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Title: The Golden Ass by Apuleius, P. G. Walsh, Richard Hunter ISBN: 0-19-814932-8 Publisher: Clarendon Pr Pub. Date: June, 1994 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $58.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.82 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Amazing, Timeless
Comment: I really loved this book and have recommended it to many (unfortunately none have taken me up on it). I had to read this for my History of Western Civilization class in college. I thought it was going to be boring and dry, but soon found myself consumed by it. It's hilarious, fast-paced, romantic and thought provoking. What impressed me most was that a person of today can easily relate to the way Apuleius thinks and acts. I had always imagined Greeks walking around in togas endlessly philosiphizing in white marble temples, but here we are presented with the how similar our thoughts and daily activities are to how theirs were. It allowed me to see historical figures in a new way. I think that being able to laugh (heartily) at the same jokes is indicative of how alike our minds are to theirs. Again I recommend this to everyone.
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.
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!"
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Title: Metamorphoses (Oxford World's Classics) by Ovid, A. D. Melville, E. J. Kenney ISBN: 019283472X Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: 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: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, Robert Graves, Michael Grant, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus ISBN: 0140449213 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Tacitus: The Annals of Imperial Rome by Cornelius Tacitus, Michael Grant ISBN: 0140440607 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: June, 1956 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Aeneid by Virgil, ROBERT FITZGERALD ISBN: 0679729526 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 16 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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