The Golden Ass

About this book

With accuracy wit and intelligence this remarkable new translation of The Golden Ass breathes new life into Apuleiuss classic work. Sarah Ruden a lyric poet as well as a highly respected translator skillfully duplicates the verbal high jinks of Apuleiuss ever-popular novel. It tells the story of Lucius a curious and silly young man who is turned into a donkey when he meddles with witchcraft. Doomed to wander from region to region and mistreated by a series of deplorable owners Lucius at last is restored to human form with the help of the goddess Isis.The Golden Ass the first Latin novel to survive in its entirety is related to the Second Sophistic a movement of learned and inventive literature. In a translation that is both the most faithful and the most entertaining to date Ruden reveals to modern readers the vivid farcical ingenuity of Apuleiuss style.