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Product Description
Product Description
The Golden Ass is a unique, entertaining, and thoroughly readable Latin novel - the only work of fiction in Latin to have survived in its entirety. It tells the story of Lucius, whose curiosity and fascination for sex and magic result in his transformation into an ass. After suffering a series of trials and humiliations, he is ultimately transformed back into human shape by the kindness of the Goddess Isis. Blending romantic adventure, fable, and religious testament, The Golden Ass is one of the truly seminal books of European literature, of intrinsic interest as a novel in its own right, and one of the earliest examples of the picaresque. This new translation is at once faithful to the meaning of the Latin, whilst reproducing all the exuberant gaiety of the original.
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First Sentence
What I should like to do is to weave together different tales in this Milesian mode of story-telling and to stroke your approving ears with some elegant whispers, as long as you don't disdain to run your eye over Egyptian paper inscribed with the sharpened point of a reed from the Nile. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
What I should like to do is to weave together different tales in this Milesian mode of story-telling and to stroke your approving ears with some elegant whispers, as long as you don't disdain to run your eye over Egyptian paper inscribed with the sharpened point of a reed from the Nile. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Written in the C2nd CE, this is the only complete Latin novel which we have. Picaresque in style, it tells the story of Lucius who is so fascinated by magic that he interferes in occult matters and gets turned into a donkey. In his quest to return to his shape as a man, he gets involved in a whole series of other adventures and hears a range of stories from other people on his journey.
With its tales of witches, spells, strange transformations, walking corpses and grave robbers, this is by turns witty, bawdy and often very funny. The central tale of Cupid and Psyche is lovely, but they all contribute to the central philosophical questions posed by the novel: can we ever know the divine, and what is the difference between 'good' and 'bad' knowledge and curiosity?
It is perfectly possible to read this as just a good read and bypass the metaphysical speculations hidden beneath the surface, just as it's possible to read Shakespeare's adoption of Lucius in the Bottom/Titania scenes in A Midsummer Night's Dream as just a comedy routine, but both probe ideas of divine epiphany in interesting ways.
This translation doesn't capture any of the linguistic texture of the Latin original which is full of alliteration, assonance and other devices but, like the other OWC books, contains an excellent introduction, notes and bibliography. Well worth reading whether you're interested in the esoteric or simply in a good story.
With its tales of witches, spells, strange transformations, walking corpses and grave robbers, this is by turns witty, bawdy and often very funny. The central tale of Cupid and Psyche is lovely, but they all contribute to the central philosophical questions posed by the novel: can we ever know the divine, and what is the difference between 'good' and 'bad' knowledge and curiosity?
It is perfectly possible to read this as just a good read and bypass the metaphysical speculations hidden beneath the surface, just as it's possible to read Shakespeare's adoption of Lucius in the Bottom/Titania scenes in A Midsummer Night's Dream as just a comedy routine, but both probe ideas of divine epiphany in interesting ways.
This translation doesn't capture any of the linguistic texture of the Latin original which is full of alliteration, assonance and other devices but, like the other OWC books, contains an excellent introduction, notes and bibliography. Well worth reading whether you're interested in the esoteric or simply in a good story.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
We are very lucky to have Professor Walsh's witty and salty translation of Apuleius' second-century picaresque novel. The only Roman novel to survive the ravages of time in its entirety, the story--also called "Metamorphoses"--tells how a young man of good family, through curiosity about magic and women, becomes transformed into a donkey in both the literal and the figurative senses of the word. The narrative, which abounds with tales within tales within tales that unfold according to the crazy logic of dreams and nightmares, follows Lucius on his adventures in both his human and animal forms, as he wanders the Roman world, seeking the remedy through the goddess Isis, which will allow him to resume his human persona.
During the course of Lucius' asinine adventures, which he likens to an Odyssey-gone-wrong, he encounters all manner of characters, including witches, robbers, and pretty women, who either threaten him, or lead him down false paths, deterring him from reaching his final destination. Then, in the midst of the violence of one of the robber's tales, Apuleius inserts the romance of Cupid and Psyche, an enchanting metaphor that reflects Lucius' own curiosity.
Apuleius' novel is more than an entertainment, however; despite the story's fantastic framework, it lends us insight into the customs, beliefs, superstitions, rituals, and the stories that entertained upper class readers of the Roman Empire (Apuleius was a well-to-do Roman citizen of North Africa, who studied rhetoric in both Carthage and Athens). The very survival of the text in its entirety testifies to its readability. Indeed, the novel, which will often have one laughing out loud, has delighted readers through the ages, influencing the narratives of Boccaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare and the art of the Pre-Raphaelites, as well as tickling the imagination of us ordinary mortals who appreciate reading one good story after another.
During the course of Lucius' asinine adventures, which he likens to an Odyssey-gone-wrong, he encounters all manner of characters, including witches, robbers, and pretty women, who either threaten him, or lead him down false paths, deterring him from reaching his final destination. Then, in the midst of the violence of one of the robber's tales, Apuleius inserts the romance of Cupid and Psyche, an enchanting metaphor that reflects Lucius' own curiosity.
Apuleius' novel is more than an entertainment, however; despite the story's fantastic framework, it lends us insight into the customs, beliefs, superstitions, rituals, and the stories that entertained upper class readers of the Roman Empire (Apuleius was a well-to-do Roman citizen of North Africa, who studied rhetoric in both Carthage and Athens). The very survival of the text in its entirety testifies to its readability. Indeed, the novel, which will often have one laughing out loud, has delighted readers through the ages, influencing the narratives of Boccaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare and the art of the Pre-Raphaelites, as well as tickling the imagination of us ordinary mortals who appreciate reading one good story after another.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It depends what you want. There's a long and interesting and dense introduction, I'm sure the translation is very accurate, and the notes erudite. I saw a criticism of the Robert Graves translation because of the liberties which he took with the text. But Robert Graves was a much better story teller - so if you want authenticity then this is the version, if you want a ripping good yarn go for the Robert Graves translation. Me, I prefer the ripping good yarn. But I'm glad I got this.
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