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Εγώ, ο Οβίδιος
Τώρα δίνεται το σύνθημα, τα άλογα μαστιγώνονται και η άμαξα κατεβαίνει με τραντάγματα τον σκοτεινό δρόμο, μ" έναν κρανοφόρο στρατιώτη καθισμένο δεξιά κι έναν αριστερά και τον Οβίδιο, τον εξόριστο, ανάμεσά τους. Φλόγες ξεπηδούν από τα μάτια και τα στόματα πέτρινων φαναριών και ο μπλε νυχτερινός αέρας στροβιλίζεται γύρω τους σαν νερό. Ο Παλατίνος λόφος με τις ωραίες επαύλεις, επιπλέει αριστερά του, ο Καπιτωλίνος με τους λαμπρούς ναούς στα δεξιά του· το δικό του σπίτι χάνεται πίσω μακριά. Τα κρύα χέρια του είναι σφιγμένα πάνω στο σακίδιό του και ατενίζει, με μάτια υγρά, όμοια σαν τα μάτια των φαναριών, εκείνη την ακατάληπτη ακόμα λέξη. "Εξορία." "Το πρόβλημα είναι", λέει -και ταράζεται από την ίδια του τη φωνή που βγαίνει αλλοιωμένη από το λαρύγγι του- "το πρόβλημα είναι πως δεν έκανα απολύτως τίποτε". Ο στρατιώτης γυρίζει και την κοιτάζει παραξενεμένος και ένα φως από την αντανάκλαση της πόλης ασημίζει την περικεφαλαία του. "Δεν έκανα απολύτως τίποτε. Νόμιζα ότι ο Αύγουστος με είχε πιστέψει". Η φωνή του Οβίδιου μοιάζει να σβήνει. "Λάθος μου", λέει, συγκεντρώνοντας με προσπάθεια τις σκέψεις του, "ήταν λάθος. Δεν ήξερα τι έκανε η Ιουλία. Πώς να ξέρω;" Ένα αισθησιακό ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα που φέρνει σε πρώτο πλάνο τη Ρώμη του Οβίδιου, πανίσχυρη, υπέροχη, ερωτική και απόλυτα διεφθαρμένη.
278 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
November 1, 2012
Why was Ovid, the most popular writer of his era, banished to the remote town of Tomis in the Black Sea from the seat of the Empire's power, Rome, and the side of his patron, Augustus?
Why are merely two lines of Medea, widely touted as his most ardent and accomplished work, the only surviving remnant of this play?
Between the historical facts of Ovid’s life, his admission that a poem and a mistake were the pillars of his ruin, and these tantalising enigmas, Jane Alison has wrought a hauntingly romantic drama of psychological manipulation and sensual intrigue.
Holidaying in the Black Sea on the outskirts of the Roman Empire and avoiding the potential displeasure of Augustus, Ovid chances upon an almost unearthly woman who epitomises the fantastical elements of his about-to-be published Metamorphoses. A delectable, desirable, alluring combination of mystic and witch, Xenia seems myth translated into life. Ovid is enchanted, obsessed, almost as a virgin youth experiencing his first love, he is brimming with inspiration: Xenia will be the muse for his pièce de résistance. But this time, he renders his subject seductively dark and twisted.
When autumn arrives, Ovid tempts Xenia from her home on the coast of the Black Sea to Rome with the promise of immortality only an artist can bequeath. The ineluctable noose of ambition lures Ovid and he enters a Faustian contract, deceiving his muse and hurling them both towards a retribution he never imagined. As Ovid and Xenia become entangled in his art-inspiring-life conspiracy and the schemes of his patrons, so the reader is ensnared in this chilling yet enthralling re-telling of the events leading to Ovid’s banishment.
The Love Artist is an exotic, brilliant and utterly compelling meditation on love, genius, and the artist's (and his or her muse) unswerving quest for immortality. Ms Alison’s prose is as bewitching as Xenia is described, as sensual and steamy as Ovid’s The Art of Love, and as flawlessly complex and evocative of Ancient Rome as any cinematic poem scribed by the classical poets.
Ms Alison foreshadows the events that will eventually engulf Ovid by opening her story with the journey of his exile to Tomis, but the story proper commences in the light and heat and smells of summer and the joy of the first stirrings of unexpected, overwhelming, infatuation. As the seasons fade into winter, so the menace of Ovid's plotting and the machinations of shadowy puppeteers shroud the protagonists until each is propelled along a path that can only result in a terrifying, profoundly disturbing conclusion.
Readers of lusciously written character-driven prose, who enjoy fictional history of the ancient world, with breath-taking twists of plot and consequence, will not be disappointed with The Love-Artist.
Why are merely two lines of Medea, widely touted as his most ardent and accomplished work, the only surviving remnant of this play?
Between the historical facts of Ovid’s life, his admission that a poem and a mistake were the pillars of his ruin, and these tantalising enigmas, Jane Alison has wrought a hauntingly romantic drama of psychological manipulation and sensual intrigue.
Holidaying in the Black Sea on the outskirts of the Roman Empire and avoiding the potential displeasure of Augustus, Ovid chances upon an almost unearthly woman who epitomises the fantastical elements of his about-to-be published Metamorphoses. A delectable, desirable, alluring combination of mystic and witch, Xenia seems myth translated into life. Ovid is enchanted, obsessed, almost as a virgin youth experiencing his first love, he is brimming with inspiration: Xenia will be the muse for his pièce de résistance. But this time, he renders his subject seductively dark and twisted.
When autumn arrives, Ovid tempts Xenia from her home on the coast of the Black Sea to Rome with the promise of immortality only an artist can bequeath. The ineluctable noose of ambition lures Ovid and he enters a Faustian contract, deceiving his muse and hurling them both towards a retribution he never imagined. As Ovid and Xenia become entangled in his art-inspiring-life conspiracy and the schemes of his patrons, so the reader is ensnared in this chilling yet enthralling re-telling of the events leading to Ovid’s banishment.
