Metamorphosis or The Golden Ass: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Metamorphosis or The Golden Ass, credited to Lucius Apuleius, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Metamorphosis or The Golden Ass, by Lucius Apuleius. The Metamorphosis, also known as The Golden Ass, is one of the very few novels of the Ancient World that survived to our days; one of the two novels of Roman Literature that we can still read; and the only one preserved in its entirety (the other one being the extremely fragmentary Satyricon). The story of the Metamorphosis, the tale of a man turned into a donkey that goes through many adventures to become a man again, inspired many other similar ones later on. However, more than just the plot, the style of the Golden Ass also made it famous. Considered one of the precursors of the picaresque novel, The Metamorphosis was written in a language that can be humorous and energetic, while telling the misadventures of the credulous and curious main character, but also powerfully poetic, in moments such as in the episode of Cupid and Psyche, one of the most famous parts of this book, and of Latin literature as a whole. (Summary by Leni)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Metamorphosis or The Golden Ass
• Author credits: Lucius Apuleius
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 23
• Listed recording duration: 9:55:10

Catalogue topics

• Classics
• Latin literature
• Latin novel
• Metamorphosis
• Metamorphoses
• Golden Ass.

Track guide

1. 00 - Introduction — 21:24
2. 01 - Chapter 1, Part 1 — 23:47
3. 02 - Chapter 1, Part 2 — 21:57
4. 03 - Chapter 2, Part 1 — 27:04
5. 04 - Chapter 2, Part 2 — 25:47
6. 05 - Chapter 3, Part 1 — 20:24
7. 06 - Chapter 3, Part 2 — 22:58
8. 07 - Chapter 4, Part 1 — 27:44
9. 08 - Chapter 4, Part 2 — 26:04
10. 09 - Chapter 5, Part 1 — 22:14
11. 10 - Chapter 5, Part 2 — 24:45
12. 11 - Chapter 6, Part 1 — 23:09
13. 12 - Chapter 6, Part 2 — 28:11
14. 13 - Chapter 7, Part 1 — 19:08
15. 14 - Chapter 7, Part 2 — 23:24
16. 15 - Chapter 8, Part 1 — 30:12
17. 16 - Chapter 8, Part 2 — 23:07
18. 17 - Chapter 9, Part 1 — 35:44
19. 18 - Chapter 9, Part 2 — 39:38
20. 19 - Chapter 10, Part 1 — 25:20
21. 20 - Chapter 10, Part 2 — 25:52
22. 21 - Chapter 11, Part 1 — 27:02
23. 22 - Chapter 11, Part 2 — 30:24

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.