The Metamorphosis of Persephone Ovid and the Self-conscious Muse [Hardcover]

A close study of Ovid's poetry.A historical inquiry into the double transformation in Metamorposis 5 and Fasti 4 of the rape of Persephone, one of the great Graeco-Roman myths.A historical inquiry into the double transformation in Metamorposis 5 and Fasti 4 of the rape of Persephone, one of the great Graeco-Roman myths.Although Ovid is currently enjoying a new wave of popularity, most critics withhold from his poetry the close word-by-word readings that are necessary for a thorough understanding of it. Ovid twice treated the myth of Persephone, and Hinds's book is at first a historical inquiry--the most extensive yet done--into the double transformation in Metamorphosis 5 and Fasti 4 of the rape of Persephone, one of the great Graeco-Roman myths. The study continues as a critical exploration of Ovid's self-conscious delight in language and in writing manifested in these twin narratives, providing a feast for students of both Latin poetry and narratives in general.Acknowledgements; Preface; Part I. Two Settings for a Rape: 1. Metamorphoses 5.25664: the Heliconian fount; 2. Metamorphoses 5.38591: the landscape of Enna; Part II. Ovid's Two Persephones: 3. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Fasti 4; 4. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Metamorphoses 5; 5. Elegy and epic: a traditional approach; 6. Elegy and epic: a new approach; Epilogue; Notes; Works cited; Index of passages discussed; Index of subjects.