New translation of Ovid’s ‘Heroides’ offers insight into ‘ancient fan fiction’
LAWRENCE — Publius Ovidius Naso — better known to modern readers as Ovid — was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. Much of his life was shrouded in mystery, and his works remain equally admired and scrutinized.
“His poetry straddles that line between humor and sincerity,” said Tara Welch, a professor of classics at the University of Kansas. “You can’t always tell whether to take him seriously or not.”
Welch is part of a team responsible for a new translation of Ovid’s “Heroides.” A collection of 15 letters written by women to the men who have left them behind, “Heroides” (translated as “The Heroines”) can be described as “ancient fan fiction.” Along with KU professor emeritus of classics Stanley Lombardo and University of Oxford graduate student Melina McClure, Welch wrote the 37-page intro that contextualizes the poems.
It is published by Hackett Classics.
A younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, Ovid (43 B.C. to 17 or 18 A.D.) is ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature.
“He’s very clever. I find it hard to pin down whether he’s being cute or serious — I think he’s being both at the same time. So sometimes I pick up the text and have fun with it. And then other times, I pick it up and say, ‘Wow, that hits really hard,’” she said.
The professor said it was challenging to marshal 200 years of scholarship through a half-dozen different languages. For her, the hardest thing was getting so much background into a comprehensible format for people who might be familiar with the myths but not with their complexity in classical literature. She notes how there are many technical literary concepts that bring to bear on this work, such as genre and intertextuality.
She cites the opening poem, “Penelope to Ulysses,” as among her favorites in the collection.
“I love the first line: ‘Don’t write back — just get yourself home!’” she said.
“It brings together the collection’s core ideas of separation and closeness. The letter is supposed to bridge the gap between Penelope and her husband, but is the letter actually an act of communication, or is she just complaining?”
Welch said there are several reasons why modern audiences should appreciate the work of a poet who lived two millennia ago.
“One, it’s just a beautifully written text. It’s artistically gorgeous. Another is that many of our ideas about heroism, myths, culture and women come from ancient Roman culture. It’s easier to see those ideas at work and hold them up to scrutiny when it’s voiced by someone else,” she said.
“Finally, Ovid wrote at a time when we have many other extant authors. It was a watershed moment in history when the Roman Republic has just fallen and there’s a new empire under essentially a monarch. Reading him in that context is really great. He’s not just a one-off who is our only voice from that time. He can help illuminate a truly complex situation.”
Does Welch consider Ovid a feminist?
“Yes and no,” she said. “But more yes than no. He’s a feminist in that he exposes some of the aspects and workings of gender ideology in antiquity. But he was not trying to radically change society.”
Now in her 27th year at KU, Welch specializes in Latin poetry. She is the author of “Tarpeia: Workings of a Roman Myth” (Ohio State University Press, 2015) and “The Elegiac Cityscape: Propertius and the Meaning of Roman Monuments” (Ohio State University Press, 2005).
“I would be thrilled if more people outside classics read ‘Heroides,’” Welch said. “Right now mythology is so popular with young adult readers — they help keep those stories alive. I hope Ovid’s voice will be part of that evolving dialogue.”