ADDRESSING THE READER: OVID’S LESSON ON THE OPEN-ENDED NATURE OF INTERPRETATION

Abstract

Ovid’s attention to the role of the reader is evidenced by his argument in the Tristia that the meaning and significance of a poem are ultimately decided by the reader, rather than the poet. This description of the role of the reader invites a review of the reader's role in the Ars Amatoria because the Ars stands out as the only poem in Ovid’s oeuvre that is explicitly presented as a poem with a direct addressee. Ostensibly, the Ars is a didactic poem that offers advice on strategies that the reader can employ to find a lover and maintain a relationship in Rome. However, these lessons on the art of love can be understood as a pretext to draw the reader’s attention to unorthodox perspectives on Roman culture and the Roman city. This Thesis thus contends that Ovid teaches his readers to recognise the open-ended nature of interpretation through his unconventional reinterpretations of the significance of Roman landmarks, well-known myths and, at the structural level, the didactic form.