Ovid, Llewelyn Morgan
Ovid, Llewelyn Morgan
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Ovid
A Very Short Introduction

Author: Llewelyn Morgan

Narrator: Michael Page

Unabridged: 4 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/01/2020


Synopsis

"Vivam" is the very last word of Ovid's masterpiece, the Metamorphoses: "I shall live." If we're still reading it two millennia after Ovid's death, this is by definition a remarkably accurate prophecy. Ovid was not the only ancient author with aspirations to be read for eternity, but no poet of the Greco-Roman world has had a deeper or more lasting impact on subsequent literature and art than he can claim. In the present day no Greek or Roman poet is as accessible, to artists, writers, or the general reader: Ovid's voice remains a compellingly contemporary one, as modern as it seemed to his contemporaries in Augustan Rome. But Ovid was also a man of his time, his own story fatally entwined with that of the first emperor Augustus, and the poetry he wrote channels in its own way the cultural and political upheavals of the contemporary city, its public life, sexual mores, religion, and urban landscape, while also exploiting the superbly rich store of poetic convention that Greek literature and his Roman predecessors had bequeathed to him.

Llewelyn Morgan explores Ovid's immense influence on later literature and art, spanning from Shakespeare to Bernini. Throughout, Ovid's poetry is revealed as enduringly scintillating, his personal story compelling, and the issues his life and poetry raise of continuing relevance and interest.

About Llewelyn Morgan

Llewelyn Morgan has taught Greek and Roman languages and literature at Brasenose College for twenty-five years, and before that at University College Dublin. He has published books on Virgil, Ovid, poetic meter, the Buddhas of Bamiyan, and nineteenth-century archaeology in Northwest India, and articles on many aspects of Greco-Roman literature. He is particularly active in promoting classics in schools, and has also made regular appearances in classics-related radio programs. Morgan is the author of Ovid: A Very Short Introduction.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bob on December 14, 2021

Even as a teacher of Ovidius, this short introduction is very good. For novices I can imagine this is great.......more

Goodreads review by Teun on December 16, 2023

Wow, wat een hoop informatie in zo’n klein boekje! Ondanks dat ik veel over Ovidius weet, toch nog wat nieuws geleerd!......more

Goodreads review by Corey on October 06, 2024

Certainly some interesting background information, but nothing to write home about.......more

Goodreads review by Tony on January 02, 2021

The thing with the Very Short Introduction series is that although they are very short they're dense with information. Morgan's book on Ovid does a fantastic job of dipping you into Ovid's work. It's harder to talk about his life because the information is scant. Even the reason for his exile isn't......more

Goodreads review by Peter on October 31, 2024

Ovid wrote a book called The Metamorphosis. It is mostly about god and humans transforming into animals and plants. Often women are transformed as they try to escape from male gods. The Metamorphosis is also a short story by Franz Kafka, and probably his most well known work. Gregor Samsor wakes up......more