Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s >Metamorphoses

Conceived as a necessary reconsideration of the pristine "elegiac question" in Ovid’s __Metamorphoses__, this book intends to offer an analysis of the function of elegiac discourse within Ovid’s __magnum opus__ from the perspective of metapoetics. To that end, the author undertakes, in the first section, a close re-reading of some relevant passages of Latin love elegy. From a prism that takes into account the characteristically elegiac multivocality, the genre reveals itself as an agonistic discourse in which the poet dramatises his metaliterary power-relation with the puella, who is unveiled as the synthesis of the distinct sub-products of his poetic activity. Thereupon, the author proceeds to scrutinise how elegiac elements are assimilated and transformed as they become integrated within the framework of Ovid’s poem of changing forms. Far from being a mere stylistic ornament, the presence of an elegiac register in many erotic passages tells us about Ovid’s stance towards love as a metapoetic trope. By reworking elegiac tradition to the point of transforming it into a novum corpus, the poet ultimately substantiates the mutability of generic categories. Contents 5 Acknowledgements 9 General Introduction 11 1. The intertextual relations between Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Latin elegy: a critical assessment 13 2. Methodological considerations 19 3. Power relations in elegy and “the elegiac” in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 22 3.1 Section I: analysis of elegiac discourse 24 3.1.1 Ideological context: the problem of power relations 24 3.1.2 Elegy as fallax opus: the “elegiac estrangement” 26 3.1.2.1 Critical landscape and methodological considerations 26 3.1.2.2 Elegy: agonistic poetry 32 3.2 Section II: “the elegiac” in the Metamorphoses: meta-poetry and power relations 34 Section I. Et amando et amare fatendo: Fiction and suprafiction in Latin love elegy. Agon and power relations as poetological expressions 45 1. Introduction 47 2. Insidias legi, magne poeta, tuas: the puella de-codes the text 53 Propertius 2,13 58 Propertius 1,8 and 3,23 62 Propertius 2,26 64 Propertius 2,34 68 Propertius 1,1 70 Ars Amatoria 1,455–458 and Heroides 20 and 21 72 Propertius 2,11 and 3,2 76 3. Te mihi materiem felicem in carmina praebe: the puella as subject matter 82 Catullus 68b 85 Tibullus 1,4 101 Propertius 1,15 111 Propertius 2,3 116 Propertius 2,32 119 Propertius 2,28 120 Propertius 2,1 122 Ovid, Amores 1,1 126 Ovid, Amores 1,3 128 Ovid, Amores 1,10 131 Ovid, Amores 2,17 131 4. “The body-text”: the puella as literary work 135 Ovid, Amores 3,9 135 Propertius 2,24a 137 Propertius 2,25 and 2,34 138 Propertius 1,18 139 Propertius 2,5 142 Propertius 2,30b 145 Propertius 1,2 147 Ovid, Amores 1,5 and 3,12 153 Section II.New perspectives in the study of “the elegiac” in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 157 1. Introduction 159 2. Asymmetrical love in the Metamorphoses 161 Daphne and Apollo 163 Io and Jupiter 185 Callisto and Jupiter 197 Herse and Mercury 202 Philomela and Tereus 215 Byblis and Caunus 233 Pygmalion 244 3. Mutual love in the Metamorphoses: towards the ultimus ardor of Latin elegy 253 Pyramus and Thisbe 262 Cephalus and Procris 278 Ceyx and Alcyone 302 Pomona and Vertumnus 328 Conclusions 349 Bibliography 361 Index of Passages Cited 379 Index of Names and Subjects 387 Das Ziel der neuen Reihe und der zugehörigen Zeitschrift Trends in Classics ist es, fachübergreifende Studien aus allen Bereichen der Klassischen Philologien zu versammeln, die in innovativer Weise Theorien und Methoden benachbarter Disziplinen wie Narratologie, Intertextualitätsforschung, Rezeptionsästhetik und oral poetics in ihren Forschungen anwenden. Die Reihe Trends in Classics steht Monographien ebenso offen wie Editionen, Konferenzbänden und Aufsatzsammlungen. Sie wird für die aktuellen Debatte, welche Rolle die Klassischen Philologien in den modernen Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaft This Book Aims To Offer A New Approach To The 'vexata Quaestio' Of 'the Elegiac' In Ovid's 'metamorphoses'. Through A Challenging Re-contextualization Of Some Well-known Passages, The Author Focuses On The Poetological Meaning Of Elegiac Power Play And Its Integration Within Ovid's Poem On Changing Forms. This Twofold Analysis Grants The Reader A Thought-provoking Insight Into Ovid's Poetics Of Generic Assimilation. José Manuel Blanco Mayor. Includes Bibliography And Indexes.