Metamorphosis: Not Just for Butterflies!

from our Classics Department . . .

ANNUS MUTATIONIS:  "A YEAR OF CHANGE"

The Classics Department and the Classics Club are planning a marathon reading of Ovid’s epic poem, The Metamorphoses, in celebration of our "year of change" at Burroughs.

For those whose memory is hazy, The Metamorphoses is an intricate and fantastic melange of (mostly Greek) myths that, somehow or other, involve change. Even if you have never read the poem, you have almost certainly read a story, watched an opera or seen a painting based on Ovid's retelling of these ancient tales—Orpheus and Eurydice, Baucis and Philemon, Apollo and Daphne, to name just three.

Members of the Burroughs community will read, starting on Thursday, April 8 and continue through Friday, April 9. We are inviting students, faculty and staff, parents and alumni to participate. Participation will involve coming to Burroughs and reading aloud from Alan Mandelbaum's translation of The Metamorphoses for fifteen minutes. Times will be scheduled well ahead of the date we will expect you. Reading will run from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, in 15-minute segments. This should allow for the completion of the epic by Friday afternoon, at which point we will have a celebratory reception with refreshments. The readings will take place in the Bonsack Gallery, surrounded by the work of our own fine arts faculty. If you would like to read, please contact Avery Springer (314-993-4045 ext. 324) or Jim Lowe (ext. 338) before March 11.

If you are not interested in reading, please plan to stop by and listen. There is truly something for everyone. Ovid casts his net so widely that the stories encompass every field of interest from the sciences (where did the laurel tree come from anyway?) to mathematics (Pythagoras figures in), from history (Julius Caesar and Augustus both play roles) to athletics (beware the discus!). The wonderful thing about The Metamorphoses is that even a brief visit to the reading will allow you to leave with a story entire.

Lots of people have already volunteered (or been dragooned by their Latin teachers!), so step right up and don’t miss your chance!