The Golden Ass: Or, A Book of Changes

by Apuleius

Overview

Relihan uses alliteration and assonance, rhythm and rhyme, the occasional archaism, the rare neologism, and devices of punctuation and typography, to create a sparkling, luxurious, and readable translation that reproduces something of the linguistic and comic effects of the original Latin. The general Introduction is a masterpiece of clarity, orienting the reader in matters of authorship, narration, genre, religion, structure and style. A generous and browsable index, select bibliography, and maps are included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603842396
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Co.
Publication date:	09/30/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	344,236
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Joel C. Relihan is Professor of Classics, Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts.

What People are Saying About This

Ellen Finkelpearl

This daring rendition of the Metamorphoses is the only recent translation to bring out the unique euphuism of Apuleius' style and to convey vividly the text's kinship with oral storytelling. Relihan revels in Apuleian alliteration, striking archaisms, and lively colloquialisms, and keeps us always aware that we are listening to stories told aloud. Readers cannot fail to take delight in it. (Ellen Finkelpearl, Scripps College)

David Konstan

Learned and lively, smart and sassy, and fun from beginning to end - that is Apuleius' Golden Ass, and Joel Relihan's new American translation captures the spirit, the style, and the pleasure of it. Here is a version to savor and enjoy, as you accompany the world's cleverest donkey on his journey to enlightenment. (David Konstan, Brown University)

Editorial Reviews

Relihan is an American Euphues. I like everything about this edition from the title page to the index. The translation is magnificent. --Stanley Lombardo, Department of Classics, University of Kansas

This is easily the best English translation of The Golden Ass. I find that undergraduates with little or no knowledge of classical literature or the Greco-Roman world can readily read and enjoy it--as accessible as Graves or Ruden, but much more true to Apuleius's text and sensibility. Relihan's introduction is a great distillation of scholarly commentary--superb in all aspects. --Robin Walz, University of Alaska Southeast

I've been teaching Apuleius' The Golden Ass off and on for thirty years, first at Dartmouth College and now at Carleton College. Our problem--that shared by all of us who treasure this great romance or novel from late antiquity--has always been translations of The Golden Ass. There's nothing terribly wrong with previous translations; but none captures the wit and candor of Apuleius until now. This term, I used the new translation by Joel Relihan in a Carleton course and the results were beyond my very lofty expectations: students, for the first time, had something close to direct access to Apuleius' prose and they responded with an enthusiasm I've never encountered before. Relihan has given Apuleius a voice in English as never before, and my students and I laughed out loud, often, in reading passages aloud, and we felt the power of Apuleius' wit and open vulgarity. Relihan's translation will be one that many of us will use again and again in the years and decades ahead. -—Robert A. Oden, Jr., Professor of Religion, President of Carleton College

From the Publisher