Ovid - PDF document

OvidÕs Protean Epic of Art know of no work of literature more wonder-ful than Metamorphoses and Eurydice, Venus and Adonis. OvidÕs book may be popu-His poem is nothing less than a history of the world from its Metamorphoses itself in the age of Augustus Caesar. History, we might say,culminates with OvidÕs poem, which is the artful mirror im-age of the cosmos in the multiplicity of all its forms. When we read Ovid, we become part of a wide community, Meta-morphoses Ñfrom the authors who forged the Romandela those who like a good story, a story told well, a story thatgives pleasure. In that respect, Ovid belongs to everybody. Metamorphoses is a poem about nature, both its physicalbeauty and the natural catastrophes that mark the world:flood, conflagration, famine, plague. In this respect, Ovid is arealist. Metamorphoses the intertwined histories of Western art and literature, en- arion 14.1 fall 2006 As a sustained and radical exploration of form and trans-formation, Metamorphoses tic form. Although OvidÕs acute attention to artifice ofincisively, there is still more to be said about OvidÕs sense ofart. The sum of OvidÕs allusions to art in Metamorphoses of art are still, I believe, only dimly surmised. In order to clarify our understanding of OvidÕs conceptionof art, let us recall a crucial, well-known fact about Meta- . As a poem inspired in part by Homer and Virgil,by the Iliad , Odyssey , and Aeneid , Metamorphoses epic or, as some would say, a mock-epic, which, toward themen of arms and great deedsÑin a word, heroes. Yet OvidÕsepic is an epic of a different kind, what I wish to call theare the principal heroes and heroines. OvidÕs understandingof mythic artists has its roots in Homer and VirgilÑfor ex-epics, Ovid transforms the epic hero from soldier into artist. OvidÕs poem is a carmen , a song. In Metamorphoses weaving, handicraft, poetry, song, storytelling, and rhetoric Metamorphoses thetic art, of which Ovid is the ultimate author, the artistwho embodies and unifies all of the arts. In short, Ovid asartist is the supreme hero of his own epic. and Virgil, OvidÕs focuses attention on the central theme ofhis own epicÑart. With a great flourish of stories about art,Ovid introduces the theme of artifice in its many forms. After vidÕs protean epic of art of the earth, whence the origins of sculpture. Ovid pursuesthe stones that turn into human beings. Likening the humanscent from his father, Prometheus. This genealogy of artsculptorÕs touch and comes to life. fect of people in the flesh transformed into stoneÑBattus,to MedusaÕs gaze. For Ovid, sculpture is neither the hardtransformed into stone. Rather, compounded both of themyths of Pygmalion and Medusa, sculpture in Ovid is am-all of literature of the existential doubleness of sculpture,ture is unnamed, we might well attribute it to the gods them-selves, of whom Vulcan is the premier figure. Vulcan is theauthor of the Sun-godÕs dazzling palace made of bronze,The other principal architect of OvidÕs poem is of course Paul Barolsky 113 at times, back to its source. DaedalusÕs ambiguous structureis a fitting simile for the complexity of OvidÕs poem, whichis plotted with comparable complexity as its fables bothwhose art echoes in turn that of Prometheus. As sculpture isarchitecture, which, like OvidÕs poem, is ambiguous as itmoves in two directions at once. cut off by the murderous Mercury, after which Juno adornsthe peacockÕs feathers with the dead shepherdÕs one hundredto the fact that their pinions were pictis for Ovid an originary painter. Ovid also evokes the art of painting in the myth ofArachneÕs weaving contest with Minerva, especially when he pingere analogy, we can construe ArachneÕs woven stories as picto-rial, for example, the myth she pictures of JupiterÕs rape ofEuropaÑa cunning revision of OvidÕs own version of thepurples, pinks, blues, and greens abound in the authorÕs pic-torial poetry. OvidÕs identity with Arachne is often observed,echoes OvidÕs telling of the tale in book two, she alludes to vidÕs protean epic of art the horns of Jupiter, who appears in the image of a bull, arehis poem), Ovid transforms a detail in nature into the arti-fice of craftsmanship. OvidÕs image of Jupiter as a beautiful snow-white bull atIo in the final myth of book one. In the story of Jupiter andIo we come to one of the most delightful examples of art inthe first book of OvidÕs poem, the art of storytelling. Afterthe Olympian god takes his pleasure with Io, he transformsNo fool she, however, Juno is on to his little game and de-sprang from the earth fully grown. Close readers of OvidÕspoem will recognize a little joke in