Apuleius and Drama The Ass on Stage

by May, Regine

• ISBN13: 9780199202928
• ISBN10: 0199202923
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-02-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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 underlyingtexture, 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 fromantiquity, 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.

Author Biography

Regine May is Fellow and Tutor in Classical Languages and Literature at Merton College, University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

A Note on Texts and Translations	p. xiii
Abbreviations	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Apuleius and Drama: The Purpose of This Book	p. 1
Scholarship and Methodology	p. 4
Comedy, Mime, and the Novel	p. 10
Knowledge of Drama and Archaism in the Second Century	p. 16
Introduction	p. 16
Tragedy and Comedy in Greece	p. 19
Watching Plays in the Roman World	p. 21
Theatrical Archaeology in North Africa	p. 22
Education through Studying Drama: The Sophist's Case	p. 25
Second-Century Archaism and Apuleius	p. 27
Conclusion	p. 43
Drama Philosophy, and Rhetoric: Apuleius' Minor Works	p. 45
Introduction	p. 45
Quotations from Drama in Apuleius' De Deo Socratis	p. 45
De Mundo and De Platone et eius Dogmate	p. 53
Drama in the Florida	p. 55
An Apuleian 'Translation' from Greek Comedy: Anechomenos	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 71
Courtroom Drama: Apuleius' Apologia	p. 73
Introduction	p. 73
Exordium ('Introduction') 1-3	p. 80
Refutation of Subsidiary, Non-magical Charges 4-24	p. 81
Refutation of 'Minor' Magical Charges 25.5-65	p. 87
Refutation of 'Major' Charges concerning Pudentilla's Marriage 66-101	p. 99
Conclusion	p. 106
The Texture of the Metamorphoses	p. 109
Introduction	p. 109
The Prologue	p. 110
Comedy in Prose: Comic Elements of the Narrative Texture	p. 115
Conclusion	p. 127
The Drama of Aristomenes and Socrates	p. 128
Introduction	p. 128
Dramatic Posturing	p. 129
What Kind of Drama?	p. 132
Crossing the Genres	p. 139
Metatheatre and Metafiction	p. 140
Conclusion	p. 141
A Parasite in a Comic Household	p. 143
Introduction	p. 143
Lucius' Comic Characterization: Lucius as a Parasite?	p. 143
Milo's House: A domus comica ('Comic Household')	p. 156
Conclusion	p. 180
The Risus Festival: Laughing at Laughter	p. 182
Introduction	p. 182
Comedy and Theatrical Setting	p. 182
Risus Festival: History or Apuleian Invention?	p. 187
The God Risus and his Sources	p. 188
Why 'Laughter'?	p. 190
Forum and Theatre: The Setting of the Trial	p. 192
The Crime: Killing the Wineskins	p. 195
Apuleius and Aristophanes	p. 198
Young Drunkards	p. 202
Actor and Auctor	p. 205
Conclusion	p. 205
Cupid and Psyche: A Divine Comedy	p. 208
Introduction	p. 208
Elements of Tragedy	p. 209
Beyond Tragedy	p. 212
Comedy	p. 215
Mythological Travesties in Comedy: Plautus' Amphitruo	p. 216
Plautine Tragicomedy and Apuleius' Cupid and Psyche	p. 219
Apuleius' dramatis personae	p. 221
Conclusion	p. 246
Charite: How Comedies Do Not End	p. 249
Introduction	p. 249
The Old Woman as a Dramatic Nurse	p. 250
Charite's Dream	p. 252
Feminine Suicides	p. 255
Scaena and persona	p. 257
Charite's Comedy	p. 260
Charite's Tragedy	p. 265
Conclusion	p. 268
'Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light': Metamorphoses, Book 10	p. 269
Introduction	p. 269
The Inset Tales: 'Phaedra' and 'Menander'	p. 270
The Main Narrative: 'Miles gloriosus' and 'Cooks'	p. 295
Conclusion	p. 305
The End: Isis: Dea ex machina?	p. 307
Introduction	p. 307
Tragedy	p. 307
Comedy	p. 310
'Why Isis?'	p. 318
The Anteludia	p. 324
Conclusion and Outlook	p. 327
Conclusion	p. 329
Bibliography	p. 333
Index	p. 359
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