I suoi principali interessi riguardano l’epigramma greco e latino, letterario ed epigrafico (dalle origini fino ad Ausonio), l’elegia ellenistica e romana, la Appendix Vergiliana e il dramma senecano.

Ha organizzato diversi Convegni internazionale, pubblicandone gli Atti (

From the Humble Workshop in Cyprus to the Victorian Stage: Ovidian Pygmalion’s Reception in W. S. Gilbert’s Mythological Comedy Pygmalion and Galatea

Stamatia Kitsou

https://doi.org/10.60983/003-2.4

ABSTRACT

 The myth of the sculptor Pygmalion and his infatuation with the statue he created constitutes one of the four Cypriot stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 10 whose reception has been frequent and variegated in both literature and art. Within this context, W. S. Gilbert exploited the main outline of the Ovidian myth and proceeded to a generic transformation composing the first mythological comedy with Galatea, the statue’s name after Rousseau, as a protagonist. Galatea’s inanimation and interaction with the other characters of the play is problematic and a series of misunderstandings arises from her lack of social education. In this regard Gilbert proves himself to be prolific in social criticism and masterful, almost latent, considerations regarding the gender-based roles and their social construction.