Disciplines Ancient World (Classics) Classical Mythology

Ovid’s Metamorphoses by C. Luke Soucy, Ovid

Ovid’s Metamorphoses A New Translation

by C. Luke Soucy (Author), Ovid (Author)
November 2023
First Edition
Paperback
$17.95, £14.99 eBook
$17.95, £14.99
Series
World Literature in Translation
Title Details

Rights: Available worldwide
Pages: 680
ISBN: 9780520394858
Trim Size: 5 x 7.75
Illustrations: 11 illustrations, 1 map

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About the Book From Our Blog About the Author Reviews Table of Contents Related Books

About the Book

This fresh translation revives the politics and power at play in classical mythology’s foremost source

Centuries of conservative translators have robbed the Metamorphoses of its subversive force. In this boldly lyrical translation, C. Luke Soucy revives the magnum opus of Rome’s most clever and creative poet, faithfully matching the epic’s wit and style while confronting the sexuality, violence, and politics so many previous translations have glossed over.

Soucy’s powerful version breathes new life into Ovid's mythic world, where canonical power dynamics are challenged from below to drain heroes of their heroism, give victims their say, and reveal an earth holier than heaven. Incorporating the latest scholarship alongside annotations, illustrations, and glossary, this edition brings fresh insights to both returning and new readers.

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About the Author

C. Luke Soucy is a translator, poet, and vocal Minnesota native. In addition to literary translation, he has worked in regional theatre, in a chromatography lab, and as a university bureaucrat. Soucy is a 2019 graduate of Princeton University, where he received the E. E. Cummings Society Prize of the Academy of American Poets.

Reviews

"S[oucy]’s translation has great merit. It is more poetic than any current version."—Classics for All

“An astonishing translation. Soucy’s sophisticated rhythms carry the force, violence, and beauty of Ovid’s immortal poem. Reading it, reading it out loud, I felt so palpably the vitality thrumming beneath the refinement of form.”—Richie Hofmann, author of A Hundred Lovers

"What a pleasure to read! For anyone who knows the original, Luke Soucy’s swift translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses is full of ingenuity and resourcefulness; for newcomers, it is a superb introduction to the poem’s pace and spirit."—Jeff Dolven, author of Senses of Style: Poetry before Interpretation

Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction
Translator’s Note

METAMORPHOSES

Book 1
Prologue • The First Creation • The Ages of Man • The Gigantomachy •
Lycaön • The Deluge • Deucalion and Pyrrha • The Second
Creation: Python • Apollo and Daphne • Io, Part 1 • Argus:
Pan and Syrinx • Io, Part 2 • Phaëthon, Part 1

Book 2
Phaëthon, Part 2 • The Heliads and Cygnus • Callisto • The Raven
and the Crow • Ocyrhoë • Battus • The Envy of Aglauros • Europa

Book 3
Cadmus and the Dragon’s Teeth • Actaeon • Semele • Tiresias •
Echo and Narcissus • Pentheus and Acoetes

Book 4
The Daughters of Minyas, Part 1 • Pyramus and Thisbe • The Loves
of the Sun • Hermaphroditus and Salmacis • The Daughters of
Minyas, Part 2 • Athamas and Ino • Cadmus and Harmonia • Perseus,
Atlas, and Andromeda • Perseus and Medusa

Book 5
Perseus and Phineus • Proetus and Polydectes • Pyreneus and the
Muses • The Pierides, Part 1 • The Rape of Proserpine • Arethusa •
Lyncus and Triptolemus • The Pierides, Part 2

Book 6
Arachne and Minerva • Niobe • Latona and the Lycians • Marsyas •
Pelops • Tereus, Procne, and Philomela • Boreas and Orithyia

Book 7
Medea • Theseus • The War with Minos • The Myrmidons • Cephalus
and Procris

Book 8
Scylla and Nisus • The Minotaur • Daedalus • The Calydonian
Hunt • Althaea and Meleäger • Acheloüs • Baucis and
Philemon • Mestra and Erysichthon • Acheloüs and Hercules, Part 1

Book 9
Acheloüs and Hercules, Part 2 • The Death of Hercules • Lucina
and Galanthis • Dryope and Lotus • Iolaüs and Themis • Byblis and
Caunus • Iphis and Ianthe

Book 10
Orpheus and Eurydice • Cyparissus • Ganymede and
Hyacinth • The Cerastae, the Propoetides, and
Pygmalion • Myrrha • Venus and Adonis

Book 11
The Death of Orpheus • Midas • Peleus and Thetis • Daedalion
and Chione • The Wolf of Psamathe • Ceÿx and Alcyone • Aesacus

Book 12
The Greeks at Aulis • The House of Rumor • Achilles and Cygnus •
Caenis Becomes Caeneus • The Centauromachy • Hercules and
Periclymenus • The Death of Achilles

Book 13
The Judgment of Arms • The Sorrows of Hecuba • Memnon •
The Daughters of Anius • Galatea, Acis, and Polyphemus • Scylla
and Glaucus, Part 1

Book 14
Scylla and Glaucus, Part 2 • The Sibyl of Cumae • Polyphemus • Ulysses
and Circe • Picus and Canens • The Crew of Diomedes • The Apotheosis
of Aeneas • Pomona and Vertumnus • The Apotheoses of
Romulus and Hersilie

Book 15
Hercules and Croton • Pythagoras • Egeria and Hippolytus •
Cipus • Aesculapius • The Apotheosis of Julius Caesar • Epilogue

Commentary
Appendix: Text and Translation Notes

Acknowledgments
Selected Bibliography
Glossary of Names and Places
About the Translator