Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Transformation Narratives in Contemporary Nigerian Fiction

Ovid's Metamorphoses, with its vast exploration of bodily transformation as a metaphor for identity change, social rupture, and divine agency, offers a rich framework for reading transformation narratives in contemporary Nigerian fiction. This study examines the structural and thematic presence of Ovidian transformation motifs in selected Nigerian novels from 2015 to 2023. A comparative literary analysis was adopted, applying Ovidian transformation typologies (divine punishment, divine reward, self-transformation, and metamorphic love) to close readings of five Nigerian novels, including works by Nnedi Okofor, Helen Oyeyemi, and Seun Afolabi. The analysis explores how Nigerian authors deploy metamorphic narratives to address themes of identity fluidity, colonial legacy, gender transformation, and spiritual syncretism. Findings reveal that transformation narratives in the selected works operate on both a literal-mythological level and a metaphorical-social level, paralleling Ovid's own dual register. Transformation as spiritual possession, common in Yoruba and Igbo cosmology, creates an indigenous variant of Ovidian transformation that is simultaneously culturally specific and structurally Ovidian. Women's bodily transformation in response to patriarchal violence is the most prominent theme, echoing Ovidian narratives such as those of Daphne and Philomela. The study concludes that Ovidian transformation theory provides a generative critical framework for Nigerian literary studies and recommends its application in contemporary African literature courses.

Keywords: Ovid, Metamorphoses, transformation narratives, Nigerian fiction, classical reception