The Love Artist is an exotic, brilliant and utterly compelling meditation on love, genius, and the artist's (and his or her muse) unswerving quest for immortality. Ms Alison’s prose is as bewitching as Xenia is described, as sensual and steamy as Ovid’s The Art of Love, and as flawlessly complex and evocative of Ancient Rome as any cinematic poem scribed by the classical poets.
Ms Alison foreshadows the events that will eventually engulf Ovid by opening her story with the journey of his exile to Tomis, but the story proper commences in the light and heat and smells of summer and the joy of the first stirrings of unexpected, overwhelming, infatuation. As the seasons fade into winter, so the menace of Ovid's plotting and the machinations of shadowy puppeteers shroud the protagonists until each is propelled along a path that can only result in a terrifying, profoundly disturbing conclusion.
Readers of lusciously written character-driven prose, who enjoy fictional history of the ancient world, with breath-taking twists of plot and consequence, will not be disappointed with The Love-Artist.
November 28, 2010
Poetic Justice
This intriguing, tightly woven tale grabbed me from the la prima pagina with its lush evocative prose and mercurial movement.
Ovid was exiled from Rome… we know from history, but scholars continue to ponder and argue the reasons for and nature of this bitterly harsh banishment. The play that was to be his masterpiece “Medea” remains forever only a few lines of enigmatic prose.
Springing from this enigma, the story of the magical Xenia ... Xenia, a foreigner, a baby left adrift, only to blossom into a very powerful enchanting female force, ablaze, untamable and capable of magical forces. Exotic and erotic, she yearns to acquire the quinta essentia, the substance of life! Possessing an ineffable feminine jouissance, Xenia’s character is strongly sensual, yet softly childlike.
The back-story that Ms. Allison weaves is a deeply wrought, yet finely tuned instrument …icy hot…mythically mad… and passionately portrayed!
Within this duality of human nature, sex and power converge to excite and entice the reader to travel with Xenia and Ovid over the wild animals housed beneath the stones of Rome while feeling the electricity flowing between their very souls.
I walked the stone streets and felt the marble statues; inhaled the fragrant herbs and felt the warmth of Roman baths wash over me…the prose was so radiantly rendered!
My heart knew the twist that would close this journey, but it takes careful attention to the movement in this cleverly crafted novel to fully realize what Ms. Allison ultimately offers up!
I hope to read more from this enchanting author!… I’d especially love to follow Xenia deeper into the Black Sea over the pebbles and back into that water where she came crashing up through the bubbles into the fresh air! Exhilarating!
Highly recommended!
This intriguing, tightly woven tale grabbed me from the la prima pagina with its lush evocative prose and mercurial movement.
Ovid was exiled from Rome… we know from history, but scholars continue to ponder and argue the reasons for and nature of this bitterly harsh banishment. The play that was to be his masterpiece “Medea” remains forever only a few lines of enigmatic prose.
Springing from this enigma, the story of the magical Xenia ... Xenia, a foreigner, a baby left adrift, only to blossom into a very powerful enchanting female force, ablaze, untamable and capable of magical forces. Exotic and erotic, she yearns to acquire the quinta essentia, the substance of life! Possessing an ineffable feminine jouissance, Xenia’s character is strongly sensual, yet softly childlike.
The back-story that Ms. Allison weaves is a deeply wrought, yet finely tuned instrument …icy hot…mythically mad… and passionately portrayed!
Within this duality of human nature, sex and power converge to excite and entice the reader to travel with Xenia and Ovid over the wild animals housed beneath the stones of Rome while feeling the electricity flowing between their very souls.
I walked the stone streets and felt the marble statues; inhaled the fragrant herbs and felt the warmth of Roman baths wash over me…the prose was so radiantly rendered!
My heart knew the twist that would close this journey, but it takes careful attention to the movement in this cleverly crafted novel to fully realize what Ms. Allison ultimately offers up!
I hope to read more from this enchanting author!… I’d especially love to follow Xenia deeper into the Black Sea over the pebbles and back into that water where she came crashing up through the bubbles into the fresh air! Exhilarating!
Highly recommended!
October 28, 2013
Had this book not been assigned to me for a course, I most likely would not have picked it up. And that, my friends, would be a sorrow and a pity; I would have missed out on something brilliant.
Author Jane Alison has created one of the most lyrical novels I've ever read. Her book imagines Ovid as he writes his "Medea" (only two lines of which survive), inspired by two women in his life: Xenia and Julia.
One of the things I found most interesting about this book is how little dialogue was used. Alison shows us what the three main characters are thinking and feeling, while creating an impression that they seldom speak about those feelings or the decisions that result from them. From the moment Ovid meets Xenia in the Caucasus to the time that they part company, we have a picture of Ovid's Rome (and Xenia's disturbing visions of its future), with all of the politics and violence that were at play during his time. We also see three people steeped in their own needs and not caring that they use others around them as pawns.
The prose in this book is nothing short of gorgeous. Fans of literary and historical fiction will both find much to like here.
Author Jane Alison has created one of the most lyrical novels I've ever read. Her book imagines Ovid as he writes his "Medea" (only two lines of which survive), inspired by two women in his life: Xenia and Julia.
One of the things I found most interesting about this book is how little dialogue was used. Alison shows us what the three main characters are thinking and feeling, while creating an impression that they seldom speak about those feelings or the decisions that result from them. From the moment Ovid meets Xenia in the Caucasus to the time that they part company, we have a picture of Ovid's Rome (and Xenia's disturbing visions of its future), with all of the politics and violence that were at play during his time. We also see three people steeped in their own needs and not caring that they use others around them as pawns.
