Apuleius and Drama
The Ass on Stage
Published on 7. December 2006
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-19-920292-8 (ISBN)
Description
Regine May discusses the use of drama as an intertext in the work of the 2nd century Latin author Apuleius, who wrote the only complete extant Latin novel, the Metamorphoses, in which a young man is turned into a donkey by magic. Apuleius uses drama, especially comedy, as a basic underlying texture, and invites his readers to use their knowledge of contemporary drama in interpreting the fate of his protagonist and the often comic or tragic situations in which he finds himself. May employs a close study of the Latin text and detailed comparison with the corpus of dramatic texts from antiquity, as well as discussion of stock features of ancient drama, especially of comedy, in order to explain some features of the novel which have so far baffled Apuleian scholarship, including the enigmatic ending. All Latin and Greek has been translated into English.
Reviews / Votes
Regine May shows in her book an excellent knowledge of Apuleius' writings, Roman literature in general, and a rich field of secondary literature. * Eva Stehlikova, Listy Filologicke03/11/2009 * May's thorough study does much to ground Apuleius in the intellectual world of the Second Sophistic and draws welcome attention to the many dramatic intertexts, especially within the Metamorphoses. * Niall W. Slater, Scholia * May's merit is to have made a detailed survey and to have extended the intertextual analysis to the genre of mime * Lucia Pasetti, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * "May has raised a number of issues, not least of which is the way we define Greco-Roman drama in general and evaluate New Comedy in particular. May reinforces the case that Apuleius both confirms and confounds the roles of an apparently familiar stage cast of comic, farcical, tragic and paratragic characters. It is testament to the excellence of May's book that Apuleian scholars will dwell and draw upon her methodology and her conclusions in the continuing conversations they conduct and publish upon the Metamorphoses." * Paula James, The Open University * Regine May has produced a fine monograph, impressive in its data and conclusions alike. * Sonia Sabnis, Hermanthena *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
757 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-920292-8 (9780199202928)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Regine May is Fellow and Tutor in Classical Languages and Literature at Merton College, University of Oxford.
Content
1. Introduction ; 2. Knowledge of Drama and Archaism in the Second Century ; 3. Drama, Philosophy, and Rhetoric: Apuleius' Minor Works ; 4. Courtroom Drama: Apuleius' Apologia ; 5. The Texture of the Metamorphoses ; 6. The Drama of Aristomenes and Socrates ; 7. A Parasite in a Comic Household ; 8. The Risus Festival: Laughing at Laughter ; 9. Cupid and Psyche: A Divine Comedy ; 10. Charite: How Comedies Do Not End ; 11. 'Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light': Book 10 ; 12. The End: Isis: Dea ex machina? ; 13. Conclusion