Apuleius Madaurensis. Metamorphoses, Book III

The volume offers an in-depth commentary with a new text and English translation of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses III. The introduction and appendix cast new light on the literary, stylistic and textual features as well as the philosophical, socio-cultural and religious context of Apuleius’ novel.

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Adventure, sex, magic, robbery, and dramatic declamatory displays play a central role in the plot of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses III. This volume completes the prestigious Groningen Commentaries on Apuleius series, which is available in its entirety as a digital resource as well: Apuleius Online. This volume on book III presents a new text of Metamorphoses III provided with an English translation and a full commentary, which covers literary, linguistic, textual, narratological, and socio-cultural matters. The introduction casts new light on many aspects of Apuleius’ novel, including its relationship with its lost Greek model, with the Greek love novels and with other genres (epic, poetry, declamation), Apuleius’ elaborate style, the narratological features of book III and its main themes. An appendix is devoted to the manuscript transmission of the Metamorphoses: it factors in new textual evidence gathered from the first examination of several recentiores since Oudendorp (1786) and Hildebrand (1842).