Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche Part A

"Cupid and Psyche" from "The Golden Ass" by Apuleius

Style

• This story contains a lot of old-fashioned language. I really enjoy the word choice, which would seem really odd in a modern novel, but suits the story. An example is 
• "Assenting, she promised to behave as her husband wished. But when he had vanished with the darkness, she spent the day weeping and grieving wretchedly, repeating again and again that she was truly dead, caged by the walls of her luxurious prison"
• I like how lacy the language is, and the use of words like 'wretchedly' which aren't very frequently used now. This is something I'd like to emulate in my own writing. 

• One other observation I made about the style is that it is occasionally difficult to tell what's going on. It isn't always made very clear who is talking or what they're referring to, which made me re-read paragraphs a few times. It wasn't a huge obstacle but will be something to keep an eye on. 

The song "Cupid and Psyche" by John Wesley Harding was running through my head the whole time I was reading this story. 

Rick Moody, John Wesley Harding, and David Nagler by pmonaghan via Flickr

Content 

• Like most classic myths and fairy tales, the plot and characters are very straightforward. The reader isn't left wondering what's going to happen next or deeply psychoanalyzing the characters, because even though their motivations are strange, they're not necessarily complex. 
• The plot is also fairly simple - it takes some strange turns, but there is no confusion about what is happening. 
• The story of Cupid and Psyche is a story within a story, which I don't have much to say about except that I like that format a lot. It reminds me of the Arabian Nights. 

Characters

• Like a lot of myths and fairy tales, the characters behave bizarrely. This may be a mark of the time period in some ways (Psyche's father sending his daughter to her death based on communication from a god), and also may be due to the simplistic nature of fairy tales.