Storytelling slaves and narrative resistance in Apuleius' 'Metamorphoses'

Of the literary evidence for Roman slavery, virtually none can be attributed to slaves themselves. However, a convincing analogue for slavery is found in Apuleius' Metamorphoses, the story of a man-turned-ass who undergoes a series of hardships, passing from master to master, until he is restored through the intervention of a powerful patron. In my dissertation, I argue that the rhetoric and social dynamics of Roman slavery pervade Apuleius' novel, both at the level of plot and in the narratological strategies employed. The experiences of Lucius the ass correspond to those of a Roman slave not only in the various torments and deprivations he endures, but also in the way he learns to cope with them: as an ass, he constantly observes those he serves, but as a narrator, he relishes revealing their secrets. The Metamorphoses is filled with the bad behavior of human masters, and as the novel progresses, the ass assumes the role of storyteller, thus finding a voice, paradoxically, to express resistance to the powers that control him.;In the first chapter I summarize the parallels between the Metamorphoses and slave experience, noting that this comparison elicits a striking difference between Apuleius' novel and others in its genre. Enslavement features regularly in the Greek novels, but its effects are impermanent; the strangeness of Lucius' anamorphosis shows the lasting effects of slavery. Moving into a closer reading of the text, I first look at the Prologue, finding that slaves and freedmen both disrupt the imagined intimacy between the author and the audience and subvert the hierarchy of social authority. Second, I examine the inset tales as proof that secret observations and storytelling amount to resistance on the part of subordinates. The narrating ass is educated in this system and increasingly asserts himself as the proprietary storyteller. In the final chapter I argue that Lucius' initiation into Isiac cult resembles manumission, which is both liberating and obligating. Proper release is granted neither by the manumitting patron nor by the narrator, whose strategies ensure that the novel maintains a hold on its reader beyond its closing words.