The prose in this book is nothing short of gorgeous. Fans of literary and historical fiction will both find much to like here.
October 15, 2013
I read this book for the Coursera course "Plagues, Witches, and War, The Worlds of Historical Fiction." I generally enjoy historical fiction and consider myself a historian. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this book more if I knew more about Ovid, his writing and Imperial Rome. It was fine...included some magical realism. However, I admit I was lost for a good amount of the story.
June 19, 2023
I’m not sure why it’s taken almost the entire book for me to realize I’m not enjoying this book. Plus I have a tendency to speed read books I feel this about, which only makes it worse because I miss details. But I think there is a tad bit more inference happening for me to thoroughly grasp with my current attention span. I’m reading just to finish the last maybe 50 ish pages. I mean imma gonna finish it doesn’t suck. And there’s your quote, people. Imma gonna finish it doesn’t suck. I think I was hoping for more Ovid and his writing process and inspiration. Not so much. Both characters walk around slowly falling farther and farther apart just a natural progression in a relationship that should have never been. And I mean that because as far as I can tell neither of them is really plot thickening material.
November 22, 2016
Ovid, the Roman poet, was exiled to Tomis on the Black Sea for what he says in his "Tristia": Carmen et error [A poem and a mistake].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tu...
From this ambiguity, scholars and historians through the years have tried to puzzle out why he was exiled. Alison presents us with her speculation, giving us a lush, sensuous tale of Ovid and a mysterious "witch", Xenia, he meets at the Black Sea area [a more salubrious part than his final home]. They fall in love and he takes her to Rome--returning to Rome in the midst of his exile sounded incredible. He begins writing a tragedy of Medea with her as muse and model for the priestess. Xenia feels he has betrayed her with another woman. Jealous of his patroness, Julia, of the imperial family, she exacts a horrible vengeance on him.
I could SEE all scenes before me vividly, despite the author's sometimes purple prose. Besides the jealousy and betrayal, a main theme is the permanence of art and the artist [in this case Ovid.] Will he always be remembered through the years? As Xenia has the gift of seeing into the future he keeps asking Xenia. This is an obsession with him. The novel took awhile to pick up steam, but finally rolled on swiftly to its inexorable conclusion. With not much dialogue, this contemplative novel expresses the inner life of its characters and may be too slow-moving for some readers.
Recommended. On rereading in November 2016, I lowered my rating to a 3. This time around I felt it compared unfavorably with the other speculations on Ovid-in-exile I have read by not adhering more closely to what might have been from what we know and this iteration being too unbelievable.
There was no mention of his writings from that time: The Tristia of Ovid orTristium Libri V. Et Epistolae Ex Ponto Libri IV,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tu...
From this ambiguity, scholars and historians through the years have tried to puzzle out why he was exiled. Alison presents us with her speculation, giving us a lush, sensuous tale of Ovid and a mysterious "witch", Xenia, he meets at the Black Sea area [a more salubrious part than his final home]. They fall in love and he takes her to Rome--returning to Rome in the midst of his exile sounded incredible. He begins writing a tragedy of Medea with her as muse and model for the priestess. Xenia feels he has betrayed her with another woman. Jealous of his patroness, Julia, of the imperial family, she exacts a horrible vengeance on him.
I could SEE all scenes before me vividly, despite the author's sometimes purple prose. Besides the jealousy and betrayal, a main theme is the permanence of art and the artist [in this case Ovid.] Will he always be remembered through the years? As Xenia has the gift of seeing into the future he keeps asking Xenia. This is an obsession with him. The novel took awhile to pick up steam, but finally rolled on swiftly to its inexorable conclusion. With not much dialogue, this contemplative novel expresses the inner life of its characters and may be too slow-moving for some readers.
Recommended. On rereading in November 2016, I lowered my rating to a 3. This time around I felt it compared unfavorably with the other speculations on Ovid-in-exile I have read by not adhering more closely to what might have been from what we know and this iteration being too unbelievable.
There was no mention of his writings from that time: The Tristia of Ovid orTristium Libri V. Et Epistolae Ex Ponto Libri IV,
October 28, 2013
I read this book for a class on historical fiction. Why it was chosen is beyond me. There is almost no dialogue, the characters are underdeveloped at best, one-dimensional stereotypes at worst. The poet Ovid is presented as a creative fraud, which I'm presuming was because it was an easier choice than trying to imagine what it's like to think like a poet when you lack imagination yourself. The lack of dialogue? Maybe she doesn't know how to write it? I can't believe this is being used in class as an example of a good historical novel.
July 5, 2008
Let me start off with two confessions: 1. Yeah, I bought this book in part because of the cover art---it's gorgeous! Wish I looked like that! and 2. I'm kind of scared to read historical fiction, particularly ancient history. That's because I'm this close to getting my PhD in ancient history, and most of the time when I read historical novels, I spend so much time looking for errors that I can't enjoy the story! However, with The Love Artist I was able to avoid this problem, partly because the author is a classicist and partly because the story she tells fills in the gaps in known history rather than retelling a story for which there is already plenty of evidence. The Roman poet Ovid, one of the most popular of his day, was exiled by the emperor Augustus for, he says "a poem and an error;" We don't know what the error was, although there are plenty of theories, many involving the emperor's granddaughter Julia, who was exiled around the same time. In The Love Artist, Alison provides a possible explanation, writing of Ovid's obsession with the witch Xenia whom he meets on holiday in Tomis on the Black Sea. Ovid, Xenia, and Julia all come alive as believable characters, if not always likable ones, and Alison's prose style is elegant and sparse. I was impressed that her writing was not overly expository or salacious, a problem I've had with historical novels in the past. The ending did feel a little rushed to me, and I'd be interested in hearing how this novel was received by someone who had closely studied the mystery of Ovid's exile and, contrarily, someone with little to no knowledge of ancient Roman history. I enjoyed it, and was caught up in Alison's fictional world.