JupiterÕs story. The godries of stories of beings born of the earth: PrometheusÕ hu-mans are formed out of the earth, the off-spring of the giantsmans are born from the stones of the earth after the flood,and the Python is born from the earth at the same time. Inthis context, JupiterÕs story of yet another earth-born crea-Imitating Ovid, Jupiter in effect becomes a poet and, al-posterous, its conformity to OvidÕs series of stories oftude. Nevertheless, as Ovid says elsewhere in a self-mockingmanner, all poets are liars. In the style of Ovid, Jupiter issuch a poet-liar. JupiterÕs short story within OvidÕs poetry is Metamorphoses storytellers in OvidÕs poem as there are stories. In book ten,for example, Ovid tells the story of Orpheus, who tells the Paul Barolsky 115 story of Venus and Adonis, within which Venus tells theOvidÕs weaving. In book one, we meet the consummate storyteller, Mercury,erate JupiterÕs beloved Io from captivity. Disguised as a shep-of PanÕs pipes, and after his victim falls asleep during thestory, the god dispatches him with a blow of the sword. Like Metamorphoses for Ovid himself, since it is through the godÕs lips that he tellsthe story of the origins of the sweet new music of the pipes.ith delicious, often-observed irony, Ovid mocks his ownstorytelling, since MercuryÕs story of Pan and Syrinx is obvi-ously a version of OvidÕs tale of Apollo and Daphne. Mer-curyÕs narrative, which is ultimately OvidÕs own, shouldoff. OvidÕs capacity to laugh at himself is exemplaryÑa modelpoetry, it is also related to the art of rhetoric, the art ofspeaking well, indeed persuasively. Ovid exhibits this art inarms of Achilles, in which the former is an exemplar of elo- facunditas sea, sky, and cities. Here the art of rhetoric celebrates the arting, painting, poetry, storytelling and rhetoric in Metamor- grow out of the emphatic celebration of art in bookthat of music. OvidÕs poem, his carmen whose beloved Daphne is transformed into the laurel with vidÕs protean epic of art which his instrument will always be entwined. A little laterseen, transforming it into the similar story told by Mercuryof PanÕs pursuit of Syrinx, who is (in turn) transformed into Metamorphoses , Ovid evokes the phonic beauty ofmusic as Syrinx prays to her sisters for assistance, orassesorores songs, like those of Circe, are incantations, enchantments,Canens, whose name speaks of her role as singer, monstrousat the very end of OvidÕs song, Pythagoras, who gives voiceto the poetÕs view of the world in flux. OvidÕs use of the verb cano more than speech; it is song. At bottom, it is OvidÕs song. Metamorphoses the great soloist who dominates OvidÕs own work of music:often-used phrase, Òthe power of music.Ó With his lyre Or-pheus casts a spell over all of nature. The stones of the earthOrpheusÕs grief is so stunningly intense that everything stops.Even OvidÕs perpetual poem, which captures the continuousmotion of nature, the pulsating flux of life itself, is now sud-For an unforgettably enduring moment, OvidÕs poem is itselfstillÑthe ultimate rest in the poetÕs score. Paul Barolsky 117 turned to stone in grief at the death of his beloved. OvidÕspheus, such stones are now the instruments of his demise.mourn the bardÕs death. When the limbs of the dead Or-creatureÕs open jaws. Thus ends another of OvidÕs stories ofstone, in this case a tale of stone interwoven with music. story, which is a myth of the transformation of one form ofart into another. In the tale of the treacherous Scylla whophosed into music. The palace of the king rose from wallsstones, which still resonated with the sound of the godÕs in-to that of the pipes of Pan. Through form Ovid unites the artof aviation with the art of music. It would almost seem thatOvid, long before Walter Pater, saw all art aspiring to thecondition of music. the larger fabric of his work as he spins yarns. Ovid is like vidÕs protean epic of art tales, in other words, spin yarns. They tell the story of Marsand Venus in which Vulcan makes a net to capture his adul-terous wife and her lover, a net so finely spun that it is likethus tells her stories. ArachneÕs weaving is as subtle, OvidAriadne. Her golden thread is the clue to the buildingÕsOvidÕs own poem. The threads of OvidÕs text are also im-plicitly tied to the strings of the lyres of Apollo and Orpheus,Although OvidÕs poem is filled with artistic contests, thoseplotting, with Arachne in the weaving of pictures, but he ulti-arts are united in the poet himself. The poet is a kind of super-Neither WagnerÕs Gesamtkunstwerk nor BaudelaireÕs cor- of the arts, OvidÕs synthesis of the arts in Metamorphoses poetÕs self-conscious celebration