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Title: The Golden Ass: The Transformations of Lucius by Robert Graves ISBN: 0-374-50532-2 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 31 August, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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: 4
Summary: a fantastic four-footed fable.
Comment: I thought only cats were supposed to have nine lives, but this donkey has at least that many. This book is great fun, I couldn't put it down for too long, and it is incredible that something written so long ago (18 centuries?) can be so accessible, captivating, and hilarious to a modern reader. The events in The Golden Ass resemble the ribald, bawdy exuberance of the Decameron, and no doubt Boccaccio was somewhat inspired by the writings of Apuleius. According to the introduction, the adjective "golden" in the title implies "the ass par excellence" or "the best of all stories about an ass." The story follows the misadventures of Lucius, an enterprising young man who gets far too close to the world of magic, is transformed into a donkey and is constantly thwarted in his attempt to procure the antidote to his assness. It's human mind trapped in donkey bawdy! Totally imaginative, classically written, hilarious fun. As a writer, Apuleius was MILLENNIUMS ahead of his time! (Note: my review is based on the Robert Graves translation, rather than the William Adlington).
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: The Aeneid (Vintage Classics) by ROBERT FITZGERALD ISBN: 0679729526 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 16 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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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 World of Rome : An Introduction to Roman Culture by Peter V. Jones, Keith C. Sidwell ISBN: 0521386004 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 06 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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