The Golden Ass: The Transformations of Lucius - Softcover

Apuleius

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0374505322 ISBN 13: 9780374505325

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998

Synopsis

In all of literature, there are few books with the vitality of The Golden Ass. The story follows Lucius, a young man of good birth, as he disports himself in the cities and along the roads of Thessaly. This is a wonderful tale abounding in lusty incident, curious adventure and bawdy wit.

Robert Graves (1895-1985) was a British poet, novelist, translator, and critic. His many books include the historical novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, the autobiography Good-bye to All That, and the mythic/literary studies The White Goddess and The Greek Myths.

In all of literature there are few books with the vitality of The Golden Ass. Boccaccio borrowed freely from it; and later it served both to amuse and to instruct Cervantes, Fielding, and Smollett. T. E. Lawrence carried it in his saddlebags all through the Arab Revolt, and it was Lawrence who first introduced the book to his friend Robert Graves.

The story is about Lucius Apuleius, a young man of good birth, who, while disporting himself in the cities and along the roads of Thessaly, encountered many diverting and strange adventures. Not the least of these was that Apuleius suffered the indignity of being turned into an ass after trying to steal a sorceress's magic. How Apuleius supported his misfortune and how he contrived to dedicate himself to the one goddess who could help him resume his human form make up the body of this tale. The Golden Ass is rich in lusty incident, curious adventure, and bawdy wit.

"Robert Graves' translation abandons the aureate latinity of Apuleius for a dry, sharp, plain style—which is itself a small masterpiece of twentieth-century prose."—Kenneth Rexroth, Saturday Review

About this title

About the Author

Robert Graves (1895-1985) was a poet, novelist, and translator.

Review

"An execllent introduction and an accurate...translation."--Jim Williams, SUNY at Genesco

"This translation deserves the highest praise. It is idiomatic whenever possible, clear and effective throughout; I am more impressed with it than with three others that I have sampled. The introduction is informative and balanced in judgment."--Philip F. O'Mara, Bridgewater College

"This is a good edition. The translation flows, the introduction is thorough."--Richard Mason, George Mason University

"[A] fresh, funny, evocative translation that captures Apuleius at his most uncanny."--W. Gardern Campbell, Mary washington College

"Walsh's new rendering--which on every page, improves upon the commonly used and dated translations of Jack Lindsay and Robert Graves--appears at a time when this ever popular novel is even more greatly appreciated by social historians for the window it provides on provincial life among real imperial subjects in the second century CE. This edition is enhanced by an excellent introduction, a select bibliography, explanatory notes, and an index and glossary of names....It should quickly become the obvious choice for Latin-less readers."--Religious Studies Review6R

"This translation is literal enough to come to a scholar's aid, and at the same time scholarly enough to use without embarrassment."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"P.G. Walsh has given us an excellent translation, contemporary without being too trendy, as well as a superb introduction that gives the historical, philosophical, and religious background of the work....Oxford's World's Classics has done it again, has produced a useful edition and superior translation of a work that has needed it for several generations."--CAES Newsletter

"Splendid volume, living up to the scholarly accuracy that makes the World's Classics series."--Professor John R. Lenz, Drew University

"OUP's decision to commission a new translation of Apuleius' novel by a scholar who has made a significant contribution to Apuleian studies is a welcome move. This is without doubt the translation I would prescribe for students studying the work in English."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"The best scholarly introduction and notes among the currently available paperback editions and a very high standard of accuracy in representing the Latin original."--Professor Robert Lamberton, Washington University

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374505322
• ISBN 13: 9780374505325
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 294