"This thoroughly entertaining mixture of magic, farce, religion, and mythology is the best-known work of Lucius Apuleius, who was born early in the second century A.D. in Morocco, then a Roman province. Written in the racy, extravagent style of the professional story-tellers of the time, it recounts the boisterous, often bawdy adventures of a young man who has the misfortune to be turned into an ass, falls into the hanbs of robbers, shares their fantastic exploits, and is finally turned back into a man by the goddess Isis."

(Taken from back of 'Penguin Classics' edition)

My Thoughts

Excellent stuff - having started my literary journey back in time with Voltaire's Candide, I moved on to this book with trepidation, a little concerned that the style of the era would make it a difficult read. I was very pleasantly surprised, however - whether this was due to Apuleius' original style or Robert Graves' excellent translation, I do not know, but I was quickly enthralled by the misadventures of the hero, Lucius.

With a clear introduction provided by the translator, it was simple to place the events in the context of the period, and to realise (as I did while reading Candide) that people change very little over the centuries! In fact, I was surprised to realise that the works of Tanith Lee that I have read bear a remarkable similarity to the style and content of this tale.

Interestingly, the work has oft been viewed as non-fiction, a midsunderstanding perhaps encouraged by the fact that the hero of the tale has the same name as the author - in actual fact, it is based on a story which predates Apuleius by many hundreds of years.

I loved this book - the adventures of Lucius are by no means the whole story: the author interweaves many other mythological tales into the plot, giving the reader even further insight into the popular literature of the period.