Delusion and Dream in Apuleius' Metamorphoses

Abstract Considering the absence of any ancient systematic approach to the reading of the novel, this paper turns to ancient dream hermeneutics as a valuable field of reference that can provide the theoretical framework for studying the ancient novel within its own cultural context. In introducing d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inClassical antiquity Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 247 - 284
Main Author Kenaan, Vered Lev
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berkeley University of California Press Books Division 01.10.2004
Subjects
Apuleius (124-170)
Classical studies
Creativity
Cultural factors
Dreams
Exegesis & hermeneutics
Fiction
Greek civilization
Hermeneutics
Literary criticism
Logic
Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius
Novels
New York
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Summary:Abstract Considering the absence of any ancient systematic approach to the reading of the novel, this paper turns to ancient dream hermeneutics as a valuable field of reference that can provide the theoretical framework for studying the ancient novel within its own cultural context. In introducing dream interpretation as one of the ancient novel's creative sources, this essay focuses on Apuleius'Metamorphoses. It explores the dream logic in Apuleius' novel by turning to such authorities as Heraclitus, Plato, Cicero, Artemidorus, and Macrobius, whose characterization of the phenomenon of dreaming sheds light on specific narratological trtaits of theMetamorphoses. It argues that the lower dream category, the insomnium (or the enhupnion), provides a notion of textuality that can clarify the traditional status of the Metamorphoses as a marginal work of art. In contrast to divinely sent symbolic dreams, it is primarily the insomnium—conceived as a by-product of the lower functions of the soul—that lends psychological force to Apuleius' fiction.
ISSN:0278-6656
1067-8344
DOI:10.1525/ca.2004.23.2.247