The Metamorphoses of Ovid

by Mary M. Innes

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

Reviews

[Jim Puskas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was about to dive into Michael Hofmann's "After Ovid: New Metamorphoses" but before doing so, I thought it prudent to read a complete translation of the original, since many years have passed since I read Books 6, 10, 11 and 12 and I'm no longer sure that I ever did work my way through the entire set. At first reading, this particular translation (by Mary Innes) doesn't resonate with a lot of color but it seems to be scholarly and unpretentious, which is probably a good thing for my present purposes.
I would regard this translation as a good reference volume, covering the full range of the stories but the charm of Ovid's verse doesn't really shine through. Fortunately for all of us, poets, novelists, playwrights, librettists and composers of ballet have, over the centuries taken hundreds of these tales on a merry ride and adapted them to all manner of locales and time periods. The themes of envy, lust, chicanery and of course transformations of all kinds are timeless, lending themselves to limitless adaptations.

[Rich Gwynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread May 2018 and enjoyed refreshing my memory of the various stories, many of which are favourites but some others half forgotten. Perhaps next year I will find time to reread at least some of the tales in the original Latin - this year I've read/reread the Amores and was planning to reread the Heroides too.