has produced her own masterpiece that ‘Jove’s wrath cannot / destroy, nor flame, nor steel, nor gnawing time.’ ‘My name,’ she writes, ‘can’t be erased.’”
—Anna Deeny Morales, 2023 American Poets Prize citation for The Academy of American Poets

“The best translation of a work of ancient literature that I read this year was Stephanie McCarter's marvellous new translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, in fresh, readable, vivid iambic pentameter. McCarter captures Ovid's wit and cleverness, making us laugh at the escapades of abusive, lust-crazed, arrogant gods and hapless, also lust-crazed and arrogant mortals. But she also brilliantly evokes Ovid's more serious sides, including his attentiveness to power and the magical vivacity of the natural world. Her wonderful handling of the metrical poetic form is a fitting match for Ovid's artful, fluent Latin verse.”
—Emily Wilson, The New Statesman

“McCarter confronts the tricky issues associated with both the poet and his epic not only in her forthright introduction but in the translation itself, where, like an art restorer removing decades of browned varnish from an Old Master, she strips away a number of inaccuracies and embellishments that have accreted in translations over the decades and centuries, obscuring the sense of certain passages, particularly those portraying women and sexual violence… McCarter’s translation reproduces Ovid’s speed and clarity. Even better, she is alert to many of the sparkling verbal effects for which the poet was famous in his own time… If you didn’t know she was writing about the concerns of someone who died twenty centuries ago, you’d think her subject was still alive.”
—Daniel Mendelsohn, The New Yorker

“McCarter adroitly captures Ovid’s glittering darkness. There is horror here but there is also so much wonder and delight, all conveyed in nimble, fresh language.” —Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire

“The Metamorphoses has it all: sex, death, love, violence, gods, mortals, monsters, nymphs, all the great forces, human and natural. With this vital new translation, Stephanie McCarter has not only updated Ovid's epic of transformation for the modern ear and era —- she's done something far more powerful. She's paid rigorous attention to the language of the original and brought to us its ferocity, its sensuality, its beauty, its wit, showing us how we are changed, by time, by violence, by love, by stories, and especially by power. Here is Ovid, in McCarter's masterful hands, refreshed, renewed, and pulsing with life.”
—Nina MacLaughlin, author of Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung

“Stephanie McCarter’s gorgeous verse translation of the Metamorphoses is ground-breaking not just in its refreshingly accessible approach to Ovid’s syntax and formal devices but for how she reframes the controversial subjects that have made Ovid, and Ovidian scholarship, so fraught for contemporary readers. McCarter’s translation understands that the Metamorphoses is a complex study of power and desire, and the dehumanizing ways that power asserts itself through and on a variety of bodies. McCarter’s deft, musical, and forthright translation returns much needed nuance to Ovid’s tropes of violence and change, demonstrating to a new generation of readers how our identities are always in flux, while reminding us all of the Metamorphoses’ enduring relevance.”
—Paisley Rekdal, author of Nightingale

"A graceful and fluid and deeply meaningful translation. Compared to the other translations of the Metamorphoses on which I’ve relied in the past, it’s as though this is of an entirely different book. The reader follows the lines with genuine emotion. And so do worlds open up—"
—Alexander Nemerov, Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities, Stanford University

"Stephanie McCarter’s translation offers an attractive alternative to the finest versions to appear in recent decades, while the abundance of her introductory and explanatory material gives her work a clear advantage over those predecessors. As a vehicle for serious engagement with Ovid’s poem in English, McCarter has no rival." – Richard Tarrant, Harvard University, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

From the Publisher

Metamorphoses: Translated by Stephanie McCarter

Metamorphoses: Translated by Stephanie McCarter

eBook

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Overview

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About the Author

Table of Contents

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Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Table of Contents

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