Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

Ovid and the Metamorphosis Tradition
This is a junior/senior level Literature course (in English), running 8 am-11 am Mon-Thurs from May 20 to June 19. Taught by Fred Mench, Professor of Classics,

Is change desirable and inevitable? Was Heraclitus right that all is flux? Or was Ecclesiastes correct in stating that "There is nothing new under the sun?"We will trace the original concept of the change of the natural world in creation stories (and its later counterpart, evolution) , through literal changes of human forms in Ovid's Metamorphoses and Apuleius' Golden Ass, to changes in form or being in later literature, song and art. Examples include Greek gods (e.g., Zeus) changing either their own forms for amorous purposes or the forms of humans (e.g., Arachne) for vengeance; inanimate becoming animate (e.g., literally in Pygmalion's statue or socially in My Fair Lady); sentient beings, whether robots (AI) , puppets (Pinocchio) or toys (Velveteen Rabbit) , acquiring human forms or emotions. We will even consider disguise and changing from one identity to another, as in Odysseus, spy stories, most Shakespeare comedies, and impersonations such as Black Like Me. We will examine the conflicting notions of Change or Die and the opposite desire for immutability in a changing world.

Readings include Morford and Lenardon, Classical Mythology; Ovid's Metamorphoses; Apuleius' Golden Ass; assorted films (especially science-fiction), plays (e.g., Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream), short stories (e.g., Bradbury's The Path), poems (e.g., Yeats' Song of the Wandering Aengus) and folk songs (e.g., The Silkie). In the latter part of the term, students will bring in and talk about examples of diverse types that they have found.

Evaluation: Mid-term & final or 3 hour exams (= 60-75 %) plus weekly short papers (=15-20%) and one class presentation (=5-10%) and participation (=5-10%).

CONTACT INFORMATION

fmench@earthlink.net
609-652-4495

Richard Stockton College of NJ
Pomona, NH 08240