Description
This innovative study analyses the presence of Ovid in contemporary women's writing through a series of insightful case studies of prominent female authors, from Ali Smith, Marina Warner, and Marie Darrieussecq, to Alice Oswald, Saviana Stanescu, and Yoko Tawada. Using Ovid in their engagements with a wide range of issues besetting our twenty-first century world - homelessness, refugees, the financial crisis, internet porn, anorexia, body image - these writers echo the poet's preoccupation in his own work with fleeting fame, shape-shifting, and the dangers of immediate gratification, and make evident that these concerns are not only quintessentially modern, but also peculiarly Ovidian. Moving beyond the concern of second-wave feminism with recovering silenced female voices and establishing a female perspective within canonical works, the volume places particular emphasis on the intersections between Ovid's imaginative universe and the political and aesthetic agenda of third-wave feminism. Focusing on its subjects' socially and politically charged re-shapings, re-imaginings, and receptions of Ovid, it not only demonstrates the extraordinary plasticity of his writing, but also of its myriad re-castings and re-contextualizations within contemporary culture (in terms of genre alone, the works discussed included translations, poetry, plays, novels, short stories, and memoirs). In so doing, it not only offers us a valuable perspective on the work of the selected female authors and a new and vital landmark in the history of Ovidian reception, but also reveals to us an Ovid who remains our contemporary and an enduring source of inspiration.
About the Author
Fiona Cox is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Exeter, and has previously worked at the National University of Ireland, Cork and Universite Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux III. She is the author of Aeneas Takes the Metro: The Presence of Virgil in Twentieth-Century French Literature (Routledge, 1999) and Sibylline Sisters: Virgil's Presence in Contemporary Women's Writing (OUP, 2011). She has also published widely in the area of nineteenth-century French literature, particularly on Victor Hugo, and is currently editing a volume entitled Homer's Daughters: Homer's Presence in Women's Writing, 1914-2014 with Elena Theodorakopoulos (forthcoming with OUP).
Reviews
this volume by Cox is a welcome exploration of these themes: transformation (in its many contexts) and women's depictions of these forces of change. For scholars of Classical Studies who work on Classical reception, or who wish to find new directions of interpretation useful for Ovidian studies or ancient literary studies in general, this volume has much to offer, and I recommend it. * Teresa Ramsby, CJ-Online *
The strength of Cox's book lies in the sheer novelty of her research material, as well as what she does with it to draw our attention to a catalogue of writers who politicise and problematise Ovidian poetics for our contemporary literature and life. In doing so, her book powerfully reenergises Ovid, one of the most overly studied of Roman authors, while introducing a cast of innovative classicisms to his broader audiences. * Laura Jansen, University of Bristol, Synthesis *
Cogent arguments, clear translations, and lucid prose, combined with Cox's perceptive choice of case studies, ensure that this interdisciplinary work will be accessible to a wide audience. As such, this book will be of interest to those working in Ovidian studies, English literary criticism, comparative literature, translation, and feminist studies. * Emma Hammond, University of Bristol, Modern Language Review *
This is a rich and rewarding volume, full of fresh and perceptive readings and illuminating insights. * Sarah Annes Brown, Translation and Literature *
Ovid's Presence in Contemporary Women's Writingoffers exactly what it promises: a detailed account of contemporary women writers rewritings, adaptations, and translations of Ovid's works. Close readings, along with extensive citation, give life to what are often lengthy summaries, and a perceptive attention to language grounds the analyses of debts to Ovid. * Peggy McCracken, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Cox draws attention to the intrinsic otherness of the woman writer, whatever the subject of her writing ... Readers will find not just a list of literary encounters with Ovid, but also an incentive to investigate them more thoroughly, and to consider whether Ovid has really achieved the undying fame that he once sought. * Cora Beth Knowles, Classics for All *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198779889
Author Fiona Cox
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 466g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 147mm * 21mm
About the Author
Fiona Cox is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Exeter, and has previously worked at the National University of Ireland, Cork and Universite Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux III. She is the author of Aeneas Takes the Metro: The Presence of Virgil in Twentieth-Century French Literature (Routledge, 1999) and Sibylline Sisters: Virgil's Presence in Contemporary Women's Writing (OUP, 2011). She has also published widely in the area of nineteenth-century French literature, particularly on Victor Hugo, and is currently editing a volume entitled Homer's Daughters: Homer's Presence in Women's Writing, 1914-2014 with Elena Theodorakopoulos (forthcoming with OUP).
Reviews
this volume by Cox is a welcome exploration of these themes: transformation (in its many contexts) and women's depictions of these forces of change. For scholars of Classical Studies who work on Classical reception, or who wish to find new directions of interpretation useful for Ovidian studies or ancient literary studies in general, this volume has much to offer, and I recommend it. * Teresa Ramsby, CJ-Online *
The strength of Cox's book lies in the sheer novelty of her research material, as well as what she does with it to draw our attention to a catalogue of writers who politicise and problematise Ovidian poetics for our contemporary literature and life. In doing so, her book powerfully reenergises Ovid, one of the most overly studied of Roman authors, while introducing a cast of innovative classicisms to his broader audiences. * Laura Jansen, University of Bristol, Synthesis *
Cogent arguments, clear translations, and lucid prose, combined with Cox's perceptive choice of case studies, ensure that this interdisciplinary work will be accessible to a wide audience. As such, this book will be of interest to those working in Ovidian studies, English literary criticism, comparative literature, translation, and feminist studies. * Emma Hammond, University of Bristol, Modern Language Review *
This is a rich and rewarding volume, full of fresh and perceptive readings and illuminating insights. * Sarah Annes Brown, Translation and Literature *
Ovid's Presence in Contemporary Women's Writingoffers exactly what it promises: a detailed account of contemporary women writers rewritings, adaptations, and translations of Ovid's works. Close readings, along with extensive citation, give life to what are often lengthy summaries, and a perceptive attention to language grounds the analyses of debts to Ovid. * Peggy McCracken, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Cox draws attention to the intrinsic otherness of the woman writer, whatever the subject of her writing ... Readers will find not just a list of literary encounters with Ovid, but also an incentive to investigate them more thoroughly, and to consider whether Ovid has really achieved the undying fame that he once sought. * Cora Beth Knowles, Classics for All *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198779889
Author Fiona Cox
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 466g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 147mm * 21mm