April 3, 2017
This is a gem of a book. Sometimes the subjects are not believable but the character of Ovid does come to lifee. Based on some myths and truths about Ovid, Alison spins a good yarn.
December 2, 2020
Дочитала наконец-то роман «Певец любви» Джейн Элисон об Овидии, обязательный к прочтению на курсе по исторической литературе от Виргинского университета, который я сейчас слушаю на Курсере.
⠀
Цель у меня, как вы понимаете, любопытная. Возможно, есть кое-какие задумки когда-нибудь попробовать что-нибудь написать самой, но это пока очень эфемерно. Пока что я в принципе хочу понять, как работают писатели, особенно как работают те из них, что пишут исторические романы. У людей из литературного мира считается трудным взять реальные факты и перемешать их с вымыслом, чтобы получилась живая, увлекательная картинка, от которой у читателя осталось бы полное ощущение: «да, так всё и было». Здесь тонкий баланс правды и лжи, того, что было на самом деле, и выдумки. От того, насколько этот баланс выдержан, зависит успех исторического романа.
⠀
«Певец любви» в этом плане хороший пример. Для Джейн Элисон поэт Овидий был кумиром, она изучала его творчество много лет, переводила его элегии, даже жила какое-то время в тех же городах, что и он. Можно сказать, присутствовала некая «одержимость». Возможно, это обязательный компонент для писателя — быть чуточку «одержимым» страной, эпохой и персонажем, о котором ты пишешь. Получилось убедительно.
⠀
Я думаю, что «Певца любви» будет полезно прочитать пишущим людям, чтобы наглядно увидеть, как с помощью мельчайших деталей можно воссоздать давно ушедшую эпоху, оживить давно умерших людей. Остальных увлечёт сюжет со множеством интриг и поворотов. Здесь много магии, переплетённой с искусством. Ведь речь об истории создания легендарной трагедии Овидия «Медея», которая не уцелела и от которой до нас дошло лишь несколько строк.
⠀
Это было захватывающе. Рекомендую.
⠀
Цель у меня, как вы понимаете, любопытная. Возможно, есть кое-какие задумки когда-нибудь попробовать что-нибудь написать самой, но это пока очень эфемерно. Пока что я в принципе хочу понять, как работают писатели, особенно как работают те из них, что пишут исторические романы. У людей из литературного мира считается трудным взять реальные факты и перемешать их с вымыслом, чтобы получилась живая, увлекательная картинка, от которой у читателя осталось бы полное ощущение: «да, так всё и было». Здесь тонкий баланс правды и лжи, того, что было на самом деле, и выдумки. От того, насколько этот баланс выдержан, зависит успех исторического романа.
⠀
«Певец любви» в этом плане хороший пример. Для Джейн Элисон поэт Овидий был кумиром, она изучала его творчество много лет, переводила его элегии, даже жила какое-то время в тех же городах, что и он. Можно сказать, присутствовала некая «одержимость». Возможно, это обязательный компонент для писателя — быть чуточку «одержимым» страной, эпохой и персонажем, о котором ты пишешь. Получилось убедительно.
⠀
Я думаю, что «Певца любви» будет полезно прочитать пишущим людям, чтобы наглядно увидеть, как с помощью мельчайших деталей можно воссоздать давно ушедшую эпоху, оживить давно умерших людей. Остальных увлечёт сюжет со множеством интриг и поворотов. Здесь много магии, переплетённой с искусством. Ведь речь об истории создания легендарной трагедии Овидия «Медея», которая не уцелела и от которой до нас дошло лишь несколько строк.
⠀
Это было захватывающе. Рекомендую.
November 6, 2013
Probably a 2.5 star rating, really.
I gotta say, I started Metamorphoses by Ovid over the summer and put it down, but if I ever manage to pick it back up again, I am definitely going to see him in a different light. She did manage to find those buttons and push!
The writing was beautiful, but I also got a whiff of trying too hard, which is always pretty fatal. It slowed down the narrative and seemed to be trying to mask some of the deficiencies of the rest of the novel.
One of my main issues with the novel was the repetitious nature of it, how many times am I going to hear about her gazing at him, him gazing at her? I thought maybe he should see somebody about those sweaty wrists of his!
The jump from loving couple to jealous and suspicious lovers was a little too steep for me as well. Really, their first time in public he goes off with another woman? His logic seemed completely screwed up, i.e. not believable, for such a smart guy, and his end goal was kind of ridiculous.
Julia seemed an add-on as well. Barely mentioned at first and then plays a pivotal role? Eh, didn't believe it, and didn't really believe her story, as her backstory was not enough to show her motivations.
It would definitely be a cool project to go through and find all the myths that she interspersed throughout and analyze the myth that it becomes, out of the truth of the story.
I gotta say, I started Metamorphoses by Ovid over the summer and put it down, but if I ever manage to pick it back up again, I am definitely going to see him in a different light. She did manage to find those buttons and push!
The writing was beautiful, but I also got a whiff of trying too hard, which is always pretty fatal. It slowed down the narrative and seemed to be trying to mask some of the deficiencies of the rest of the novel.
One of my main issues with the novel was the repetitious nature of it, how many times am I going to hear about her gazing at him, him gazing at her? I thought maybe he should see somebody about those sweaty wrists of his!
The jump from loving couple to jealous and suspicious lovers was a little too steep for me as well. Really, their first time in public he goes off with another woman? His logic seemed completely screwed up, i.e. not believable, for such a smart guy, and his end goal was kind of ridiculous.
Julia seemed an add-on as well. Barely mentioned at first and then plays a pivotal role? Eh, didn't believe it, and didn't really believe her story, as her backstory was not enough to show her motivations.
It would definitely be a cool project to go through and find all the myths that she interspersed throughout and analyze the myth that it becomes, out of the truth of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2019
Now, this is something truly special. Here we find Ovid suspended between a princess and a witch. Historical novel, allegory, fairy tale, erotic sorcery — and so much more. Sublimation accomplished: the ancient stories of gods and demigods, a genius and the muse that enthralls him; transformations of all kinds, spun into words by Ovid, reconstituted over millennia through all the myriad forms of man's imaginings into images, drama, music, and verse. And here, in this novel, reconstituted once more into a tale of romance, betrayal, obsession and loss.
Ovid famously mused that the cause of his exile from Rome was "carmen et error", a poem and a mistake. Here, Jane Alison sets out to uncover the mystery behind that statement as well as the mysterious disappearance of his poem "Medea". To accomplish all that required her to conjure up whole: Ovid's muse! And what a muse this is! Xenia is surely one of the most intriguing characters I've encountered between the covers of a book in a very long time. In sensuous prose, Alison spins a yarn worthy of the great poet himself.
Altogether, a charming companion piece for anyone engaged in reading the Metamorphoses.
Highly recommended!
Ovid famously mused that the cause of his exile from Rome was "carmen et error", a poem and a mistake. Here, Jane Alison sets out to uncover the mystery behind that statement as well as the mysterious disappearance of his poem "Medea". To accomplish all that required her to conjure up whole: Ovid's muse! And what a muse this is! Xenia is surely one of the most intriguing characters I've encountered between the covers of a book in a very long time. In sensuous prose, Alison spins a yarn worthy of the great poet himself.
Altogether, a charming companion piece for anyone engaged in reading the Metamorphoses.
Highly recommended!
October 22, 2013
This book was not horrible. I give 2 stars to books I think are okay. Maybe it deserves 3 stars. A lot of people would probably love it. I just don't enjoy this kind of book. I need an interesting, well-executed plot. Sorry, I just do. Unless you're Cormac McCarthy (or other master of prose, you know what I mean). Then you can get away with it. The author does have some beautiful moments here and there. Unfortunately, the writing is overwrought, and mostly, painful to read--each sentence tortured out, barely. The pacing is excruciating and the dialogue nearly non-existent. Some lovely, lyrical moments there though.
November 18, 2013
I read this book for a historical fiction class I was taking through Coursera and it's probably the only reason I would've read it. Either it's written for suuuuuper intelligent people or else I'm super stupid because I didn't understand a single word. It all seemed a mumble jumble mess of random words strung together.
April 28, 2024
Favorite quotes, phrases, moments:
- [re Athens] “but the weariness of it all irritated him, how handled it had been. All the monuments, artifacts, sightseers, guides.”
- Ovid likes (wants to relate to??) Paris; of course he does
- “Unreal characters, part fantasy, part myth, flirting through transformation: girls who, running, became water or trees, boys who dissolve into their reflections”
- Ovids objectification of the Amazon’s. Very on brand (with Alison’s Ovid).
- “What is it that makes the prehistoric - the pristine - seem not old but new.”
- How myth is imbedded into the landscape of the Black Sea
- “What he makes of me must be … heroic”
- “He asked after Ovid’s work but spoke of his own”
- “A windy sentence”
- “Seeing and hearing … the mirrors and echoes of things”
- Philomela’s tongue. Lacewings says that the tongue - cut out but still alive - symbolizes Ovid’s words living on. But in the now it could seem more ironic, him writing about the experience of being virtually voiceless.
- “Who willed herself reckless into art”
- “To break the laws of nature … so much more than the laws of men.”
- The LIVED EXPERIENCE of landscape paintings and wall art “good for silences those walls; all the stories were distracting.”
- “A statues disdainful marble expression”
- “Gifts are always dense with significance, their ribbons trailing back to the finger of the bestower”
- “She was at the bottom of history. So much was still to come.”
- “Caged in his own laughing self”
- “Perhaps she’d fly” !!!
- [re Athens] “but the weariness of it all irritated him, how handled it had been. All the monuments, artifacts, sightseers, guides.”
- Ovid likes (wants to relate to??) Paris; of course he does
- “Unreal characters, part fantasy, part myth, flirting through transformation: girls who, running, became water or trees, boys who dissolve into their reflections”
- Ovids objectification of the Amazon’s. Very on brand (with Alison’s Ovid).
- “What is it that makes the prehistoric - the pristine - seem not old but new.”
- How myth is imbedded into the landscape of the Black Sea
- “What he makes of me must be … heroic”
- “He asked after Ovid’s work but spoke of his own”
- “A windy sentence”
- “Seeing and hearing … the mirrors and echoes of things”
- Philomela’s tongue. Lacewings says that the tongue - cut out but still alive - symbolizes Ovid’s words living on. But in the now it could seem more ironic, him writing about the experience of being virtually voiceless.
- “Who willed herself reckless into art”
- “To break the laws of nature … so much more than the laws of men.”
- The LIVED EXPERIENCE of landscape paintings and wall art “good for silences those walls; all the stories were distracting.”
- “A statues disdainful marble expression”
- “Gifts are always dense with significance, their ribbons trailing back to the finger of the bestower”
- “She was at the bottom of history. So much was still to come.”
- “Caged in his own laughing self”
- “Perhaps she’d fly” !!!
