Rome Journal: Ovid

"One Arte" Hallie Cohen

The renowned Roman poet, Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) spun his own labyrinth. Ovid’s Metamorphoses became an ars poetica for generations of Italian artists, poets and later, filmmakers. Dante, Boccaccio, Caravaggio, Fellini, and Pasolini were all influenced by the 15 books of this seminal work-- which charted the history of the world from creation to the death of Julius Caesar. Transformation was one of Ovid’s central themes and his work anticipates the labile nature of gender and identity that is so reflected in modern Roman society. In his own “Metamorphosis,” Franz Kafka imagined a character who wakes up to find himself turned into a cockroach. Ovid faced his personal nightmare when he was banished by Emperor Augustus. Waves of conquest are evidenced in the archeology of Rome. Today, ever-changing populations are characteristic of this continuing evolution.

read "Rome Journal: The EUR by Francis Levy, HuffPost

and listen to Francis Levy interviewed about The Kafka Studies Department on East End Ink (WPKN)