Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds: Ways of Telling the Self

by Marina Warner

Metamorphosis is a dynamic principle of creation, vital to natural processes of generation and evolution, growth and decay, yet it also threatens personal identity if human beings are subject to a continual process of bodily transformation. Shape-shifting also belongs in the landscape of
magic, witchcraft, and wonder, and enlivens classical mythology, early modern fairy tales and uncanny fictions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds , acclaimed novelist and critic Marina Warner explores the metaphorical power of metamorphoses in the
evocation of human personality. Beginning with Ovid's great poem, The Metamorphoses , as the founding text of the metamorphic tradition, she takes us on a journey of exploration, into the fantastic art of Hieronymous Bosch, the legends of the Taino people, the life cycle of the butterfly, the myth of
Leda and the Swan, the genealogy of the Zombie, the pantomime of Aladdin, the haunting of doppelgangers, the coming of photography, and the late fiction of Lewis Carroll. Beautifully illustrated and elegantly written, Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds is sure to appeal to all readers interested
in mythology, art, and literature.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, Art, Literary Criticism, Psychology, History, Criticism

282 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Marina Sarah Warner is a British novelist, short story writer, historian and mythographer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth.

She is a professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre at the University of Essex, and gave the Reith Lectures on the BBC in 1994 on the theme of 'Managing Monsters: Six Myths of Our Time.'

Reviews

[Pádraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't give this the full five because there are still various tics and quirks of lit theory that drive me up the wall, but this is definitely in the better group, of its type. Warner's almost always fascinating, and she's got both depth and breadth. I learned several new things, as well as new ways to think about aspects of existence, the way metamorphoses in all their forms are built into our lives. I don't know what else you can ask from some nonfiction like this.

[Old-Barbarossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as other stuff I've read of her's.
Interesting but heavy on the academic language, 4 words when 1 would do, and at times it seems very obvious that it was cobbled together from a few lectures.
Good illustrations and introduction.

[toots · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, i was really stricken by the richness of language used from the start, and i really enjoyed her descriptions of Bosch’s paintings and the relationship to the colonial influences and schemes of thought of the time. by the end though i thought it was just okay, got to feel repetitive and meandering which is sad because i really wanted to keep liking it!

[Alexhounder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't a 30page introduction.

Quit a couple of pages into chapter 1, but wanted to give up in the introduction. Rambling, boring, and nonsensical.

Maybe I'm not smart enough for this book, but I zoned out several times in the first few pages.

[Eòghann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sgoilearachd air leth. Fìor inntinneach. A' gabhail a-steach iomadh roinn is cuspair.

[Heidi Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating, truly fascinating, analysis of the metamorphic trends in literature, and how those trends are used in fiction to "tell" the self. It's divided into four parts. The first three: Mutating, Hatching, and Splitting covered a lot of new ground for me. The fourth section: Doubling, not so much. Mutating addressed the cross-pollination of ideas between cultures. Hatching dove more into issues of identity. Splitting provided an in-depth look at how Zombies came to be. Doubling covered a lot of ground with images and photography. It was the hardest section to read, and the least interesting. I've always viewed transformation as a positive thing. I came away from this study with the new understanding that many cultures/religions have found transformation to be threatening.

[Mira · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author explores the process of metamorphosis in the fantastical painter Hieronymus Bosch, native legends of the Taino people, butterflies, Zombies, Lewis Carroll and other cultural and natural oddities and wonders. Some brilliant ideas here but the academia-speak is a little tedious at times. Still, an often intriguing read.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly fascinating--this book touches on topics ranging from butterflies to Bosch, from zombies to New World exploration, from Phillip Pullman to slavery to Ovid to cinema and Alice in Wonderland, all of which are bound up in the mysterious presentation of the self, and in the metamorphosis of the perception of the self over the last two thousand years.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thoughts:

http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/bo...

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful overview of change in literature and art. Warner focuseson how society is concerned with changed. She even deals with the rise of zombine literature. It is a rather interesting book.