July 8, 2019
This book reminds me of some of the books I read for the fiction writing class in Greece, perhaps because it is set in ancient circumstances, but maybe because it blends more of the fantastic into the fabric of the historical setting. Giving Xenia the ability to see into the future gives the story a more comprehensive chronological sense, which is interesting as a reader aware of the variety of distances between here and Rome. The decision to spend so much time in Ovid and Xenia’s consciousness was a bit exhausting as a reader, and I would have preferred more action and dialogue. But as an authorial choice it made sense with the true topic of the story, because though framed as the story of their relationship, this is just the story of their independent characters, fiercely separated despite their intense temporary collision.
December 19, 2010
“Two offenses ruined me,” wrote Ovid, “a poem and an error.”
Using the technique of many successful historical novelists, Jane Alison takes a mystery that has remained unsolved through the ages and provides an intriguing solution. Ovid, the Roman poet best known for his masterwork The Metamorphoses, was exiled to the remote island of Tomis in 8 AD for reasons unknown. In Alison’s haunting interpretation, the poem is Medea, of which only two lines remain, and the error involves a witch and mystic from the far reaches of the Empire who becomes Ovid’s tragic muse.
After incurring the wrath of Emperor Augustus, who was upset by the indecency of his recently published erotic book, The Art of Love, Ovid travels to the Black Sea’s eastern shores for respite and inspiration. There he meets Xenia, a young woman with yellow-grey eyes and wild, glassy hair who seems to personify his most heartfelt fictional creations. Xenia, who lives apart from the native Phasians in this already isolated country, has the ability to glimpse the future, and what she foresees for Ovid’s legacy is extraordinary.
Enraptured by his poetry as well as by the man himself, Xenia wonders what it might be like to be “loved by the love-artist,” to be the woman who inspires his next masterpiece. She’ll soon get her wish. Ovid, craving the immortality that Xenia seems to promise, brings her back with him to Rome. There he'll craft his new work under the secret patronage of the emperor’s granddaughter, Julia, who hates Augustus for forcing her into an unwanted marriage. Ovid has never written a tragedy before. But with Julia’s vengeful ambition urging him on, and Xenia’s apparent willingness to serve his interests, he believes he may have what it takes…
Ovid has the name recognition to attract readers to the story, but the novel as a whole belongs to Xenia. Trapped in a web of mutual obsession, she finds herself led towards a devastating finale -- unless she can use her mystical talents and innate intelligence to break away and save herself. Her journey, as she slowly awakens to Ovid’s plans, is suspenseful and engrossing. The atmosphere is dark, eerie, and electrically charged.
Alison shapes her language in ways that create striking and sensual impressions in the mind. Her carefully chosen images brilliantly illustrate Ovid’s hunger for the theatre of Rome: “The stage would be glowing saffron red, and there would be the murmur of all the voices, and the intricate hairstyles, and the bare shoulders, and the messages flying, and the swift, appreciative glances, and the limb-weakening applause, which has often been for him…”
In exploring the dangerous intersections between art and life, between the poem and the poet, Alison has created a highly original work that evokes the majesty of the imperial Roman world and the price exacted in the quest for literary fame.
Originally posted at Reading the Past.
Using the technique of many successful historical novelists, Jane Alison takes a mystery that has remained unsolved through the ages and provides an intriguing solution. Ovid, the Roman poet best known for his masterwork The Metamorphoses, was exiled to the remote island of Tomis in 8 AD for reasons unknown. In Alison’s haunting interpretation, the poem is Medea, of which only two lines remain, and the error involves a witch and mystic from the far reaches of the Empire who becomes Ovid’s tragic muse.
After incurring the wrath of Emperor Augustus, who was upset by the indecency of his recently published erotic book, The Art of Love, Ovid travels to the Black Sea’s eastern shores for respite and inspiration. There he meets Xenia, a young woman with yellow-grey eyes and wild, glassy hair who seems to personify his most heartfelt fictional creations. Xenia, who lives apart from the native Phasians in this already isolated country, has the ability to glimpse the future, and what she foresees for Ovid’s legacy is extraordinary.
Enraptured by his poetry as well as by the man himself, Xenia wonders what it might be like to be “loved by the love-artist,” to be the woman who inspires his next masterpiece. She’ll soon get her wish. Ovid, craving the immortality that Xenia seems to promise, brings her back with him to Rome. There he'll craft his new work under the secret patronage of the emperor’s granddaughter, Julia, who hates Augustus for forcing her into an unwanted marriage. Ovid has never written a tragedy before. But with Julia’s vengeful ambition urging him on, and Xenia’s apparent willingness to serve his interests, he believes he may have what it takes…
Ovid has the name recognition to attract readers to the story, but the novel as a whole belongs to Xenia. Trapped in a web of mutual obsession, she finds herself led towards a devastating finale -- unless she can use her mystical talents and innate intelligence to break away and save herself. Her journey, as she slowly awakens to Ovid’s plans, is suspenseful and engrossing. The atmosphere is dark, eerie, and electrically charged.
Alison shapes her language in ways that create striking and sensual impressions in the mind. Her carefully chosen images brilliantly illustrate Ovid’s hunger for the theatre of Rome: “The stage would be glowing saffron red, and there would be the murmur of all the voices, and the intricate hairstyles, and the bare shoulders, and the messages flying, and the swift, appreciative glances, and the limb-weakening applause, which has often been for him…”
In exploring the dangerous intersections between art and life, between the poem and the poet, Alison has created a highly original work that evokes the majesty of the imperial Roman world and the price exacted in the quest for literary fame.
Originally posted at Reading the Past.
