Transformative Change in Western Thought: A History of Metamorphosis from Homer to Hollywood (Legenda Main)

539 Pages·2012·11.522 MB·English

by  Ingo Gildenhard

Transformative Change in Western Thought
A History of Metamorphosis from Homer to Hollywood
legendA
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edITORIAl BOARd
Chairman
Professor Colin davis, Royal Holloway, University of london
Professor Malcolm Cook, University of exeter (French)
Professor Robin Fiddian, Wadham College, Oxford (Spanish)
Professor Anne Fuchs, University of St Andrews (german)
Professor Paul garner, University of leeds (Spanish)
Professor Andrew Hadfield, University of Sussex (english)
Professor Marian Hobson Jeanneret,
Queen Mary University of london (French)
Professor Catriona Kelly, new College, Oxford (Russian)
Professor Martin Mclaughlin, Magdalen College, Oxford (Italian)
Professor Martin Maiden, Trinity College, Oxford (linguistics)
Professor Peter Matthews, St John’s College, Cambridge (linguistics)
dr Stephen Parkinson, linacre College, Oxford (Portuguese)
Professor Suzanne Raitt, William and Mary College, Virginia (english)
Professor Ritchie Robertson, The Queen’s College, Oxford (german)
Professor david Shepherd, Keele University (Russian)
Professor Michael Sheringham, All Souls College, Oxford (French)
Professor Alison Sinclair, Clare College, Cambridge (Spanish)
Professor david Treece, King’s College london (Portuguese)
Managing Editor
dr graham nelson
41 Wellington Square, Oxford ox1 2jf, UK

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Transformative Change in
Western Thought
A History of Metamorphosis from
Homer to Hollywood
❖
edited by
Ingo gildenhard and Andrew Zissos
Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge
2013
First published 2013
Published by the
Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
LEGENDA is an imprint of the
Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© Modern Humanities Research Association and Taylor & Francis 2013
ISBN 978-1-907975-01-1(hbk)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
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Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Contents
❖
Acknowledgements ix
Preface xi
List of Contributors xiii
List of Illustrations xiv
General Introduction: Metamorphosis — A Phenomenology 1
ingo gildenhard and andrew zissos
PART I: ANTIQUITY AND ARCHETYPES
Introduction to Part I 36
ingo gildenhard and andrew zissos
1 The Transformations of Ovid’s Medea (Metamorphoses vii. 1–424) 88
ingo gildenhard and andrew zissos
2 Lynx-stone and Coral: ‘Liquid Rocks’ between Natural History and
Myths of Transformation 131
sonia macrì
3 Proteus and Protean Epic: From Homer to Nonnos 153
manuel baumbach
4 Arboreal Myths: Dryadic Transformations, Children’s Literature, and
Fantastic Trees 163
zoe jaques
PART II: CHRISTIANITY AND CLASSICIZING
Introduction to Part II 184
ingo gildenhard and andrew zissos
5 Of Donkeys and D(a)emons: Metamorphosis and the Literary Imagination
from Apuleius to Augustine 222
robert h. f. carver
6 Adonis as Citrus Tree: Humanist Transformations of an Ancient Myth 252
carlo caruso
7 Defacing God’s Work: Metamorphosis and the ‘Mimicall Asse’ in the
Age of Shakespeare 273
robert h. f. carver
8 Phantastica Mutatio: Johann Weyer’s Critique of the Imagination as a
Principle of Natural Metamorphosis 307
guido giglioni
viii Contents

PART III: SCIENCE: FROM THE ‘POST-METAMORPHIC’ TO THE
POSTHUMAN
Introduction to Part III 332
ingo gildenhard and andrew zissos
9 ‘Our Mind Is the Ancient Proteus’: Proust, the Poets, and the Sea 388
francesca spiegel
10 ‘Horror in a Covered Platter’: H. P. Lovecraft and the Transformation
of Petronius 415
luke pitcher
11 Transforming the Experience of War in the Fiction of Marcel Aymé,
René Barjavel and Michel Tournier 426
christopher lloyd
12 The Parabola Paradox: Transformation and Science Fiction 440
sarah annes brown
Epilogue 453
ingo gildenhard and andrew zissos
Bibliography: Primary Sources 457
Bibliography: Secondary Literature 470
Index I: Names, Concepts and Themes 505
Index II: Authors, Artists, Directors and their Works 515
ACKnoWLeDGeMents
❖
This volume has its origins in an international workshop on ‘Myths of Transform-
ation’ that we, the editors, co-organized in September 2008. The workshop took
place under the auspices of the Durham Institute of Advanced Study, whose theme
for 2008–09 was ‘Being Human’. We are grateful to the Institute (and its nonpareil
director at the time, Professor Ash Amin) for a conference grant that enabled us
to run the workshop, together with additional funds from the Faculty of Arts &
Humanities of Durham University, via the Durham Centre for the Study of the
Classical Tradition. Less tangible, but equally crucial support from the Institute
came in the form of a highly stimulating environment throughout the year of the
‘Being Human’ theme, in which we could develop our ideas on transformative
change. In particular, we greatly benefited from the first-hand encounter with
artworks by Jane Alexander (and the artist herself), on the occasion of an exhibition
of her work in Durham Cathedral (‘On Being Human’, 3–22 March 2009). First
thoughts on Alexander’s art as well as on the theme of metamorphosis more
generally have appeared in the exhibition catalogue Jane Alexander on Being Human,
ed. by Pep Subirós (Durham: Institute of Advanced Study and Durham University)
and the Institute’s on-line journal Insights <http://www.dur.ac.uk/ias/insights/
beinghuman/>.
It took some time for a selection of the workshop papers, additionally recruited
pieces, and our own thinking to evolve into the present volume, and we are deeply
grateful to our contributors, who responded to endless requests for adjustments and
alterations with remarkable and much appreciated grace and patience: our search for
the right kind of focus, something approximating coherence, and at least a semblance
of balanced coverage has not always been quick and easy, to say the least, and we
feel privileged to have been able to work with such a fine group of scholars. After
first sounding out more conventional options, we decided to approach Legenda as a
possible venue for publication; it turned out to be a serendipitous choice: ever since,
we have enjoyed, and benefited from, the vision, care, and encouragement of their
editorial team, notably Graham Nelson. The timely appearance of this volume is
in no small part due to his vision and support, including just the right amount of
gentle pressure to get on with it, a patience with missed deadlines that qualifies for
sainthood, and the willingness to proceed with publishing a text that ultimately
weighed in at more than twice the contractually agreed length. Likewise, we are
much indebted to Richard Correll, who copy-edited our extremely demanding
manuscript with critical acumen and good grace.
We would further like to record our profound gratitude to Jane Heath, Viviane
Dutaut, and Andreas Pečar for bibliographical pointers and helpful feedback on