Of Heroines and Housewives: How Johannes Spreng’s German Translation of the Metamorphoses (1564) Conveys Gender-Specific Norms

Abstract

AbstractTranslations are part of gender history. Early Modern translations of the classics not only offer insights into the contributions men and women of that period made to accessing and building knowledge. They also show how gender concepts were reconfigured and adapted to the ideals of the target culture. This article examines the myths of Europa and Alcyone as examples of how Johannes Spreng’s German translation of the Metamorphoses shifted emphases in gender-specific power relations. With the aid of comparative analysis, the author reveals the linguistic and literary techniques Spreng employed to turn Ovid’s heroines into Early Modern housewives. In competing Metamorphoses interpretations as well, idealization and the cautionary example prove to have been key strategies for negotiating the transfer of culture and ideology from antiquity to the Early Modern age and conveying gender-specific norms.