Simile and Identity in Ovid's Metamorphoses
Nulli sua forma manebat. The world of Ovid's Metamorphoses is marked by constant flux in which nothing keeps its original form. This book argues that Ovid uses the epic simile to capture states of unresolved identity – in the transition between human, animal and divine identity, as well as in the poem's textual ambivalence between genres and the negotiation of fiction and reality. In conjuring up a likeness, the mental image of the simile enters a dialectic of appearances in a visually complex and treacherous universe. Original and subtle close readings, from Narcissus to Adonis, from Diana's blush to the freeform dreams in the House of Sleep, trace the simile's potential for exploiting indeterminacy and immateriality. In its protean permutations the simile touches on the most profound issues of the poem – the nature of humanity and divinity and the essence of poetic creation.
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Simile and Identity in Ovid's Metamorphoses
Nulli sua forma manebat. The world of Ovid's Metamorphoses is marked by constant flux in which nothing keeps its original form. This book argues that Ovid uses the epic simile to capture states of unresolved identity – in the transition between human, animal and divine identity, as well as in the poem's textual ambivalence between genres and the negotiation of fiction and reality. In conjuring up a likeness, the mental image of the simile enters a dialectic of appearances in a visually complex and treacherous universe. Original and subtle close readings, from Narcissus to Adonis, from Diana's blush to the freeform dreams in the House of Sleep, trace the simile's potential for exploiting indeterminacy and immateriality. In its protean permutations the simile touches on the most profound issues of the poem – the nature of humanity and divinity and the essence of poetic creation.
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Simile and Identity in Ovid's Metamorphoses

Simile and Identity in Ovid's Metamorphoses

by Marie Louise von Glinski
Simile and Identity in Ovid's Metamorphoses

Simile and Identity in Ovid's Metamorphoses

by Marie Louise von Glinski

Overview

Nulli sua forma manebat. The world of Ovid's Metamorphoses is marked by constant flux in which nothing keeps its original form. This book argues that Ovid uses the epic simile to capture states of unresolved identity – in the transition between human, animal and divine identity, as well as in the poem's textual ambivalence between genres and the negotiation of fiction and reality. In conjuring up a likeness, the mental image of the simile enters a dialectic of appearances in a visually complex and treacherous universe. Original and subtle close readings, from Narcissus to Adonis, from Diana's blush to the freeform dreams in the House of Sleep, trace the simile's potential for exploiting indeterminacy and immateriality. In its protean permutations the simile touches on the most profound issues of the poem – the nature of humanity and divinity and the essence of poetic creation.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781316623596
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 09/29/2016
Pages: 180
Product dimensions: 5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

Marie Louise Von Glinski is Assistant Professor and Faculty Fellow in the Classics Department at New York University.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Metamorphosis and simile; 2. The gods and the simile; 3. The simile and genre; 4. Simile and fictionality; Conclusion: the protean nature of simile.
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