of himself as a prodigiousand multifaceted artist in many forms foreshadows the mod-OvidÕs unified embodiment of all the arts is itself mythic,self into a lion, boar, bull, stone, tree, river, or flame as art. Paul Barolsky 119 Erysichthon transforms herself into a mare, a heifer, and abull; the river god Achelous transforms himself into a ser-herself into a bird, a tree, and a tiger; and the sons of Sleepassume the forms of beast, bird and serpentÑamong thesechildren, Phantasos wears the forms of earth, rocks, water,changing their form, Ovid is himself a type of Proteus. Heappears now in one form, now in another, as he elusively as-does so with extraordinary subtlety. The poetÕs artful self-Pygmalion where he says that the sculptorÕs artifice concealshis very art. We can therefore read Metamorphoses Ovid transforms himself into an architect, sculptor, or painter.Of the various metamorphoses in OvidÕs poem, the most Metamorphoses gods, are the preparation for the deification of Caesar, whosesoul rose to heaven where he too became a star. As a prophetic singer, Ovid speaks next of the day when vidÕs protean epic of art tion, both historical and prophetic, is not yet complete. Forglory. He imagines a future when his work will transcend thewrath of Jupiter or timeÕs capacity to consume, a futureforever. Thus, the ultimate metamorphosis of Metamor- , the final transformation of the Protean poet. The story of OvidÕs ascent to the stars does not end with hispoem, however, for over a millennium later Dante would meta-morphose OvidÕs ascent into the epic of his own heavenwardjourney in the DivineComedy ward the stars by Virgil, Dante, as the poet-hero of his ownpoem, also writes under the star of OvidÕs Òepic of art,Ó whichself-consciousness. In other words, OvidÕs self-formation as Meta-morphoses own Òepic of art,Ó which becomes a foundational text for theDanteÕs great epic was in turn important for VasariÕs Lives of the artists, a work of epic proportions that traces the riseportrayed as a new Dante. VasariÕs history of art is groundedin one of OvidÕs central myths, the story of Narcissus, whoseart. As Vasari suggests over and over throughout the Lives works of art are, in a sense, reflections of their makers. Theprimordial humanity, are the reflection of an artist who is asavage or wild man, whereas, antithetically, the works of Paul Barolsky 121 asariÕs biography of Leonardo is a crucial source for whatcalled ÒmodernismÓÑBalzacÕs ÒThe Unknown Masterpiece.ÓBuilding on VasariÕs portrayal of a painter who, aspiring to acompletion, Balzac metamorphoses Leonardo into Frenhofer,a painter, who, seeking to achieve a great masterpiece, is un-able to realize his ambition. Although BalzacÕs tale is a shortstory, it is epic in scope and in its portrayal of an artistÕs heroicevokes the duration of the siege of Troy.BalzacÕs story, which was to haunt the imagination ofJames, CŽzanne and Picasso, to name only a few, turns theheroic battle of the artist into a tragic tale of failure. Ulti-the artist from Ovid to Dante, from Dante to Michelangelo,claims of the death of the artist, the end of art history, or thefailure of modernism. When we read BalzacÕs story today, dwelling on it as itpertains to the high modernism of the final centuries of theif we fail to see also its taproots in the tradition of the Òepicof artÓÑa tradition that brings us full circle to OvidÕs Meta- . Although BalzacÕs Frenhofer is indeed a paradig-matic figure in the story of modern art, he is also a mythicfellow painter, Pourbus, paints a figure in which the blooddoes not flow beneath the skin (as it does in PygmalionÕs cre- vidÕs protean epic of art claims his own Promethean aspirations and identity. With anultimate ironic twist, however, the very fire of PrometheusFrenhoferÕs hands the instrument of destruction when hetial to OvidÕs shifting artistic personae are thus essential toBalzacÕs modern but still mythic hero of art. Although noneof his heroes is particularly Ovidian, what is Ovidian aboutBalzacÕs painter in general is the way in which, like Ovid, heNot surprisingly, Frenhofer in fact invokes Proteus in hisAlthough BalzacÕs painter as a type of Prometheus, Pyg-mythic artist of self-transformation. Rather, pursuing the im-plications of Ovid, he says that Proteus stands for the multi-plicity of forms with which the artist struggles in order toof Frenhofer, the embattled modern artist par excellence,tory, it also simultaneously leads us back to Metamor-phoses Ña book about transformation, where Ovid gaveform in the first place to the Òepic of artÓ in which the poethimself is the supreme, transformative hero. Paul Barolsky 123