Change Me: Stories of Sexual Transformation from Ovid

Synopsis

Ovid's Stories Melt Moral Conventions, Explore Ambiguities, And Dissolve Boundaries Between Men, Women, Animals, Gods, Plants, And The Mineral World; In Doing So They Contrive To Seduce Readers. Ovid's Dark Pleasure In Telling Such Stories With A Full Register Of Tones Is Palpable. But The Stories Of Sexual Encounter In The Metamorphoses Are Also Infused With Deep Questions. What Does It Mean To Have Thoughts And Passions Trapped Inside A Changeable Body? What Is A Self, And Where Are Its Edges? If Someone Can Pierce You In Sex And In Love, How Do You Survive? And If Your Outer Form Changes, What Lasts? In Change Me, Jane Alison, Critically Acclaimed Author Of The Love-artist, Renders Substantial Portions Of Ovid's Great Epic Into Elegant And Remarkably Faithful English. Her Focus Is On Episodes That Involve Desire, Sexuality, And The Transformations Brought About By Powerful Emotion; Because These Themes Are So Central To The Metamorphoses, Alison Introduces Them With A Selection Of Elegies From Ovid's Amores, The Collection With Which The Poet Launched His Career. When These Selections Are Taken Together, Alison's Ovid Comes Alive; The Roman Poet's Great Ability To Perform Contemporary Themes Through Mythical Subject Matter, And Vice Versa, Is Alison's Guiding Principle And Muse. Change Me Will Transform Forever Readers' Experience Of This Most Ingenious Of Poets.--publisher Description. From Amores. It's Only Fair ; So Your Man Will Be At The Dinner Party ; In Slips Corinna ; I've Won! ; Guarding That Girl Gets You Nothing ; I'm Through With Your Tricks ; She's On Sale Thanks To My Talent -- From Metamorphoses. I. Looking: Arachne (6.1-145) ; Daphne (1.452-567) ; Actaeon (3.138-252) ; Echo And Narcissus (3.339-510) ; Perseus And Andromeda (and Medusa) (4.614-803) ; Arethusa (5.577-641) ; Pygmalion (10.243-297) -- Ii. Taking: Io (1.568-746) ; Callisto (2.401-507) ; Europa (2.833-875) ; Hermaphroditus And Salmacis (4.285-388) ; Proserpina (5.346-576) ; Ganymede (10.143-161) -- Ill. Ruining: Semele (3-2.53-315) ; Tereus, Procne, And Philomela (6.424-673) ; Scylla (8.6-151) ; Hyacinth (10.162-219) ; Adonis (and Atalanta) (10.503-739) ; Glaucus And Scylla (13.898-14.69) -- Iv. Wanting Someone Too Close: Byblis And Caunus (9.454-665) ; Myrrha (10.298-502) ; Hippolytus (15-497-s46) -- V. Switching: Tiresias (3.316-338) ; Iphis And Ianthe (9.666-797) ; Orpheus And Eurydice (10.1-85) ; Caenis (12.146-209) -- Notes To The Selections From Amores -- Notes To The Selections From Metamorphoses. Translated By Jane Alison ; With A Foreword By Elaine Fantham And An Introduction By Alison Keith. Includes Bibliographical References.