Apuleius in European Literature: Cupid and Psyche since 1650 (Classical Presences)

The story of Cupid and Psyche is first known through the Latin novel Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass by the second-century AD writer Apuleius--one of the few Latin fictions from Roman antiquity to have survived in its entirety. Apuleius in European Literature: Cupid and Psyche since 1650 examines the reception of the long two-book romantic story of Cupid and Psyche in European literature from 1650 to the present day, with some attention also devoted to fine art and opera across this period. Stephen Harrison and Regine May argue that Cupid and Psyche had a broad and profound influence on certain important and specific areas of European culture; it was appropriated and adapted to suit particular cultural and generic contexts, especially the development of the fairy tale. This constitutes an important strand of the more general reception of the ancient novel, since the tale of Cupid and Psyche is arguably the most famous section of any fiction from Greece or Rome. Apuleius' story has enjoyed an extraordinarily rich reception throughout the five centuries from its rediscovery in the Renaissance to the present day. Previous studies of this reception have focused on the tale's prominence in Renaissance art and literature, or otherwise on its status in the German Romantic period. This book goes further and wider, ranging across literary genres in English, French, German and Dutch, encompassing poetry and drama as well as prose fiction, and covering all the key elements of the tale's reception from 1650 to the present. We hereby rediscover a tale that today remains as relevant and ripe for appropriation as ever. Cover 1 Apuleius in European Literature: Cupid and Psyche since 1650 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Preface 8 List of Illustrations 12 1: Introduction 14 1. Apuleius: Life and Writings 14 2. The Cupid and Psyche Story in the Latin Original 16 3. The Literary Sources and Interpretation of the Cupid and Psyche Story 18 4. The Reception of Cupid and Psyche in European Culture to 1650: A Brief Outline 22 5. Selecting the Material 32 2: Cupid and Psyche in France, 1650–1815 35 1. Introduction: From Italy to France 35 2. Jean de La Fontaine, Les Amours de Psyché et de Cupidon (1669) 37 3. Psyche on the Stage in the 1670s: France and England 47 4. La Fontaine’s Legacy—the Querelle and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ 56 5. Conclusion 64 3: Cupid and Psyche in Germany, 1750–1850 66 1. Introduction 66 2. From French Courts to German Bourgeoisie 67 3. Translations and Adaptations 68 4. Cupid and Psyche as a Romantic Fairy Tale 72 5. The Anacreontics 77 6. Wieland’s Psyches 79 7. Herder and his Circle: Sturm und Drang and Classicism 84 8. The Brothers Grimm and the German Fairy Tale 89 9. The Soul as Myth: Antiquarianism and Philology 95 10. Epics of the Soul 98 11. Goethe’s ‘Beautiful Souls’: Schöne Seelen 101 12. Coming Full Circle: Psyche Novels 105 13. Drama and Opera 113 14. Conclusions 117 4: Cupid and Psyche in English Romanticism and After 120 1. Introduction: Psyche in English Romanticism 120 2. Hudson Gurney, Cupid and Psyche 129 3. William Blake 132 4. Thomas Love Peacock, Rhododaphne 135 5. Mary Tighe, Psyche or the Legend of Love 137 6. John Keats 141 7. Further Female Poets: Hemans and L.E.L. 144 8. Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Byron, and Moore 146 9. Elizabeth Barrett Browning 153 10. Conclusion 164 5: Cupid and Psyche and the Victorians 166 1. Introduction 166 2. Psyche in Victorian Verse 167 (a) William Morris, The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870) 167 (b) Robert Bridges, Eros and Psyche (1885, 1894) 182 3. C&P and the Nineteenth-Century Novel 187 (a) Edward Bulwer-Lytton 188 (b) Charlotte Brontë 190 (c) W. M. Thackeray 192 (d) George Eliot 195 (e) Lewis Carroll 197 4. Conclusion 198 6: Cupid and Psyche, Decadence, and Fairy Tales, 1885–1905 200 1. Introduction 200 2. Walter Pater, Marius the Epicurean (1885) 202 3. Continental Links: Huysmans, D’Annunzio, Couperus 208 4. Fairy Tales, Folktale Analysis, and Retelling for Children: Andrew and Nora Lang 218 5. Conclusion 223 7: Cupid and Psyche in English since 1900 224 1. Introduction 224 2. Louis MacNeice, ‘Cupid and Psyche’ (1944) 225 3. C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (1956) 231 4. Francis Warner, Perennia (1962) 236 5. James Merrill, ‘From the Cupola’ (1966) 243 6. A. S. Byatt, Possession (1990) and Morpho Eugenia (1992) 246 7. Cupid and Psyche and Female Poets 250 Kathleen Raine, ‘The Marriage of Psyche’ and ‘Story’s End’ 250 A.E. Stallings, ‘Three Poems to Psyche’ (2012) 251 8. Peter Oswald, The Golden Ass (2002) 253 9. Psyche in Modern Opera 256 10. Conclusion 258 8: Epilogue 259 Ongoing Receptions and New Audiences 261 APPENDIX: Images from Art Linked with Cupid and Psyche 274 A. Specific Links for Chapters 1–6 274 Chapter 1 274 Chapter 2 274 Chapter 3 274 Chapter 4 275 Chapter 5 275 Chapter 6 275 B. General Collections of Material 276 Bibliography 278 Index 306