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).
Leonardo Costantini, PhD. (2017), University of Leeds, is a Teaching Associate at the University of Bristol. He has published on Apuleius, Petronius, Fronto, Vergil, Lucian of Samosata, and Plutarch, as well as on magic, and Middle Platonism.
''Die Pièce de Résistance des Bandes bildet selbstredend der detailverliebte Kommentar, der zum Markenzeichen der GCA wurde und auch hier in bester Groninger Tradition quasi definitive Qualität besitzt. Costantini dokumentiert die Auseinandersetzung mit der gesamten Sekundärliteratur zum Thema; er lässt sich minutiös auf die äußere Gestalt des Werks ein; und kaum eine Frage zu den Realien, zu den literarischen Vorbildern, zum Sinn der einzelnen Partien wie des Ganzen bleibt unberührt. Erwähnung verdienen in diesem Zusammenhang die siebzehn in den Kommentar integrierten Essays, die relevante Sujets kompakt behandeln. (...) Mit seinem enzyklopädischen opus hat eines der ambitioniertesten philologischen Großunternehmen der letzten Jahrzehnte einen würdigen Abschluss gefunden. Der aufrichtige Dank aller Roman-Aficionados ist ihm gewiss.'' Peter Habermehl in
Das Altertum 03.2023.
Foreword Acknowledgements
Introduction 1 The scope of this commentary
2 Content of book III
3 The
Metamorphoses (book III), the
Onos, and the
Ur-ass-story
4 The characters in book III and their characterisation
5 Space and time in book III
6 Narrative techniques
7 Themes in book III
8 The prose of the
Metamorphoses: a stylistic overview
Note to the text 1 The text printed in this commentary
2 Orthography
3 The translation
Text of book III
Commentary
Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX
Appendix Plate Bibliography Index Rerum et Nominum Index Verborum Index Locorum
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