The Transformation of Lucius; Otherwise Known as The Golden Ass
Apuleius and Robert Graves (Trans.). The Transformation of Lucius; Otherwise Known as The Golden Ass. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1983 (18th Printing). Hardbound. 'Originally,' writes Graves in his introduction to this classic translation, 'the ass had been so holy a beast that its ears, conventionalized as twin feathers sprouting from the end of a sceptre, became the mark of sovereignty in the hand of every Egyptian deity.' However, by Apuleius' time, he continues, the donkey had devolved into not merely an object of foolishness, as contemporary readers might assume, but ' the most hateful to [Isis] of all the beasts in existence' for it 'was in fact sacred to the God Set, whom the Greeks knew as Typhon, her ancient persecutor and the murderer of her husband Osiris.' The only ancient Roman novel extant in its entirety, the text is also known for being the first account of the tale of Cupid and Psyche, one of many inset stories in this ur-picaresque. This edition's jacket design, by children's book author and illustrator Rosemary Wells, contrasts formal typography with a freehand frame that balances whimsy and historical gravitas.
