The Face of Nature: Wit, Narrative, and Cosmic Origins in Ovid’s Metamorphoses PDF
Preview The Face of Nature: Wit, Narrative, and Cosmic Origins in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
The Face of Nature The Face of Nature W I T , N A R R A T I V E , A N D C O S M I C O R I G I N S I N O V I D ' S METAMORPHOSES Garth Tissol PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright © 1997 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Catalogi>ΐβ-in-Publicatum Data Tissol, Garth, 1953— The face of nature : wit, narrative, and cosmic origins in Ovid's Metamorphoses / Garth Tissol. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-691-01102-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Ovid, 43 B.C.—17 or 18 A.D. Metamorphoses. 2. Latin wit and humor—History and criticism. 3. Epic poetry, Latin—History and criticism. 4. Mythology, Classical, in literature. 5. Cosmology, Ancient, in literature. 6. Ovid, 43 B.C—17 or 18 A.D.— Style. 7. Metamorphosis in literature. 8. Latin language—Style. 9. Narration (Rheto- ric). 10. Rome—In literature. ll.Rhetoric,Ancient. I. Title. PA6519.M9T57 1997 883.01—dc20 96-26943 CIP ISBN 0-691-01102-8 This book has been composed in GaOiard Princeton University Press books are printed on aad-frce paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Ciuidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Libran' Resources Printed in the United States of America by Princeton Academic Press 1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY PAIR 32101 033269 82 W. S. A. donato iam rude CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 3 CHAPTER 1 Glittering Trifles: Verbal Wit and Physical Transformation 11 Transgressive Language: Narcissus and Althea 11 Indecorous and Transformative Puns 22 Misunderstanding aura: Cephalus, Procris, and the Pun 26 Divinatory Wordplay: The Pun Overheard 30 Vox non intellecta: Irony and Metamorphic Wordplay (Myrrha) 36 Littera scripta manet—Or Does It? (Byblis) 42 Self-Cancelling and Self-Objectifying Witticisms 52 Wordplay, Personification, and Phantasia 61 True Imitation: Ceyx, Alcyone, and Morpheus 72 The House of Reception 85 CHAPTER 2 The Ass's Shadow: Narrative Disruption and Its Consequences 89 Some Exemplary Interruptions 89 Daedalus and Perdix 97 Cyclopean Violence and Narrative Disruption 105 Some Scandalous Passages 124 CHAPTER 3 Disruptive Traditions 131 Indecorous Possibilities: Callimachus's Hymn to Artemis and Ovidian Style 131 Elegiac Contributions: Propertius's Tarpeia and Ovid's Scylla 143 Epic Distortions: The Hecale in the Metamorphoses 153 CHAPTER 4 Deeper Causes: Aetiology and Style 167 Aetiological Wordplay 167 Ovid's Little Aeneid 177 Aetiology and the Nature of Flux 191 Vlll CONTENTS Conclusion 215 ApPENDIX A G. J. Voss ius on Syllepsis oratoria 217 APPENDIx B Syllepsis and Zeugma 219 APPENDIX C Further Examples of Syllepsis in Ovid 221 References 223 Index locorum 231 Index 235 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I AM GRATEFUL to many who have assisted me at various stages in this project. When it was inchoate as a dissertation, William S. Anderson, A. W. Bulloch, and Peter Dale Scott offered many suggestions for im- provement. The work is dedicated to Professor Anderson on the occa- sion of his retirement. I also owe much to Leonard Barkan, Peter Bing, Ann Cumming, Charles P. Reichmann, Florence Verducci, Stephen M. Wheeler, and two anonymous readers for Princeton University Press. For the opportunity to make further improvements and to add much I am indebted to two institutions: Emory University provided a grant from the University Research Committee; and the National Endowment for the Humanities provided a Fellowship for College Teachers and Inde- pendent Scholars. The editors of Helios and Syllecta Classica kindly al- lowed republication of two sections that originally appeared in those journals: "Polyphemus and His Audiences: Narrative and Power in Ovid's Metamorphoses," Sylleeta Classiea 2 (1990): 45—58; and "Ovid's Litde Aeneid and the Thematic Integrity of the Metamorphoses," Helios 20 (1993): 69—79. Finally, I have received most welcome assistance and support from the staff of Princeton University Press.
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