Ovid's epic poem-whose theme of change has resonated throughout the ages-is one of the most important texts of Western imagination an inspiration from Dante's time to the present when writers such as Salman Rushdie & Italo Calvino have found a living source in Ovid's work The text is accompanied by a preface A Note on the Translation & detailed explanatory annotations Sources & Backgrounds
Includes:: Seneca's inspired commentary on Ovid Charles Martin's essay on the ways in which pantomimic dancing-an art form popular in Ovid's time-may have been the model for Metamorphoses as well as related works by Virgil Callimachus Hesiod & Lucretius among others From the enormous body of scholarly writing on Metamorphoses Charles Martin has chosen six major interpretations by Bernard Knox J R R Mackail Norman O Brown Italo Calvino Frederick Ahl & Diane Middlebrook A Glossary of Persons Places & Personifications in the Metamorphoses & a Chronology & Selected Bibliography are also included