Název: Improved ass? : Apuleius' metamorphoses in his novel Metamorphoses
Zdrojový dokument: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2016, roč. 21, č. 2, s. 215-228
Rozsah
215-228
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Trvalý odkaz (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2016-2-16
Trvalý odkaz (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/136237
Type: Článek
Jazyk
Licence: Neurčená licence
Upozornění: Tyto citace jsou generovány automaticky. Nemusí být zcela správně podle citačních pravidel.
Abstrakt(y)
Apuleius' novel Metamorphoses has always been open to various and often contradictory interpretations by scholars. One of the most discussed issues has been the novel's division into two seemingly dissimilar parts – the first ten books containing frivolous stories with comical elements and Book XI (also called the Isis-Book) written in a more serious tone and considered to be conveying a religious or, at least, moral message. The authors of the present paper argue against such a simplified assumption and regard the dividing line between the two parts as a mere illusion. This opinion derives from the figure of the main protagonist, Lucius, who in the last book undergoes a religious initiation into the cult of Isis. The aim of the paper is to show that, although he is finally re-transformed into human shape and even lives a prosperous life afterwards, inside he undergoes no inner change whatsoever and remains the same "ass" as in the beginning of the story, i.e. he is not improved in the end. This rules out the possibility that the novel conveyed any deeper religious message and rather points to another interpretation, namely that Apuleius wrote the novel for an educated readership in the spirit of Platonic dialogues. The authors are therefore convinced that the novel can be fully enjoyed only after a scrupulous and thoughtful reading.
eng
Reference
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[28] Slater, N. W. (2003). Spectator and Spectacle in Apuleius. In S. Panayotakis, Z. Zimmerman, & W. Keulen (Eds.), The Ancient Novel and Beyond (pp. 85‒100). Leiden: Brill.
[29] Smith, W. S. (1972). The narrative voice in Apuleius' Metamorphoses. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 103, 513‒534. | DOI 10.2307/2935991
[30] Smith, W. S. (1994). Style and character in The Golden Ass: suddenly an opposite appearance. In H. Temporini (Ed.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung (II.34.2., pp. 1575‒1599). Berlin: De Gruyter.
[31] Smith, W. S. (2012). An Author Intrudes into His Narratives: Lucius ‘Becomes' Apuleius. In W. Keulen, & U. Egelhaaf-Gaiser (Eds.), Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass. A Collection of Original Papers. Volume III: The Isis-Book (pp. 202‒219). Leiden‒Boston: Brill.
[32] Swain, S. (2001). The Hiding Author: Context and Implication. In A. Kahane, & A. Laird (Eds.), A Companion to the Prologue of Apuleius' Metamorphoses (pp. 55‒63). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[33] Swain, S. (2007). Polemon's Physiognomy. In S. Swain (Ed.), Seeing the Face, Seeing the Soul: Polemon's Physiognomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam (pp. 125‒201). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[34] Tatum, J. (1982). Apuleius. In T. J. Luce (Ed.), Ancient Writers: Greece and Rome (pp. 1099‒1116). New York: Scribner.
[35] Tilg, S. (2014). Apuleius' Metamorphoses. A Study in Roman Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[36] Van der Stockt, L. (2012). Plutarch and Apuleius. Laborious Routes to Isis. In W. Keulen, & U. Egelhaaf-Gaiser (Eds.), Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass. A Collection of Original Papers. Volume III: The Isis-Book (pp. 168‒182). Leiden‒Boston: Brill.
[37] Van Oudendorp, F. (1786). Apuleii Opera Omnia I: Metamorphoseon Libri XI. Leiden: van der Eyk en Vygh.
[38] Winkler, J. J. (1985). Auctor & Actor. A Narratological Reading of Apuleius' The Golden Ass. Berkeley et al.: University of California Press.
[39] Wittmann, W. (1938). Das Isisbuch des Apuleius. Untersuchungen zur Geistesgeschichte des 2. Jahrhunderts (Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Geistesgeschichte, 12; originally Univ. Berlin, Diss. 1937). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
[2] Bradley, K. (2012). Apuleius and Antonine Rome: Historical Essays. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
[3] Coarelli, F. (1989). Apuleio a Ostia? Dialoghi di Archeologia, 7, 27‒42.
