Week 2 Essay: A Not-So-Golden Unit

The unit Cupid & Psyche was an alright one. The myth is not often told except in classes on classical mythology, but it was still rather boring to me. The tale has bits and pieces of a hundred other myths and fairy tales (the mysterious lover, jealous sisters, the tasks to regain love lost, the journey to the underworld, and the box you can’t open, just to name a few) and isn’t told very differently than such tales normally are. The writing wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be either - although that may have just been the translator. I’ve been hearing about the wonderful snark and sarcasm but I found very little of it.

The frame story of The Golden Ass was more interesting. Especially since this is obviously just an excerpt from the middle portion of the tale, so you had to figure out what was going on. Why did he get turned into a donkey, how did he return to normal? You had to look these questions up yourself, and those are the fascinating parts of the story. Lucius was an interesting character, and he seemed like a really snarky guy. I got the sense that he was a poet, and just found myself really fascinated by his character. I wanted to learn more about him.

(Bruno Pelletier as Gringoire)

Everywhere the main tale failed to thrill me, the frame story made up for it. Lucius was by far more interesting than Psyche, and I would have liked to have read more story with him and his actual adventures than the tale of two stupid lovers. Perhaps if this unit became more about The Golden Ass than Cupid & Psyche, with bits and pieces from Lucius’ adventures it would be more exciting to read. Then again, I’ve had a whole semester of Greek Mythology and studied fairy tales in several classes, so I could just be spoiled. Or to be perfectly honest my expectations were higher, considering I spent a whole semester reading Hesiod, Homer, and Virgil. It wasn’t a bad story by any means, I just found it boring.
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Image info: Web Source. Screenshot of Bruno Pelletier from the Canadian-French musical  Notre-Dame du Paris. When I thought of Lucius as he longed for pen and paper I immediately thought of poets, and this is the image that came to mind. This musical is taken from the book which inspired Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Unfortunately, Disney neglected this character, who in Victor Hugo's book is the only happy one at the end (then again, it is Hugo we're talking about). He's a poet who basically fulfills the role of narrator. He also is a starving artist (hence why when the Renaissance happens at the end he's the happy one) who winds up married to Esmeralda in name only in order to save his life. He's a very fun character who reminds me of Lucius and the more I think of it the more they correlate. 

Here's his one of his best songs: Temps de Catedrali