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The Golden Ass
The Golden Ass - M. R. 2013
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Discussion - Week Two - The Golden Ass - Books 5 - 8
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Well,if you recall the Prologue,the writer Apuleius promised a "Milesian discourse" along with a "Grecian tale"- the Greek narrator i.e. Lucius then proceeds to regale us with his amazing tale,stringing along the way,sundry other meandering tales,but then we get the longest & focussed,central narrative of The Story of Cupid and Psyche- it's the moral thrust of the tale as it shows how sublimation of love can uplift a humanbeing to the level of gods whereas the sordid love in the various tales of adultery & debauchery only lead to murder & mayhem with no hopes of salvation.Further the classic tale reinforces the theme of trial & suffering & eventual deliverance,thus as readers we keep the hopes alive of a happy ending for the hero.
On a different note,the whole Syrian queens episode was hilarious as well as disturbing (showing how corrupt the so called religious minded can be), in the light of which the ultimate resolution of the tale takes on a very ironic note.I remember watching a similar kind of procession (with a live goddess no less,) in the movie Y Tu Mama También- thus similar practice of money-making is still flourishing.
Mod
What about material desire? Psyche is presented with a life where all material desires are provided for - literally by magic - and so she wants for nothing. Is such a state possible? No, it's pure fantasy. And so, isn't "sublime love" also a fantasy? And doesn't material desire, as represented by her sisters, sordid, but realistic? Certainly I can understand striving for god-like perfection, but isn't that just a controlling mechanism used to subjugate members of a society? The haves, the have-nots in constant struggle, bandits kidnapping daughters for ransom and so on. If resources were distributed better, and individual needs were satisfied, wouldn't that bring a society closer to the fantasy world of Cupid and Psyche? I realize these are all socialist questions, but they seem more related to the story than ideals of sublimated love. What do you think?
This book does everything over-the-top ---so tragedies turn ludicrous & comic episodes somewhat lame.The handling of 'sublime love' suffers somewhat the same problem of believability- pls recall the two sisters were married in royal families so didn't lack material comforts,definately not on the same level as Psyche,still well enough.
Their jealousy (which was psychologically very true as in sibling rivalry)was for Psyche's radiant happiness which her married life brought her & was lacking in theirs.
The sublime love didn't come through material comforts rather purificatory process of suffering.
Does that convey the message that people shd accept suffering as their lot for a happy-ever-after so societal injustices can continue?
I don't think so. In his elaborate introduction to the book,Kenney writes:
"Provincial life in second-century Greece as depicted in The Golden Ass is in many ways so anarchic, legally, socially, and morally, that it is natural to question the historical accuracy of the picture, and to ask whether the writer has taken the novelist's freedom to create his own world -- a travesty or caricature of reality -- to enhance the impact of his narrative and to point the moral of his book. No more than poets are novelists bound to tell the truth...
and The Golden Ass was not written as social history. However, unlike most of the Greek romances, but like the Onos and Petronius' Satyricon, the setting of the book is firmly contemporary, and as far as we can tell from the available evidence would have been recognized by contemporary readers as broadly realistic...
he no doubt exaggerates the peculiar wickedness of his own age, but what he says would have corresponded, as such portrayals still do, with contemporary perceptions. The scene of moral chaos of which Lucius, willy-nilly, is a fascinated and revolted spectator and in which he is forced in the end to participate, formed part of the mental furniture of the age. It is to escape from this nightmare world that, quite unexpectedly, he throws himself on the protection of the saviour goddess Isis."
Thus,while the exaggerated depiction of social reality of those times make a socialist reading of the text somewhat dubious,the 'contemporaneity' of it,makes a socialist interpretation possible!
Love is always dicey- sublime or not. You've already finished reading Swann's Way & so know better than me how torturous that path is,socialism would be a lot easier!
Book 5 - The story of Cupid and Psyche continues.
Book 6 - The story of Cupid and Psyche wraps up and the young hostage, Charite, is calmed. Opportunity arises for Charite’s escape on the back of Lucius the Ass, but the attempt is thwarted and they are sentenced to a grisly death.
Book 7 – Some crafty moves from Charite’s husband vanquishes the bandits and sets her and Lucius free. Charite remembers his valour and honors him as a noble ass, but Fortune has other plans. If it wasn’t for bad luck, he wouldn’t have no luck at all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5u8a...
Book 8 – Charite and her husband end up dead after a jilted suitor returns to feed his lust. The servants panic and hit the road with the pack animals in tow. Lucius is auctioned off to a bunch of Syrian queens.
For an ass, Lucius sure does get around.
Any thoughts about why Apuleius included the story of Cupid and Psyche in his book?