Ovid's Metamorphoses Books 1-5

“Everything changes, nothing dies: the spirit wanders, arriving here or there,

 occupying whatever body it pleases.”

Following a break, Mark Cwik’s study of Ovid’s Metamorphoses will resume on 4 October and continue for 10 weeks. The first meeting will focus on a review of Book 1, with Books 2-5 covered in subsequent weeks.

The Roman poet Ovid’s (43 BCE – 17 CE) masterful work Metamorphoses weaves together over 200 of the most famous myths of the Greeks and Romans. Pulsating with energy, wit, sensuality and sensitivity, his epic poetic tapestry envisions the history of the cosmos as an unbroken and intertwining stream that stretches from the creation of the world to the rise of the Caesars. Ovid’s ever-flowing narrative explores life’s many changes, from the intimacies—and violence—of human love and desire, to the global scale of destruction and renewal.

This is Part 1 in a three-part seminar series reading the Metamorphoses. Part 1 will read Books 1 – 5, including Ovid’s stories of the Creation and the Flood, the Four Ages of humankind, Jupiter and Io, Apollo and Daphne, Diana and Actaeon, Echo and Narcissus, Perseus and Andromeda, and Demeter and Persephone.

Our study will read from two translations of the Metamorphoses, including the recently released version by Stephanie McCarter (please read notes below), that seek to address questions of accuracy in translation and the representation of women, gendered dynamics of power, and sexual violence in Ovid’s classic.

 If you have any questions about this study, please contact facilitator Mark Cwik.

STUDY DETAILS:

• Ten-week virtual study (on Zoom), 5 October – 21 December 2023 (N.B. no meeting on 23 November)
• Thursdays, 3.00-5.15 pm (UK), facilitated by Mark Cwik
• £275 for eleven-week study.