Metaforms26-The Human Tragicomedy: the Reception of Apuleius’ Golden Ass in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Century

The present volume focusses on the reception of Apuleius’ Golden Ass in the 20th and the 21st centuries, juxtaposing essays on reception with scholarly studies of the novel that represent new and promising research perspectives. Does the story of Lucius, a curious and lustful young man who is magically transformed into an ass, have anything to teach us today? Does it have a serious, philosophical and religious meaning, or is it just a form of literary play, full of adventures, magic, sex, violence, and religion? This volume studies the reception of the novel in the last hundred years, showing also the most promising and diverse research perspectives for the future. Apuleius claimed that a philosopher must possess a mirror; perhaps, his novel is a mirror for us to look into.