Life of Apuleius - Apuleius

Essays on literary works - 2023

Life of Apuleius
Apuleius

Apuleius, a Roman poet, was born about 124 in the city of Madavra, in North Africa, into a wealthy family. He received an excellent education at the University of Carthage. He wrote in Greek and Latin. After graduating from university, Apuleius went to Athens, where he studied mathematics and philosophy, while trying his hand at music and poetry. Here he became an ardent admirer of Plato. Being already a recognized writer, he added to his name in the title of his works "Platonin from Madavr". He studied occultism in Asia Minor, on the island of Samos, in Egypt and Syria. A mixture of Platonism with mysticism is the main feature of his worldview. After traveling the world, he went to Rome, where he took up (though unsuccessfully) the practice of law. Disappointed, he left for Africa and settled in Carthage, where he lived until his death.

His mystical masterpiece, the eleven-book novel Metamorphoses, is better known as The Golden Ass. Apuleius is the author of a collection of court speeches and rhetorical recitations that have come down to us in fragments.

The tale of Cupid and Psyche from the novel "The Golden Ass" was translated in Russia by I. F. Bogdanovich, S. T. Aksakov and other writers. Various plots of the novel are borrowed by the European writers Boccaccio, Cervantes, Fielding and Smollett. The date of death is unknown.