AliCorbin reviewed Golden Ass by Sarah Ruden
Review of 'Golden Ass' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Classics book group.
I read it as a collection of stories, sort of an ancestor of the Decameron or the Canterbury Tales, with the barest of plots holding them all in place. But others saw it as a masterful tale of redemption, with Lucius seeing the error of his ways, renouncing vice and embracing virtue, and being rewarded with a return to human form, and wealth and family. I'm not buying it though. The final book felt abrupt and tacked on, as if Apuleius had taken an existing work of ribald tales, ripped off the ending and stitched in one of his own, extolling the joys of religion.
Nancy wondered if the novel was a subversive, and subtle, indictment of slavery, as it was (mostly) put in the mouth of a powerless beast of burden, and showed the abuse heaped upon him and on the slaves around him. I like …
Classics book group.
I read it as a collection of stories, sort of an ancestor of the Decameron or the Canterbury Tales, with the barest of plots holding them all in place. But others saw it as a masterful tale of redemption, with Lucius seeing the error of his ways, renouncing vice and embracing virtue, and being rewarded with a return to human form, and wealth and family. I'm not buying it though. The final book felt abrupt and tacked on, as if Apuleius had taken an existing work of ribald tales, ripped off the ending and stitched in one of his own, extolling the joys of religion.
Nancy wondered if the novel was a subversive, and subtle, indictment of slavery, as it was (mostly) put in the mouth of a powerless beast of burden, and showed the abuse heaped upon him and on the slaves around him. I like this idea, but find it unlikely.