HNAR-309: Shapeshifting: Morph Lit

We are metamorphic beings. From conception to death, we, like all things animate and inanimate, are in a constant state of change. It's no wonder, then, that states of change-call it shape-shifting, metamorphoses, transformation, or choose your own term-are reflected in the human imagination, from our earliest records through to contemporary story-telling. In the European canon, this fascination with change is recorded in the Greek poets Homer and Hesiod; the Roman poet Ovid; the Medieval poet Dante; Mary Shelly in the 19th century; and moves forward in history to the early 20th century through the works of Franz Kafka, and Amos Tutuola, and Margarita Karapanou; and the late 20th century and into the 21st in the works of Hayao Miyazaki, among many, many others Ovid thought shape-shifting so important that he titled his compendium of Greek Mythology The Metamorphoses and that's where this course will start. We'll backtrack briefly to Homer and Hesiod and then make several stops through history to delve into an array of stories that feature shape-shifting as crucial elements.