The Golden Ass
Ratings10
Average rating3.8
Conceived at the zenith of the Roman Empire, Apuleius’s The Golden Ass—a bawdy, comic romp centered on a man-turned-animal—is the only ancient work of fiction in Latin that survives in its entirety. In playful, evocative prose, the novel recounts the travails of Lucius, a young man whose insatiable fascination with the occult results in his accidental transformation into an ass. So entrapped, Lucius embarks on a hair-raising and at times outrageous adventure, encountering sadistic thieves who beat him mercilessly and plot to throw him over a cliff; a miller who works his human and animal slaves to death (until his wife, caught in an act of adultery, resorts to magic to bring him down); a noblewoman who fancies him; poverty-stricken merchants and a Roman soldier; and finally, the Egyptian goddess Isis. Peter Singer, the world-renowned philosopher and author of Animal Liberation, was initially drawn to The Golden Ass by virtue of its historically significant early portrayal of the life of an abused animal. He was soon stunned to discover that what is arguably the first surviving novel is now little known and even less read. Realizing that Apuleius’s tale in its original form is far too complex, Singer decided to streamline it. Assisted by Apuleius scholar Ellen Finkelpearl—who provides a fresh, modern translation, expertly mirroring the florid style of the original—Singer deftly prunes away the many digressions from the main narrative, and in so doing, uncovers the still-beating heart of the text: the highs and lows in the life of an ass, as seen and experienced by the irrepressible Lucius. Featuring delightful new illustrations drawn by the prize-winning artists Anna and Varvara Kendel, this newly-rendered edition brilliantly reintroduces a forgotten classic. Whether interested in tales of animals, magic, or life in Roman times, readers will be charmed by the hilarious and risqué misadventures of Lucius—before, during, and after becoming a donkey.
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The Golden Ass was listed in my 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die book so I figured I give it a chance and...I really enjoyed it. Apart from it being recommended by that book my East Asian Literature professor also suggested it after I told her I enjoyed Kafka's Metamorphosis.
What really surprised me about this book is how smooth and easy it is to read. For something that was written so long ago, the language used is very accessible to modern readers (of course it might help that it's a translation...). I didn't get deep into analyzing this book but I did notice some outstanding themes about infidelity and religion.
The book barely focused on the main character and was more a collection of short stories a la Arabian Nights. I think this fact helped me enjoy the book because it's impossible to get bored when there are so many different plotlines. My only complaint about the short stories is that a good deal of them seemed to be about the wickedness of women (some main female characters are evil as well) and I questioned the author's fixated hatred of my gender.
My favorite part of the book is Lucius's journey as a donkey. It was interesting to see an animal's fate from that animal's eyes. He gets tossed around from owner to owner and some are cruel and some are kind. I even got a little emotional when he was being abused by one of his owners (stupid kid!) There's even bestiality which I think was supposed to be some kind of social commentary but since I wasn't analyzing...it just kinda creeped me out. (I think the message was basically “rich people be crazy”).
The ending of this book seemed, at first, out of place and clumsy to me. Then I realized “ohhh this was the point of the whole book.” Religion doesn't get a whole lot of mention until the final chapters where it's all Lucius cares about. At first I was annoyed by a “religion solves everything” ending but then I realized this is ancient religion we're talking about and the mythos aspect became interesting to me. I liked how the Goddess mentioned all her different names in different cultures and how the Egyptian name was her true name. I've never heard it explained that way and I thought that was clever (as in, all cultures believe in her but some just call her the wrong name).
All in all, this was a pretty easy and enjoyable read. I'm glad I read it for pleasure and not for school however because it's very dense. I am a little curious to the meaning of some parts so I might just ask my friend google what the scholars are saying.
