Banished Voices: Readings in Ovid's Exile Poetry

by Gareth D. Williams

Overview

This study examines the literary complexities of the poetry Ovid wrote in Tomis, the poet's place of exile on the Black Sea after he was banished from Rome by the emperor Augustus in A.D. 8. Exile transforms Ovid into a melancholic poet of despair who claims that his creative faculties are in terminal decline. These claims are contested in this study through close and original analysis of the literary maneuvers that contradict Ovid's pose. The evidence thus revealed counteracts traditional scholarly antipathy to these poems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521036818
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/21/2007
Series:	Cambridge Classical Studies
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; 1. The 'unreality' of Ovid's exile poetry; 2. Ovid's pose of poetic decline; 3. Friendship and the theme of artistic motivation; 4. Ovid's treatment of Augustus in Tristia 2; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index of modern authors; Index of passages cited; Index of words and themes.

Editorial Reviews

"Williams has made a good start." R. Alden Smith, Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher