Ovid has long been celebrated for the versatility of his poetic imagination, the diversity of his generic experimentation throughout his long career, and his intimate engagement with the Greco-Roman literary tradition that precedes him; but what of his engagement with the philosophical tradition? Ovid's close familiarity with philosophical ideas and with specific philosophical texts has long been recognized, perhaps most prominently in the Pythagorean, Platonic, Empedoclean, and Lucretian shades that have been seen to color his Metamorphoses. This philosophical component has often been perceived as a feature implicated in, and subordinate to, Ovid's larger literary agenda, both pre- and post-exilic; and because of the controlling influence conceded to that literary impulse, readings of the philosophical dimension have often focused on the perceived distortion, ironizing, or parodying of the philosophical sources and ideas on which Ovid draws, as if his literary orientation
inevitably compromises or qualifies a "serious" philosophical commitment.
Philosophy in Ovid, Ovid as Philosopher counters this tendency by considering Ovid's seriousness of engagement with, and his possible critique of, the philosophical writings that inform his works. The book also questions the feasibility of separating out the categories of the "philosophical" and the "literary" in the first place, and explores the ways in which Ovid may offer unusual, controversial, or provocative reactions to received philosophical ideas. Finally, it investigates the case to be made for viewing the Ovidian corpus not just as a body of writings that are often philosophically inflected, but also as texts that may themselves be read as philosophically adventurous and experimental.
The essays collected in this volume are intended at the individual level to address in new ways many aspects of Ovid's recourse to philosophy across his corpus. Collectively, however, they are also designed to redress what, in general terms, remains a significant lacuna in Ovidian studies.
Industry Reviews
"The full import of the book assumes familiarity with Ovid's works and Greco-Roman philosophy, but it is clearly written and will be accessible to advanced undergraduates." -- B. E. Brandt, CHOICE
"This volume will do a lot to advance the idea that there is much more to Ovid than his lascivia. More broadly, it will help to reframe in very positive ways how we understand the relationship between philosophy and Latin poetry." -- Joseph Farrell, University of Pennsylvania
"This excellent book mightily exceeds the expectations of a collaborative volume. The multi-author collection not only takes stock of philosophical themes and intertexts in Ovid's oeuvre but also opens up fresh perspectives grounded in the proposition (really developed here for the first time) that Ovid is seriously engaged with Greco-Roman philosophy. A groundbreaking volume that charts totally new paths towards more fully understanding an underappreciated
dimension of Ovid's poetry." -- John F. Miller, University of Virginia
"Philosophy in Ovid, Ovid as Philosopher successfully demonstrates that readers can find a great deal more engagement with philosophy in the works of an author who has usually been written off as excessively ludic and rhetorically flashy, and I take this as a positive sign for future directions in Ovidian scholarship... Offer Ovidian scholarship (and Latin literary studies more broadly) a potential pathway out of the inescapable labyrinth of hunting
for intertexts as mere Hellenistic games." -- Jeffrey P. Ulrich, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey., Bryn Mawr Classical Review
