The Rape of Proserpina in Ovid "Met." 5.341-661

Internal Audience and Narrative Distortion

Bibliographic Data

ID9320052
AuthorsAndrew Zissos (corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume53
Issue1/2
Pages97-97
Publication date1999-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhoenix (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8299 • E-ISSN: 1929-4883
PublisherClassical Association of Canada (PUBLISHER • CA)
DOI10.2307/1088125
OpenAlexW2323682491
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited4

The Proserpina narrative the Metamorphoses has not lacked for critical attention the twentieth century. The presence of an apparently contemporaneous1 companion version Ovid's Fasti (4.417-620) has inevitably prompted comparative studies, often along generic lines.2 In this paper, I shall follow the recent trend towards narratological readings of the Metamorphoses episode,3 with the aim of demonstrating a fundamental difference between the two narratives. In particular, I will show that the presence of a particularly influential internal audience the Metamorphoses version profoundly affects the telling of the tale, prompting a radical departure from all other known versions of the Proserpina myth.4 As Ahl (1985: 202-203) has observed, in contemplating any tale told the Metamorphoses by a character within the work, we must consider not only what Ovid wishes to suggest to us but what the secondary narrator seeks to suggest to his audience. The Proserpina narrative, an entry a poetic contest, is an obvious case point. The narrator here is the Muse Calliope,5 who has been challenged to a story-telling contest by the Pierides. The stakes are high, since if Calliope loses the challenge she and her sisters must surrender control of the Heliconian fount (cedite victae /fonte Medusaeo et Hyantea Aganippe, 5.311-312), the mythical source of poetic inspiration. So clearly the gloves are off, and the Muse is playing for keeps. But the critical detail is that nymphs are designated as the judges of the contest: dirimant certamina nymphae (5.314). With this mind, Calliope selects her narrative and, more importantly, alters story-line and emphasis to gratify the

Art · CONTEST · Literature · Mythology · Narrative · Poetry · Surrender · Theology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods · Philosophy

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