(University of Oregon, 2015-08-18) Landry, Desiree; Jaeger, Mary
In my research, I take up the questions of Ovid’s relationship to his poetry and the rethinking of exilic motifs and poetic motifs through the lens of exile. Throughout the Tristia, in particular, Ovid illustrates a complex series of questions on why he writes in exile. He writes, “What have I to do with you, little books, my unlucky obsession, I, wretched, who was destroyed by my talent?” Ovid provides two direct answers to his own question: first, writing brings him comfort in exile, and second, it keeps his name alive in Rome. I explore how Ovid adapts the motif of poetic immortality to the exilic motif of exile as death and employs the act of writing as a resistance to Augustus.
