Apuleius' Cupid and Psyche
The aim of this book is to make the story of "Cupid and Psyche" from Apuleius' The Golden Ass accessible to intermediate students of Ancient Latin. The running vocabulary and grammatical commentary are meant to provide everything necessary to read each page so that readers can progress through the text, improving their knowledge of Latin while enjoying one of the most delightful stories from antiquity.
Apuleius' “Cupid and Psyche” is a great text for intermediate readers. Its plot resembles fairy tales such as “Beauty and the Beast” and “Cinderella,” but its literary texture is typical of the rest of The Golden Ass. With its narrative of betrayal and redemption and a harrowing descent into the underworld, the tale of Cupid and Psyche has been viewed as a parallel to the The Golden Ass as a whole, as well as an allegory for the redemption of the soul. But it has also been admired as a light-hearted fairy tale ending in marital bliss – a simple tale told to a frightened captive girl. Like many fairy tales, however, this one includes dark and disturbing elements that also parallel the dark conclusion to the captive girl's own tale in The Golden Ass. |
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