Niccolo Machiavelli, L'asino d'oro [The Golden Ass]

Alessia Palanti (Columbia University)

Ed. by Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1517

Places

Italy (Publication/ performance; Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem
Satire

Resources

Between 1514 and 1517, Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) composed The Golden Ass (L’asino d’oro), an eight-chapter satirical poem in terza rima that mimics (or, perhaps, mocks) the structure of Dante’s Divine Comedy and is inspired by—if not a direct parody of—The Metamorphosis (La metamorfosi), also commonly referred to as The Golden Ass, by the classical Latin prose writer Apuleius (125-170). Apuleius’s protagonist, characterized by curiositas and a fascination for magic, is turned into a donkey in a failed attempt at performing a spell, and after a long journey finds salvation and recovers his human form w…

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1572 words

Citation: Palanti, Alessia. "L'asino d'oro". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34870, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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