Seeking the Mothers in Ovid's Heroides - by Simona Martorana (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Incorporates contemporary feminist theories and provides interdisciplinary perspectives on motherhood within Ovidian works and classical literature more broadly and questions the widely acknowledged dialectic between the (male) voice of the poet and the (female) voice of the heroines to argue for a cooperation between the two voices within Latin literature"--

Book Synopsis

Seeking the Mothers in Ovid's "Heroides" explores Ovid's reconceptualization of the heroines' maternal experience. Rather than aligning them with the stereotypical roles of Roman women, motherhood enables the Ovidian heroines to challenge traditional norms with irreverent perspectives on gender categories and familial relationships. To confront these perspectives and overcome the dialectic between the (male) voice of the poet and the (female) voice of the heroines, Seeking the Mothers in Ovid's "Heroides" argues for a form of polyphonic "cooperation" between the two voices, thus providing new angles on ironical discourse and gender fluidity within the Heroides.

By reading the Heroides both through feminist theory and against Ovid's poetic production, Simona Martorana provides a novel approach to describe how motherhood enhances the heroines' agency, drawing on works of Kristeva, Irigaray, Butler, Mulvey, Cavarero, Braidotti, and Ettinger. The application of theory is flexible throughout Seeking the Mothers in Ovid's "Heroides" and tailored to the nuances of specific passages rather than being uniformly imposed on the ancient text.

Seeking the Mothers in Ovid's "Heroides" reveals how the irony, ambiguity, and polyphony intrinsic to Ovid's poetry are amplified by the heroines' poetic voices. Martorana breaks new ground by incorporating contemporary feminist theories within the analysis of the Heroides and provides an original comprehensive analysis of motherhood that encompasses other Ovidian works, Latin poetry, and classical literature more broadly.

Review Quotes

New ground is broken in these pages by subsuming contemporary feminist theories within the analyses of the Heroides, thus providing an original and comprehensive overview that encompasses other Ovidian texts, Latin verse, and classical poetry in general. And, as Martorana observes, it is all in fieri (still in preparation).

-- "Choice"

About the Author

Simona Martorana is a Lecturer at the Australian National University. She is a scholar in classics who combines a philological reading of the texts with modern theoretical approaches, particularly from gender, ecocriticism, and medical humanities. Her scholarship includes several articles and book chapters on classical and medieval Latin literature.