The Satyricon (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Petronius

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199539219 ISBN 13: 9780199539215

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

Synopsis

'The language is refined, the smile not grave, My honest tongue recounts how men behave.' The Satyricon is the most celebrated work of fiction to have survived from the ancient world. It can be described as the first realistic novel, the father of the picaresque genre, and recounts the sleazy progress of a pair of literature scholars as they wander through the cities of the southern Mediterranean. En route they encounter type-figures the author wickedly satirizes - a teacher in higher education, a libidinous priest, a vulgar freedman turned millionaire, a manic poet, a superstitious sea-captain and a femme fatale. The novel has fascinated the literary world of Europe ever since, evoking praise for its elegant and hilarious description of the underside of Roman society, but also condemnation for some of its lewder subjects. This new and lively translation by P.G. Walsh captures the gaiety of the original, and the edition is supplemented by his superb Introduction giving an account of the plot, the various scholarly interpretations and the later history of its literary influcence.There are also extensive and detailed notes which serve to illuminate the reading of a text rich in literary in-jokes and allusion.

About this title

Review:

P. G. Walsh's translation appears more learned, as one might expect from a scholar who has spent a long career studying ancient fiction. Its preface is masterful. --Times Literary Supplement

About the Author:

P. G. Walsh is Emeritus Professor of Humanity at the University of Glasgow. He translated and edited Apuleius, The Golden Ass for World's Classics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0199539219
• ISBN 13: 9780199539215
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: P. G. Walsh