Title : Ovid's Exile - Salim Bachi - book

Summary :

In 8 AD, Ovid was banished by Augustus to Tomis, now Constanta in Romania, on the shores of the Black Sea. On this small island, he resided in a villa that would become his only kingdom. What were the reasons for this exile? Historians are not in agreement. Some suggest that Ovid had an affair with Julia, Augustus's daughter, or practiced divination, which was forbidden at the time. He left Rome taking his possessions with him; his wife, however, did not follow him. Did the poet want to spare her dishonor and opprobrium? He addresses his wife and friends in The Sad and the Pontic , his poetic letters, intended for posterity, where he complains about his banishment.
I have the impression, reading them today, translated by Marie Darrieussecq, that Ovid addresses me as a brother, and I often have the desire to console him. I suffer with him the same estrangement, the same pain now that I am alone in France. I also felt this same pain in Algeria, as if the homeland had nothing to do with it. One can thus be exiled twice, at home and among others.
Weary of the war, Ovid will abandon his fight and his letters to his friends and his wife will become rarer. He knows he is lost and his days are numbered… Sadness and solitude will shorten his life. Even in death, Ovid will never return to Rome: Augustus will refuse to allow him to be buried there.
I lost everything: my country, my family, and I did it many times. Exile is this dwelling on loss. There is no return for someone who has abandoned their birthplace, willingly or by force. Exile is also this captivating feeling born from the destruction of the past and the expectation of rebirth.
A poetic, moving evocation of this feeling of exile. Ovid is the hero, the brother, the mirror of the author in this story where we also meet other writers in their exile: Joyce, Leonardo Sciascia, Pessoa, Thomas Mann, Zweig…

• EAN : 9782709658515
  
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