In A Discourse of Wonders , Stephen M. Wheeler introduces a fresh perspective for readers of Ovid's Metamorphoses . Drawing on Ovidian scholarship and twentieth-century literary theory, he argues that the poem is not an anthology or collection but a single continuous performance. Wheeler's thorough, detailed analysis of how Ovid constructs, cultivates, and transforms his audience challenges the assumption that Ovid's narrative persona addresses the reader. Wheeler proposes instead that Ovid represents himself in the poem ...
Read More
In A Discourse of Wonders , Stephen M. Wheeler introduces a fresh perspective for readers of Ovid's Metamorphoses . Drawing on Ovidian scholarship and twentieth-century literary theory, he argues that the poem is not an anthology or collection but a single continuous performance. Wheeler's thorough, detailed analysis of how Ovid constructs, cultivates, and transforms his audience challenges the assumption that Ovid's narrative persona addresses the reader. Wheeler proposes instead that Ovid represents himself in the poem as an epic storyteller moved to tell a universal history of metamorphosis in the presence of a fictional audience. The longstanding critical interest in Ovid's poetics, Wheeler maintains, has tended to obscure the role of the audience in reading and interpreting the Metamorphoses. A Discourse of Wonders offers an imaginative and accessible revaluation of one of the greatest surviving works of classical poetry, one whose enduring influence can be found in literature, art, music, and the performing arts from the Middle Ages to the present.
Read Less
Add this copy of A Discourse of Wonders: Audience and Performance in to cart. $97.00, very good condition, Sold by Windows Booksellers rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eugene, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by University of Pennsylvania Press.
Add this copy of A Discourse of Wonders: Audience and Performance in to cart. $350.00, like new condition, Sold by Moe's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by University of Pennsylvania.