The Metamorphoses cover art

The Metamorphoses

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The Metamorphoses

By: Ovid
Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
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About this listen

 An undeniable masterpiece of Western Civilization, The Metamorphoses is a continuous narrative that covers all the Olympian legends, seamlessly moving from one story to another in a splendid panorama of savage beauty, charm, and wit. It marked the first attempt to link all of the Homeric and pre-Homeric myths into a single work and to carry the entire chronology into the Roman pantheon. All of the gods and heroes familiar to us are represented. Such familiar legends as Hercules, Perseus and Medusa, Daedelus and Icarus, Diana and Actaeon, and many others, are breathtakingly recreated.

Ovid was probably the most popular of all the Roman poets during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and his verse was the inspiration for countless artistic and literary masterpieces of the time. Shakespeare, Bernini, and Rubens were only a few of those who mined his work to extraordinary effect.

Ovid has left mankind a magnificent achievement, and his sparkling poetry is a tour de force of Homeric and Roman myth. As Ovid himself wrote: "As long as Rome is the eternal city, these lines shall echo from the lips of men."

©2006 Audio Connoisseur Ancient Europe Greece Rome Classics Mythology Italy Greek Mythology Tradition Ancient Greece

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The stories are astonishing and listening to it as I did at night enhanced the pre-rational aspects. The narrator's vowel slides are scary in a different way, but not enough to dampen the effect of the legends. I like his voice and acting but it's best to be sure of an accent before letting it loose on the public.

Metamorphosising vowels in Ovid.

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I would like to defend the narrator: the reading may be somewhat old-fashioned, but the voice is handsome with the appropriate dose of drama, and the speed is just right. I got hooked on it from the start and know I will listen to this recording again and again.

very moving

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At times, I like to follow in a paperback, but where Amazon/Audible identify translations at all, the information they provide is often unreliable. Tastes vary, obviously, but I prefer this version. It's hard to find, but was translated by Horace Gregory and published by Signet - up-dated from a 1958 Viking Press edition.
I can't help wondering whether some reviews have been misplaced? The reader is criticised for sounding pretentious and very Merikan, but to my ear there's nothing at all 'John Wayne' about his voice. He does a great job and, incidentally, has won a number of awards for books like the Sherlock Holmes stories. The idea that he uses an irritating drawl leaves me scratching my head. I could be quite wrong - each to his own and all that - but I'm VERY picky when it comes to readers. Perhaps the name 'Charlton' triggers 'Heston'?

Information On Translations And Audible Versions

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The stories are crackers of course, but the narrator is portentous and slightly self-important which I found annoying. If you like a stately type of narration, it might be ok.

Wonderful Ovid, Over The Top Narration

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If ever a narration has strangled the life out of a classic then this is it The quality of reading utterly killed this book and I would strongly advise avoiding this recording or be prepared to be put off classical literature for ever .

Turgid narration

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Sound like an american trying (poorly) to do an upperclass English accent. Huge multitude of characters make the book rather difficult to absorb in a single reading.

Bizarre accent

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couldn't finish it due to the pomposity of the readers voice which was extremely off-putting

disappointed

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If you are a historian of ancient literature, I'm sure that you can enjoy this book. But, if you want a good book, a good story and something to entertain your mind, this is not the way to go. It is too old to be consumed by the minds of our time. It has aged to the point where the wine has gone bad.

Many have said that they dislike the narration. I didn't mind the narrator. In fact, I think he did a good job bringing the flavour of the ancient Greece. But, the narration does not save what is a long and difficult (and un-enjoyable) book.

Painfully long and ages beyond our times.

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