Apuleius' invisible ass : encounters with the unseen in the metamorphoses / Geoffrey C. Benson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benson, Geoffrey C., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Apuleius. Metamorphoses.

Apuleius.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 299 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Apuleius' Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass), a masterpiece of Latin literature from the second century AD, still captivates modern readers with its combination of asininity and mysticism. In the novel, a young man named Lucius tells how he accidentally turns into a donkey and then describes how he regains human form with the help of the Egyptian goddess Isis, into whose cult he is initiated. This book argues that invisibility is one of the central motifs in the Metamorphoses and, in the process, presents a new interpretation of Apuleius' novel as a visionary, esoteric text. It contributes both to the study of the subtle relationship between literature and Platonic philosophy and to the cultural history of invisibility in classical antiquity and beyond.

Contents:

Introduction: uncovering the unseen in Apuleius

Apuleius' daemonic voice

Invisible man: Lucius, Gyges, and the ethics of the metamorphoses

Invisibility and the structure of reality in Cupid and Psyche

Scattered limbs and gleaming bones: the symbolism and metaphysics of fragmented bodies in the metamorphoses

Apprehending the Egyptian gods: focalization and mysticism in book 11

The power of the metamorphoses.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 May 2019).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-58764-X

1-108-62137-6

1-108-60250-9