Actions for Apuleius' invisible ass : encounters with the unseen in the metamorphoses

Email RIS file
Bookmark
Report an Issue

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

Author
Benson, Geoffrey C.
Published
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Physical Description
1 online resource (xi, 299 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
Access Online

Availability

I Want It
I Want It

Finding items...

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.
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.
Subject(s)
ISBN
9781108602501 (ebook)
9781108475556 (hardback)
9781108468657 (paperback)
Note
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 May 2019).
View MARC record | catkey: 34828842