By Ovid. Allen Mandelbaum (transl Metamorphoses of Ovid

by Ovid. Allen Mandelbaum (transl

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Sudarshan Ramani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Mandelbaum's translation of Ovid and it's a revelation. Just when you feel you've finished reading all the classics, you find yourself beguiled with a new book that's as powerful as any you've read before by Euripides, Aeschylus, Homer, Virgil.

Metamorphoses is a compendium of Greek and Roman myths, with some adaptations of Egyptian myths as well as figures like Cybele and Attis from what's today Turkiye. But on a deeper level this is about humanizing the suffering and hardship, giving voice to the neglected and forgotten figures. The way Ovid vocalizes figures like Medea, Arachne, Orpheus and Eurydice, Byblis, Iphis and Ianthe are amazing. The pathos of Phaeton as he surveys the cosmos and falls to his death. The final speech by Pythagoras which symbolizes the transition from myth to history and shows the move from mythological descriptions of nature to material ones has an unmatched sublimity.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable translation in iambic pentameter with some really nice turns of phrase. The Ovid itself is historically/mythologically fascinating and sometimes really funny, and also full of a hell of a lot of rape-victim-blaming, so, trigger warning. Also gets across a lot of family-systems-style damage the ancient Greeks and their gods keep inflicting on each other and the following generations. Apparently Ovid wrote it largely as criticism of the ruling class at the time (although he ended it with a whole chapter of CYA fawning about how great they obviously were), so that's interesting.

[Eliza Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great translation and so much fun to read. Some “classics” drag, this one I could not get enough of. Learning the history surrounding Ovid was certainly a plus.