[4] Dowden, K. (2006). A Tale of Two Texts: Apuleius' sermo Milesius and Plato's Symposium. In W. H. Keulen, R. R. Nauta, & S. Panayotakis (Eds.), Lectiones Scrupulosae. Essays on the Text and Interpretation of Apuleius' Metamorphoses in Honour of Maaike Zimmerman (Ancient Narrative, Suppl. 6; pp. 42‒58). Groningen: Barkhuis.
[5] Evans, E. C. (1941). The Study of Physiognomy in the Second Century A.D. Transactions and Proceedings of American Philological Association, 72, 96‒108.
[6] Finkelpearl, E. (2004). The Ends of the Metamorphoses (Apuleius' Metamorphoses 11.26‒11.30). In M. Zimmerman, & R. van der Paardt (Eds.), Metamorphic Reflections: Essays Presented to Ben Hijmans at his 75th Birthday (pp. 319‒342). Leuven: Peeters.
[7] Finkelpearl, E. (2012). Egyptian Religion in Met. 11 and Plutarch's DIO: Culture, Philosophy, and the Ineffable. In W. Keulen, & U. Egelhaaf-Gaiser (Eds.), Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass. A Collection of Original Papers. Volume III: The Isis-Book (pp. 183‒201). Leiden‒Boston: Brill.
[8] Foerster, R. (Ed.). (1893). Scriptores physiognomonici graeci et latini (2 vols.). Leipzig: Teubner.
[9] Gianotti, G. F. (1986). Romanzo e ideologia. Studi sulle Metamorfosi di Apuleio. Naples: Liguori.
[10] Graverini, L. (2005). A Booklike Self. Ovid and Apuleius. In D. Nelis (Ed.), Aetas Ovidiana? (Hermathena, 177‒178, 2004‒2005; pp. 225‒250). Dublin: University of Dublin.
[11] Graverini, L. (2006). An Old Wife's Tale. In W. H. Keulen, R. R. Nauta, & S. Panayotakis (Eds.), Lectiones Scrupulosae. Essays on the Text and Interpretation of Apuleius' Metamorphoses in Honour of Maaike Zimmerman (Ancient Narrative, Suppl. 6; pp. 86‒110). Groningen: Barkhuis.
[12] Graverini, L. (2012a). Prudentia and Providentia: Book XI in Context. In W. Keulen, & U. Egelhaaf-Gaiser (Eds.), Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass. A Collection of Original Papers. Volume III: The Isis-Book (pp. 86‒106). Leiden‒Boston: Brill.
[13] Graverini, L. (2012b). Literature and Identity in the Golden Ass of Apuleius (Transl. B. T. Lee). Columbus: The Ohio State University Press.
[14] Griffiths, J. G. (Ed.). (1975). Apuleius of Madauros. The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI). Leiden: Brill.
[15] Harrison, S. J. (1990). The Speaking Book: The Prologue to Apuleius' Metamorphoses. The Classical Quarterly, 40(2), 507‒513. | DOI 10.1017/S000983880004307X
[16] Harrison, S. J. (2000). Apuleius: A Latin Sophist. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[17] Helm, R. (Ed.). (2001). Apuleius: Metamorphoseon Libri XI. (3. ed.; Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana). Monachii et Lipsiae: K. G. Saur.
[18] Hildebrand, G. F. (1842). (Ed.). L. Apuleii Opera Omnia. Vol. 1: Prolegomena et Metamorphoseon libros contingens. Leipzig: Teubner.
[19] Keulen, W. H. (2006). Ad amussim congruentia: Measuring the Intellectual in Apuleius. In W. H. Keulen, R. R. Nauta, & S. Panayotakis (Eds.), Lectiones Scrupulosae. Essays on the Text and Interpretation of Apuleius' Metamorphoses in Honour of Maaike Zimmerman (Ancient Narrative, Suppl. 6; pp. 168‒202). Groningen: Barkhuis.
