Young Ovid : an Unfinished Biography / Diane Middlebrook ; literary executor's note by Leah Middlebrook ; foreword by Maurice Biriotti ; afterword by Carl Djerassi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Middlebrook, Diane Wood, 1939-2007, author.

Contributor:

Djerassi, Carl, contributor.

Middlebrook, Leah, 1966- contributor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D.

Ovid.

Poets, Latin--Biography.

Poets, Latin.

Exiles--Rome--Biography.

Exiles.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xxii, 190 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Young Ovid : a life recreated

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : Counterpoint, 2014.

Summary:

After writing two extremely well received biographies--the first about Anne Sexton and the second about poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath--world-renowned scholar Diane Middlebrook's final project was a study of Ovid's work. Though he has been dead for over two thousand years and had left no personal records--not even the name of his mother--his poetry endures. Middlebrook was convinced that her intimate knowledge of Ovid's poetry and the approach she used in Her Husband (winner of the Prix Du Meilleur Livre Estranger), combined with a deep immersion into the Rome of Ovid's time, would enable her to write what could, without bragging, be called an Ovidian biography. However, severe health issues interfered with Middlebrook's work, and she was ultimately unable to complete this ambitious project before her death in 2007. She left behind an extraordinary look at the conditions and customs to which Ovid was exposed as a young Roman, as well as an acute interpretation of his family and personal life, gleaned from close readings of his poetry and letters from exile. Exhaustively researched and carefully constructed, Middelbrook's portrayal of Ovid is certain to be studied by scholars and read by historians for year to come.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Ovid Is Born 1

The Baby in the Family

Ancestry

Father and Mother

Chapter 2 Ovid Becomes a Roman 37

The Patron of the Ovidii

A Roman Education

The Roman Re-public Becomes the Roman Empire

Ovid's Debut

The Grand Domns

The Toga Ceremony

Chapter 3 Marriage, Divorce, Vocation 59

Corinna

Beardless Youth

The Soldier of Love

Maybe So

Marriage

Divorce

Grand Tour and Vocation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-186) and index.

ISBN:

9781619023314

1619023318

OCLC:

882570036