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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Like so many other examples of collections of a lot of stories (250+ in this one even), some stories were very interesting, others less so. Only after reading did I realise, however, that so many of these stories are the earliest extant versions of them, e.g., there aren't any older texts describing the fate of Arachne or Pyramus and Thisbe, the OG Romeo & Juliet!! That was really cool to realise.
However, that doesn't change the fact that it just wasn't that enjoyable to read, even though the narrator of my audio book, Barry Kraft, is commendable in his performance. It's just a long list of stories that is only sometimes amusing in its subversion of epic form, but mostly it's a slog to get through. A lot of these stories I've read before, and yes, that's the worst kind of review when someone says that the original content that inspired so much is "cliché" even though, again, it was the original, but I still expected something unique from these stories that goes beyond playing with storytelling forms. I fully proclaim that my lack of enjoyment is my own fault as I was expecting plot from a magnum opus that I shouldn't have expected it from.
However, that doesn't change the fact that it just wasn't that enjoyable to read, even though the narrator of my audio book, Barry Kraft, is commendable in his performance. It's just a long list of stories that is only sometimes amusing in its subversion of epic form, but mostly it's a slog to get through. A lot of these stories I've read before, and yes, that's the worst kind of review when someone says that the original content that inspired so much is "cliché" even though, again, it was the original, but I still expected something unique from these stories that goes beyond playing with storytelling forms. I fully proclaim that my lack of enjoyment is my own fault as I was expecting plot from a magnum opus that I shouldn't have expected it from.
Found out there was a rape description later in the book.
Gory, rapey, repetitive, and frequently tedious. However, it comprises a catalog of a goodly number of myths of the Greeks and Romans.
Wow. That is about the only response to have to the Metamorphoses without knowing a lot more about the book than I do. Though it took me about half the book to clue into this, the poem starts at the beginning of time, and then wends its way through history. But unlike lots of books that take a similar gambit, Ovid doesn't go on to the apocalypse, but instead mostly just leaves us in the present day, which I really liked.
Along the way, Ovid stitches together the creation myths and otherwise of the Greeks into a coherent framework-- I'd need to really sit down and study this to get the details, but my impression is that he has some recurring figures he returns to for a couple books at a time-- so we get the house of Cadmus for a while, and then we have a collection of tales that are contiguous with Bacchus, and then we move from the Trojan war to the present. Oh yeah, did you know that Ovid incorporates the entirety of the Trojan War, and the best parts of the Aeneid? That he gives us the backstory of Polyphemus, the cyclops from the Odyssey, and also what else happened after Odysseus left? Well, he does.
Pretty much everything is in this book, and it's that scope that makes the book so impressive. It's really massive, and sustained, and when you're conscious of it, it's wonderfully crafted so that there are clear thematic links that develop book by book. So the chapter that includes Ariadne, I think, tells the story of what happens when men (and women) try to make art. Later chapters tackle things like what happens if you let women influence politics, etc. Sometimes the links are harder to discern, but I'm sure they are there.
There are lots of things to like here, piece by piece. The version of the Midas story, for example, is quite great and different than I remember seeing it before. The Orpheus-Euridice story is good, but Ovid is great-- and scandalous-- on what follows. The Caesar stuff was really surprising to see here, but I think it was also really well handled. The rise of Bacchus is also delightful and weird and narratively as dense as any un-pruned thicket.
I didn't find a lot of poetry in the translation I read-- which is not this one, unfortunately-- and I felt the loss. I got a clear sense of Ovid's global artistry, but had little appreciation for the work line by line. That said, a work like this is of such monumental scope and richness that I'm not sure I'd ever have finished it if the translation were rich on that level.
I didn't read this translation-- mine was by
Along the way, Ovid stitches together the creation myths and otherwise of the Greeks into a coherent framework-- I'd need to really sit down and study this to get the details, but my impression is that he has some recurring figures he returns to for a couple books at a time-- so we get the house of Cadmus for a while, and then we have a collection of tales that are contiguous with Bacchus, and then we move from the Trojan war to the present. Oh yeah, did you know that Ovid incorporates the entirety of the Trojan War, and the best parts of the Aeneid? That he gives us the backstory of Polyphemus, the cyclops from the Odyssey, and also what else happened after Odysseus left? Well, he does.
Pretty much everything is in this book, and it's that scope that makes the book so impressive. It's really massive, and sustained, and when you're conscious of it, it's wonderfully crafted so that there are clear thematic links that develop book by book. So the chapter that includes Ariadne, I think, tells the story of what happens when men (and women) try to make art. Later chapters tackle things like what happens if you let women influence politics, etc. Sometimes the links are harder to discern, but I'm sure they are there.
There are lots of things to like here, piece by piece. The version of the Midas story, for example, is quite great and different than I remember seeing it before. The Orpheus-Euridice story is good, but Ovid is great-- and scandalous-- on what follows. The Caesar stuff was really surprising to see here, but I think it was also really well handled. The rise of Bacchus is also delightful and weird and narratively as dense as any un-pruned thicket.
I didn't find a lot of poetry in the translation I read-- which is not this one, unfortunately-- and I felt the loss. I got a clear sense of Ovid's global artistry, but had little appreciation for the work line by line. That said, a work like this is of such monumental scope and richness that I'm not sure I'd ever have finished it if the translation were rich on that level.
I didn't read this translation-- mine was by
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a great new translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, which is arguably one of the most important pieces of the Western canon. Why do we need a new translation, though? Well, this one is by a woman (Stephanie McCarter), which ought not to be so relevant, except that she brings a sadly novel approach to the translation that one could argue was overlooked by male translators *because* they were male - she addresses the rapes and violations AS what they are. It ought not to be so novel, calling a rape a rape, but most translators have tended to make excuses and gloss over these horrors, and McCarter definitely does not do this - she faces Ovid's telling squarely, and more honestly, than any previous translation of which I am aware - it is, simply put, a more accurate translation, and ought to be preferred for that reason if no other . . .
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
SHEESH!!!! Tis was so hard to read - It's the Golding translation, so it's English, but it's ELIZABETHAN English - hard for me. Luckily, the stories are familiar - Thanks to Jason and the Argonauts. All tose old myths and adventure stories, PLUS that awful rape of Philamela!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
I feel like I would like this a lot more if I wasn't being forced to read it due to a course. It is one of those books that has been on my to-read list for sometimes, and really it is rather like picking up the bible and deciding that might be some nice light reading. It is the same sort of idea really, origin myths in place, stories of gods and men but instead of from Christian mythology, it is Greek mythology. There is nothing wrong with that of course, and there is every chance I will pick up this book again some time in the future and maybe then I will enjoy it more because I am not speed-reading in attempt to make an essay make sense.