August 1, 2012
This was an ambitious first novel for Ms. Alison, and I praise her for doing such a wonderful job in constructing so rich a tale from the mysteries of long ago. Hers is a fascinating account of Ovid, his fate, and the fate of his lost Medea. Culminating with the simultaneous exile of Ovid and Julia from Rome, this novel is hugely imaginative while ever-so-gently exploring immortality and power from the male and female perspective. The prose is beautiful and eloquent. Not once did I feel it to be overdone or heavily laden with the knowledge and references of a classicist. The Love-Artist lyrically breathes life into the mysteries surrounding Ovid as Pygmalion brought life to his Galatea. It is THAT captivating. Ms. Alison herself is brilliantly mysterious in her writing, making the story even more enchanting. This is a story that will not soon leave me, and will have me thinking for many years to come: what if?
I look forward to reading more of Ms. Alison's work and will be following this up with Malouf's An Imaginary Life!
I look forward to reading more of Ms. Alison's work and will be following this up with Malouf's An Imaginary Life!
October 12, 2013
Third book for October's readathon.
This one's for a class -- the Batman was too, actually. This one was for historical fiction. I'll be interested to see why it's been picked for the course. For me it was such a heated, smothering, smouldering book. The idea is fascinating, transfiguring Ovid's life and even his disgrace and death into art, as the Ovid of the story transfigures Xenia into art.
Unsubtle, in places, though. The prose is so lush, practically dripping with adjectives, adverbs; and Xenia, as a name? Evoking both the word xenos, stranger, and xenia, guest-friendship... and I'm not entirely sure the author thought about that latter meaning, because I can't really square it with the plot.
It's sort of... lovely and repellant, in the same way as the character Xenia is lovely and repellant. Overall, glad to have read it, despite my ambivalent feelings toward it.
This one's for a class -- the Batman was too, actually. This one was for historical fiction. I'll be interested to see why it's been picked for the course. For me it was such a heated, smothering, smouldering book. The idea is fascinating, transfiguring Ovid's life and even his disgrace and death into art, as the Ovid of the story transfigures Xenia into art.
Unsubtle, in places, though. The prose is so lush, practically dripping with adjectives, adverbs; and Xenia, as a name? Evoking both the word xenos, stranger, and xenia, guest-friendship... and I'm not entirely sure the author thought about that latter meaning, because I can't really square it with the plot.
It's sort of... lovely and repellant, in the same way as the character Xenia is lovely and repellant. Overall, glad to have read it, despite my ambivalent feelings toward it.
December 1, 2013
Evocative novel about the banishment of the great Roman poet Ovid to the shores of the Black Sea. We know this happened but we don't know exactly why even though we have Ovid's poignant letters home in which he refers to a mistake he made but provides no details. Jane Alison, who studied classics as an undergraduate and recently has translated some of Ovid's poetry, weaves a story of love, lust, ambition, desire, vengeance, and fate in a prose that is hypnotically beautiful.
November 5, 2013
Yay I finished!
Disappointing. To me, this book was more magical realism than historical fiction--I suppose those who believe in supernatural magic (as opposed to herbs and knowledge) might not get turned off. And I might have enjoyed it more if she had made up her own characters, rather than using actual people.
Not bad per say, but a very slow read. *yawn*
Disappointing. To me, this book was more magical realism than historical fiction--I suppose those who believe in supernatural magic (as opposed to herbs and knowledge) might not get turned off. And I might have enjoyed it more if she had made up her own characters, rather than using actual people.
Not bad per say, but a very slow read. *yawn*
April 12, 2016
Jane Alison has a profound way with words. I felt as though I could see, taste, smell, and touch each and every thing and place she created. Her stunning prose oozed it's way off the page and swallowed me up.
From beginning to end I was rapt, watching the story unfold, loving and loathing bits and pieces of each character's intricate inner worlds.
From beginning to end I was rapt, watching the story unfold, loving and loathing bits and pieces of each character's intricate inner worlds.
May 6, 2019
A beautifully written novel that creates a plausible reason for Ovid's banishment. The novel portrays Ovid as a writer who finds his inspiration and raw material in the women in his life. He is also very obsessed with being remembered by history. Zenia's ability to see the future juxtaposed with the historical past is quite effective.
February 9, 2012
I normally enjoy fiction that brings literary figures to life, but this novel about the Roman poet Ovid was a great disappointment. The prose was overwrought and I didn't care a whit about any of the characters!
February 19, 2020
Jane has a way with words, and I'm not just saying that because she is my friend.
March 15, 2016
I'd say 2.5-3 stars. The writing is excellent. The story-- meh. It's more or less boring.
September 6, 2022
Probably 3.5
Definitely Jane Alison must have been an admirer of Ovid’s work because this book is an stem letter to him, and his work.
The love artist is an attempt to imagine the context and circumstances of Ovid’s exile by telling a story about a prior trip he took to the shores of the Black Sea and what he found there. So, yeah, if this sounds interesting it turns out to be a nonstop reading book because adding that kind of mystery and tension that the story kept, the references and passages with Ovid’s work -specially his Metamorphoses- and that is chef kiss!
Regarding the characters I think that Jane Alison’ Ovid was the Ovid that introduced me at the beginning and at the end of the Metamorphoses. My intention is not quote the Metamorphoses but at the very beginning he writes in first person the help of the gods and at the end he said his wish to be remembered forever. So, throughout the story Jane Alison present us an Ovid that all he wants is to be immortal, in other words remembered as a poet like Horace, in page 14 she describes “He was edgy; he was sick of his frivolous reputation: he wanted his imagine transformed. Vergil, Horace -they were true poets, gray and grave and weathered, heaven-borne already. But with Metamorphoses he thought he’d begun to shed that wearisome slick skin.” Talking about this constant comparison with those poets, I found that Ovid is constantly doubting himself, he just can only imagine that he is false. Ovid becomes a quivering gel of doubt, self-doubt so often. He is full of doubt about what he is making and what would happen with his name and work. In consequence, his most common fear is being forgotten and that fear moves the majority of his actions, specially against Xenia.
