Transmogrification or Forvandling ?

Within a decade appeared two appraised translations of the Latin poet Ovid's Metamorphoses : the English Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes, and the Danish Ovids forvandlinger by Otto Steen Due. Though in general true to Ovid's text, the two translations are markedly different, reflecting different traditions and different aims. Whereas Hughes centres on stories and their symbolic value, Due is more bent upon transmitting the original perspective and style of the original. In doing this, varied approaches are employed by both translators. Abridgements and additions are made, more or less modernized expressions used, and central issues – such as playfulness – conveyed or reinvented. Still, the substantially different approaches lie beneath and are traced into minor details of description and narration.