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Latin set book (A)

Overview

  • Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
  • Convenor: Prof Catharine Edwards
  • Assessment: a 1000-1500-word commentary (20%), 2500-word essay (20%) and three-hour written examination (60%)

Module description

Apuleius (c. 124 – after 170 CE) is a Latin prose author of marvellous ingenuity. His highly entertaining work plays with familiar elements of earlier Latin and Greek literature and offers suggestive insights into Roman imperial culture in the second century CE. Born in the Roman province of Numidia, he may have spoken Punic as his first language. He was educated in philosophy (particularly the work of Plato) in Athens and celebrated as an orator.

We shall read selections from Apuleius’ Metamorphoses (including all of Book 1), as well as sampling the speech he gave in his own defence when on trial for seducing a rich widow through the use of magic arts (his Apology). The Metamorphoses, also known as The Golden Ass, centres around the figure of the narrator Lucius who is turned into an ass in Book 3 and goes on to have a series of improbable adventures, culminating in an experience of divine revelation. His experiences also serve as a frame for a large number of inset stories (including that of Cupid and Psyche, the longest inset narrative). Apuleius is admired for his idiosyncratic and elaborate prose style, as well as his beguiling story-telling.

The classes and coursework involve close analysis of the text from a linguistic, literary, historical and cultural point of view. You will be expected to prepare portions of the text in advance and then discuss the major issues emerging in class. The module will enable you to:

  • become experienced in reading Apuleius’ prose and become acquainted with his distinctive idiom
  • understand and explore composition, character creation, narratological devices, historical background, gender, intertextuality
  • place Apuleius’ writing in the context of larger literary, cultural and historical developments.

Teaching on this module is stimulating, with plenty of student participation and interpretation. We will translate portions of the texts together, as well as discussing language, context and composition.

Learning objectives

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

  • translate and appreciate complex Latin prose literature in the original
  • place your reading in the context of wider debates on Classical literature
  • study how the text has survived to the modern world, for example, with the aid of the apparatus criticus, and reflect on the implications for understanding it
  • engage directly with surviving ancient evidence - and so transform your understanding of the ancient world.