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"Apuleius's The Golden Ass
is a unique, entertaining, and thoroughly readable Latin novel--the only work of fiction in Latin to have survived from antiquity. It tells the story of the hero Lucius, whose curiosity and fascination for sex and magic results in his transformation into an ass. After suffering a series of trials and humiliations, he is ultimately returned to human shape by the kindness of the goddess Isis. Simultaneously a blend of romantic adventure, fable, and religious testament, The Golden Ass is one of the truly seminal works of European literature, of intrinsic interest as a novel in its own right, and one of the earliest examples of the picaresque." (Description from Amazon.com)I'm not a connoisseur of ancient literature, but I had fun with this one! Many stories were ribald and silly, but many were familiar myths that were cool to read in the context of this larger piece of work. There were even some good lessons in ethics given in a manner reminiscent of Aesop's Fables.
Because I know I have trouble sticking to things like this, I decided to tackle it via DailyLit. That turned out to be an excellent plan! The style of multiple embedded narratives (remember "embedded narratives" from our Class Notes?) made this a perfect candidate for those bite-size chunks of morning reading before work.
9 comments:
This sounds great.
I've read books with dailyreader.net but I hadn't heard of DailyLit. They have a lot more choices!! Thanks for the headsup.
Lezlie, I reviewed this in January on my blog and was happy to see another blog review of it here. Such an entertaining piece of work!
I'm also doing the Art History Challenge with you, which is how I found your blog, but I'm running behind on that one. Anyway, happy reading to you!
Rebecca ~ Sure thing! I really liked Daily Lit, though I'm afraid if I read a long work in that manner I'd forget what was going on. :-)
Lezlie
This one sounds great in chunks. DailyLit was a great idea! I think I'd like to read it, too.
Richard ~ Hello! Thanks for dropping by! The Art History Challenge has been an interesting change of pace for me. I have a nonfiction title on hold at the library to add a different dimension. It will be fun to see what you choose for that one!
Lezlie
Andi ~ This kind of book is just the thing for Daily Lit. I hope you enjoy it if you read it!
Lezlie
Not really my thing DailyLit (I've tried this btw and got tired of waiting each day once I got into it lol) or otherwise but I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I've been curious about this for so long! Especially because it's the first written source for the story of Cupid and Psyche, which is one of my favourite myths. Thanks for pointing out it's available via DailyLit!
Ladytink ~ There is an option at the end of each installment where you can opt to have the next installment sent to you immediately, which I did once or twice. But if I was really into the book, Daily Lit wouldn't be my first choice of reading options. :-)
Nymeth ~ That was one of the best stories in there!
Lezlie
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