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The Golden Ass

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About this listen

"In this hapless state I looked myself over and saw that I was now no bird, but an ass...."

In this ancient picaresque adventure, Lucius, an insatiably curious young man, finds himself transformed into a donkey after his fascination with black magic and witchcraft goes awry. While trapped in his new body, he becomes the property of thieves, farmers, cooks, soldiers, and priests, and observes the hypocrisy and ineptitude of Imperial Roman society. The Golden Ass is considered the only novel to survive the Roman period, and the earliest novel to survive complete in the Western literary tradition. It is brimming with slapstick humor and sexual escapades, and foreshadows later works by Boccaccio, Rabelais, Cervantes, and Chaucer, upon whom it was a direct influence.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1998, 2004 Translation copyright, E.J. Kenney (P)2017 Naxos AudioBooks Action & Adventure Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Magic Witchcraft Witty Survival Greek Classics
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David Timson was perfect as Lucius - very, very funny. This audio book is a wonderful way to experience Apuleius. Highly recommended

Just like Monty Python

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A very enjoyable and amusing story about human frailty, how humans treat each other and how we treat animals.

Great classic, excellent translation, superbly performed

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A super translation and reading of a very entertaining and amusing story. It also gives a fascinating insight into Roman daily life and religion. Highly recommended.

Wonderful!

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Both writing and acting are over egged. But still this is entertaining and very interesting for historical perspective. Incredibly good translation by the way.

Interesting and entertaining

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Very good performance from David Timson. I hadn't come across the story before, but decided if had survived a couple of thousand years then it was likely worth a listen.

Interesting background on pagan Roman times, mystery cults and attitudes. I also thought that this story had probably influenced many more modern classics (Chaucer's tales, Tolstoy's Холстомер, Franz Kafka Die Verwandlung probably many others etc)

Excellent

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