| Recently, there has been an increased amount of scholarly attention paid to the literature of Apuleius, a Roman North African writing in the latter part of the 2nd Century CE, and to his interaction with the works of other classical authors, particularly in his novel, the Metamorphoses. These studies on the Metamorphoses have shown that Apuleius drew upon a variety of ancient works in the construction of his novel, often through the employment of generic tropes. Moreover, Apuleius often drew upon multiple, sometimes seemingly conflicting, genres within individual episodes of the larger novel. No study, however, has considered the interplay of generic tropes across the whole of the Metamorphoses and the larger thematic role this process might play. My dissertation, Apuleian Women and Genre, attempts to do this. Building upon prior scholarly work, I examine episodes within the Metamorphoses in which Apuleius employs common literary tropes from different genres to create expectations about each episode's plotline and characters and then to dispel those expectations. By examining these episodes and showing their interconnectivity, I argue that Apuleius engages in a systematic and systemic process which emphasizes to the audience the mutability of literary narratives and the novel genre as a whole, as well as highlights his skill in manipulating literary forms. In essence, then, this process is a literary expression of the titular theme of the novel -- metamorphosis. Furthermore, the examination of these episodes reveals that female characters play an integral role in this process. Female figures usually precipitate the changes that happen to other characters and to the episodic plotlines and their own characterizations often radically transform. Thus, I conclude by speculating that Apuleius' selection of female characters as the medium for metamorphosis was a consequence of Apuleius' sociohistorical context. As the Roman Empire developed, women's societal roles changed. In particular, well-to-do women, imitating women of the imperial family, adopted a more visible, public role in their local communities. I argue that Apuleius was aware of the evolving sense of identity felt and expressed by women and that this awareness suggested to him women's particular suitability as figures of metamorphosis. |
