Functions of Ovid’s Metamporhoses in Zoranić’s The Mountains
Autor institution: Sveučilište u Zagrebu
Abstract:
Petar Zoranić wrote Planine (The Mountains) (1536) by building on contemporary Renaissance authors, that is, by using rich literary tradition and drawing from common role models of his time, which also reveal his personal inclination toward particular sources. Philology has already thoroughly described Zoranić’s inspirations and quotes which most prominently feature Publius Ovidius Naso. Starting from an insightful philological comment on the extraordinary nature of Zoranić’s use of certain motifs, this contribution analyzes Zoranić’s models of structuring of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and their relationship to the structuring of other sources within The Mountains, with the goal of defining the functions which specific “pritvori” (“transformations”) have in Zoranić’s didactic narration. The analysis confirms the exceptional relationship of Zoranić’s motifs to Andrija Medulić’s paintings. Moreover, the comparative analysis of Zoranić’s choice of motifs from Metamorphoses in The Mountains – with regard to present day editions of selections from Metamorphoses (as places of general culture) – reveals Zoranić’s system of selective taste. According to this criterion, the motifs from Metamorphoses stand out as the most frequently quoted ones, either indirectly through Boccaccio’s and Sannazzaro’s works, or directly from the canon. In this way the analysis participates in establishing a more extensive study of Ovid’s place in the changes of reception of ancient literature and in the literary tradition of the Western literary cycle.