A review by franchenstein
Metamorphoses by Ovid

challenging dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
It might sound cliche, but this anthology of Greco-Roman myths have a singular main character (who is very plural): Difference. Difference is manifest as all the desires - between what one has and what one wishes to have. All the gods and mortals lusting uncontrollably. Difference of power - gods can exert their desires over those lesser than them and nobody can stop them. Difference is manifest as change, as all the transformations that turn tragedies into legends. Difference becomes apparent through repetition. This is a very repetitive text. Most legends follow a certain pattern of someone desiring something, and as a consequence of that desire they are transformed into a different sort of being. Their becoming-animal is made actual by divine powers. It's a book of horror, as unbound desire and power means overpowering and assault and rape. At the same time it piously reveres the gods' powers, it also relates each instance in which they act as uncontrollably as the animals their victims become. The one who makes that apparent, Arachne, is punished for her talent.
This epic of difference is subversive to power, and yet it tries to amend its criticisms by praising the Emperor. Had it finished with the ominous praise to Rome that Pythagoras gives - preceded by instances of previous empires that fell - it would have fulfilled magnificently its subversive role. That last attempt of still praising the Emperor, deifying him, could taint this work. But a deified Caesar or Augustus is put in the same level as the bestial uncontrollable gods. Was that real praise?
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