Ovidian Transversions: ‘Iphis and Ianthe’, 1350-1650

Focuses on transversions of Ovid’s ‘Iphis and Ianthe’ in both English and French literature

Medieval and early modern authors engaged with Ovid’s tale of ‘Iphis and Ianthe’ in a number of surprising ways. From Christian translations to secular retellings on the seventeenth-century stage, Ovid’s story of a girl’s miraculous transformation into a boy sparked a diversity of responses in English and French from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. In addition to analysing various translations and commentaries, the volume clusters essays around treatments of John Lyly’s Galatea (c. 1585) and Issac de Benserade’s Iphis et Iante (1637). As a whole, the volume addresses gender and transgender, sexuality and gallantry, anatomy and alchemy, fable and history, youth and pedagogy, language and climate change.

Key Features:

The only scholarly monograph to focus on Ovid’s ‘Iphis and Ianthe’ Intervenes in the history of Ovidian reception and literary history, particularly in terms of gender and sexuality Broadens readings of ‘Iphis and Ianthe’ beyond concerns of gender and sexuality Brings medieval and early modern, English and French appropriations of the tale into productive dialogue Provides new readings of John Lyly’s Galathea and Issac Benserade’s ‘Iphis and Ianthe’, and of medieval versions of the story Intervenes in the history of ‘trans’ phenomena