Now let’s talk about these kind of magic, mysterious, strange and Ovid’s character: Xenia. What I understand is that she is kind of an analog in Ovid’s time for Medea, a riddle. It's difficult for Ovid to get a handle on her, but she also is her the muse. One thing that caught my attention is that Ovid never gets to know completely who really is Xenia and that generates a conflict between the Ovid writer and Ovid human. And what I think attracts him the most is that Xenia is rare, everything Ovid needs wants, and never thinks of deserves that. Also the fact that she knows what Ovid wants but didn’t tell him. I found this character so “mythical” like all the nymphs that Ovid exposed us in his Metamorphoses.
And the last character that I found string and at the same time the darkest was Julia. She is the granddaughter of Augustus who is the sort of person behind a lot of what has been going on with Ovid. She is an unhappy woman, being made to be pregnant to bear a child for the empire. The thing that caught my attention was the motifs of her actions. She searched revenge, she is a vengeful woman.
The jealously that exists between Xenia and Ovid. List what others have. One of the things that bind them is a want there. They want something but don't get it. They are so bound because Xenia has exactly what Ovid needs, and he has exactly what Xenia needs, so they have to be attached. Is a terrible and competitive thing. Also, they fear being replaced and have jealous love. So we have like a negative trait.
I found the writing style poetic, Ovid’s prose, but on some passages I get a little confused. But in general it was a good book that transport me into that Roman Empire epoch.
Definitely Jane Alison must have been an admirer of Ovid’s work because this book is an stem letter to him, and his work.
The love artist is an attempt to imagine the context and circumstances of Ovid’s exile by telling a story about a prior trip he took to the shores of the Black Sea and what he found there. So, yeah, if this sounds interesting it turns out to be a nonstop reading book because adding that kind of mystery and tension that the story kept, the references and passages with Ovid’s work -specially his Metamorphoses- and that is chef kiss!
Regarding the characters I think that Jane Alison’ Ovid was the Ovid that introduced me at the beginning and at the end of the Metamorphoses. My intention is not quote the Metamorphoses but at the very beginning he writes in first person the help of the gods and at the end he said his wish to be remembered forever. So, throughout the story Jane Alison present us an Ovid that all he wants is to be immortal, in other words remembered as a poet like Horace, in page 14 she describes “He was edgy; he was sick of his frivolous reputation: he wanted his imagine transformed. Vergil, Horace -they were true poets, gray and grave and weathered, heaven-borne already. But with Metamorphoses he thought he’d begun to shed that wearisome slick skin.” Talking about this constant comparison with those poets, I found that Ovid is constantly doubting himself, he just can only imagine that he is false. Ovid becomes a quivering gel of doubt, self-doubt so often. He is full of doubt about what he is making and what would happen with his name and work. In consequence, his most common fear is being forgotten and that fear moves the majority of his actions, specially against Xenia.
Now let’s talk about these kind of magic, mysterious, strange and Ovid’s character: Xenia. What I understand is that she is kind of an analog in Ovid’s time for Medea, a riddle. It's difficult for Ovid to get a handle on her, but she also is her the muse. One thing that caught my attention is that Ovid never gets to know completely who really is Xenia and that generates a conflict between the Ovid writer and Ovid human. And what I think attracts him the most is that Xenia is rare, everything Ovid needs wants, and never thinks of deserves that. Also the fact that she knows what Ovid wants but didn’t tell him. I found this character so “mythical” like all the nymphs that Ovid exposed us in his Metamorphoses.
And the last character that I found string and at the same time the darkest was Julia. She is the granddaughter of Augustus who is the sort of person behind a lot of what has been going on with Ovid. She is an unhappy woman, being made to be pregnant to bear a child for the empire. The thing that caught my attention was the motifs of her actions. She searched revenge, she is a vengeful woman.
The jealously that exists between Xenia and Ovid. List what others have. One of the things that bind them is a want there. They want something but don't get it. They are so bound because Xenia has exactly what Ovid needs, and he has exactly what Xenia needs, so they have to be attached. Is a terrible and competitive thing. Also, they fear being replaced and have jealous love. So we have like a negative trait.
I found the writing style poetic, Ovid’s prose, but on some passages I get a little confused. But in general it was a good book that transport me into that Roman Empire epoch.
February 9, 2023
This is an historical novel based on a reimagining of Ovid, his exile from Rome, and the disappearance of what is generally thought of as possibly his greatest work, the play Medea. That work has disappeared from history – only two lines remain. Jane Alison, who studied classics, writes her book based on three characters, Ovid the writer, Xenia the witch (and stand in for Medea) and Julia, the Emperor Augustus’ granddaughter.
There are some technical issues with the book - it is a first novel. There is too little dialogue and too many repeated descriptions, but overall, the imagined story is a good one. There is some art and magic, fantasy, ancient history and wonderful (albeit repetitive) descriptions of Rome in ancient times.
If you are a fan of Ovid, Classical Antiquity or Ancient Rome you will enjoy this novel.
There are some technical issues with the book - it is a first novel. There is too little dialogue and too many repeated descriptions, but overall, the imagined story is a good one. There is some art and magic, fantasy, ancient history and wonderful (albeit repetitive) descriptions of Rome in ancient times.
If you are a fan of Ovid, Classical Antiquity or Ancient Rome you will enjoy this novel.
September 11, 2024
Disagreeable story. Read it all the way through, but long before I reached the last page, I was yearning for it to be over! Boring and offensive, and did not do Ovid, Ancient Rome, or the other exotic settings justice. Found little or nothing to like about the character Xenia (and her name is completely unsuitable, for there is little about her that is hospitable), but neither she nor Ovid were fleshed out very much. Could have been worlds better. Never did understand what her grievance with Ovid was about---other than her own paranoia, lack of self-confidence, envy, and lack of trust in him.
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