[20] Keulen, W. H. (2015). Lubrico virentis aetatulae: Lucius as Initiate (Metamorphoses Book XI). In S. Harrison (Ed.), Characterization in Apuleius' Metamorphoses: Nine Studies (pp. 29‒55). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
[21] Laes, Ch., Goodey, C. F., & Rose, M. L. (2013). Approaching Disabilities a capite ad calcem: Hidden Themes in Roman Antiquity. In Ch. Laes, C. F. Goodey, & M. L. Rose (Eds.), Disabilities in Roman Antiquity: disparate bodies a capite ad calcem (Mnemosyne Supplements, 356, pp. 1‒15). Leiden: Brill.
[22] Lee, B. J., Finkelpearl, E., & Graverini, L. (2014). Apuleius and Africa. New York‒London: Routledge.
[23] Murgatroyd, P. (2004). The ending of Apuleius' Metamorphoses. The Classical Quarterly, 54, 319‒321. | DOI 10.1093/cq/54.1.319
[24] Perry, B. E. (1967). The Ancient Romances: A Literary-Historical Account of their Origins. Berkeley–Los Angeles: University of California Press.
[25] Relihan, J. C. (2007). Introduction: The Whole vs. the Parts. In Apuleius. The Golden Ass: Or, A Book of Changes (pp. xxvi‒xxxi). Indianapolis‒Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company.
[26] Rohde, E. (1885). Zu Apuleius. Rheinisches Museum, 40, 66‒113.
[27] Riess, W. (2008). Paideia at Play: Learning and Wit in Apuleius. Groningen: Barkhuis.
[28] Slater, N. W. (2003). Spectator and Spectacle in Apuleius. In S. Panayotakis, Z. Zimmerman, & W. Keulen (Eds.), The Ancient Novel and Beyond (pp. 85‒100). Leiden: Brill.
[29] Smith, W. S. (1972). The narrative voice in Apuleius' Metamorphoses. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 103, 513‒534. | DOI 10.2307/2935991
[30] Smith, W. S. (1994). Style and character in The Golden Ass: suddenly an opposite appearance. In H. Temporini (Ed.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung (II.34.2., pp. 1575‒1599). Berlin: De Gruyter.
[31] Smith, W. S. (2012). An Author Intrudes into His Narratives: Lucius ‘Becomes' Apuleius. In W. Keulen, & U. Egelhaaf-Gaiser (Eds.), Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass. A Collection of Original Papers. Volume III: The Isis-Book (pp. 202‒219). Leiden‒Boston: Brill.
[32] Swain, S. (2001). The Hiding Author: Context and Implication. In A. Kahane, & A. Laird (Eds.), A Companion to the Prologue of Apuleius' Metamorphoses (pp. 55‒63). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[33] Swain, S. (2007). Polemon's Physiognomy. In S. Swain (Ed.), Seeing the Face, Seeing the Soul: Polemon's Physiognomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam (pp. 125‒201). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[34] Tatum, J. (1982). Apuleius. In T. J. Luce (Ed.), Ancient Writers: Greece and Rome (pp. 1099‒1116). New York: Scribner.
[35] Tilg, S. (2014). Apuleius' Metamorphoses. A Study in Roman Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[36] Van der Stockt, L. (2012). Plutarch and Apuleius. Laborious Routes to Isis. In W. Keulen, & U. Egelhaaf-Gaiser (Eds.), Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass. A Collection of Original Papers. Volume III: The Isis-Book (pp. 168‒182). Leiden‒Boston: Brill.
[37] Van Oudendorp, F. (1786). Apuleii Opera Omnia I: Metamorphoseon Libri XI. Leiden: van der Eyk en Vygh.
[38] Winkler, J. J. (1985). Auctor & Actor. A Narratological Reading of Apuleius' The Golden Ass. Berkeley et al.: University of California Press.
[39] Wittmann, W. (1938). Das Isisbuch des Apuleius. Untersuchungen zur Geistesgeschichte des 2. Jahrhunderts (Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Geistesgeschichte, 12; originally Univ. Berlin, Diss. 1937). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.