by Apuleius
'The Golden Ass' is one of the earliest intact novels. Along with the more fragmentary 'Satyricon' it is our only significant window into Latin literary prose. The two have very different styles and being the only survivors of a vast canon I can only imagine what was lost and its hard to judge if th...
Bestiality. Kidnapping. Mugging. Ye olde carjacking. Burglary. Assault. Murder. Female paedophiles. Incest. Male rape. Adultery. Animal cruelty. Serial killers in the making. Poisonings.Homosexual priest gangbangs. Shapeshifting. Gods and goddesses. The Seven Deadly Sins. Evil mother-in-laws. Drama....
There are later books than this one that are given as candidates for the first novel, but why anyone would not think that this book is not a novel I can't imagine. It is essentially a picaresque with the main character being turned into an ass and then propelled from one humorously perilous situati...
Quite a different read!We follow the adventures of Lucius after he is turned into a Golden Asse....many moralistic tales written in Middle English.
I'll admit it. I like Robert Graves translations. I think it's because he manages to keep any humour found in them rather then make them just dry translations.If you have no sense of the absurd this book is not for you. Go read the Iliad. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the Iliad. I did! I'm just sayi...
I really enjoyed this earliest of novels right up till the end. The preposterous scenes, the ribald stories, and the beautiful Cupid and Psyche story- it's one of those books that made me grin time after time. I'm sure if I were a better Classics scholar it would be an even richer experience, as the...
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