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Title: The Golden Ass by Apuleius, Michael Grant, Robert Graves ISBN: 0-14-044524-2 Publisher: Penguin USA (P) Pub. Date: 01 April, 1990 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.82 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Four Gold Stars for the Golden Ass
Comment: I consider myself a connosieur of the classics, so when I heard of an ancient novel concerned with sex, illicit sex, and illicit donkey sex, I decided to take a closer look.
And I'm glad that I did. At the back end of the classical Western literary tradition of silliness, which includes such hallowed humorists as Chaucer, Bocaccio, Rabelais, Cervantes, and, in its divine form, Shakespeare, we find the one tale that may have excited them all--Lucius Apuleius's Golden Ass.
The Golden Ass is filled with adventure, suspense, humor, and nonsense. I had a grin on my face most of the way through, and I got the feeling that the author did too. Tip o' the hat to Robert Graves for delivering an authentic translation that brings us Apuleius in his bawdy best.
The only thing I found occasionally irritating was that, like Cervantes, Apuleius has a tendency to digress. Big time. He inserts the entire myth of Cupid and Psyche right into the middle of the narrative, for example. Does this add to the mythological message of the whole? Probably, but it subtracts from the fantastic flow of the story. My urgent plea to Apuleius, were he alive today, would be, "Stick to the ass!"
There are a number of reasons that traditionally bring people to this book: to study Classical Rome, classic literature, mythology, psychology... maybe you're curious about the intimate lives of donkeys. Whatever has brought you to this novel, now that you're going to read it, perhaps the best thing to do is to take the advice of the author himself, who says, "Read on and enjoy yourself!"
Rating: 5
Summary: Definitely not a pain in the ass...
Comment: I read The Golden Ass for a Classic art course I took while at university I loved it! It is fun, entertaining and comical- not your typical dry Roman read. It is a great story and a great look into history.I highly recommend this tale to anyone who not wants to laugh but is interested in an important text from antiquity.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Read
Comment: This is an extremely fun read. It flows beautifully, and will keep you turning the pages. It also is valuable historically because it offers some insight into the lives of the lower classes, which tended to be ignored by Roman historians such as Tacitus or Dio Cassius.
However, one word of warning - while the Graves translation is very enjoyable and easy to read, my Roman History prof said that it was not a particularly loyal translation. So, if that matters to you, you may want to look elsewhere - but I doubt any other translation will read as well as this one.
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Title: Metamorphoses (Oxford World's Classics) by Ovid, A. D. Melville, E. J. Kenney ISBN: 019283472X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: The Satyricon (Oxford World's Classics) by Petronius, P. G. Walsh ISBN: 0192839527 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Tacitus: The Annals of Imperial Rome (Penguin Classics) by Cornelius Tacitus ISBN: 0140440607 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1956 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics) by Suetonius, Robert Graves, Michael Grant, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus ISBN: 0140449213 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Aeneid (Vintage Classics) by Virgil ISBN: 0679729526 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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