Petronius

So this is like a Roman Brideshead Revisited, a fantasy of lushness beyond this world. Only Petronius's fantasies include less Catholic moral reckoning and English awkwardness (which can carry an erotic charge just like anything can mate) and more let's be generous and call it "ephebophilia" and, like, elaborate Roman turduckens.

Hard to know what to say about this one. The introduction descends into an account of editions over the ages that reads at times like a parody of academia (I can tentatively say that if you want parodic levels of academic disagreement, head straight for your local Classics department), but is useful.

Satyricon itself? Well, it's fitfully amusing, over the top, confusing (what we have is basically a heap of fragments) and sometimes ... I almost typed "postmodern."

Wait, I *did* type show more postmodern! Why did I do that?

This was, of course, the source for the Fellini film, which I disliked.

I'm grieved to report that Harvard U. Press has apparently fallen to the temptation to eschew employing proofreaders, or at least good ones. Typos abound. This tendency first really shocked me when I encountered it in a book from U. of Chicago, an outfit I esteemed highly -- now ... well, what can you do? Accuracy is for ninnies, apparently -- or is too expensive to care about (but you're HARVARD). show less

Rating: 3.5 stars

This little classic comes from Petronius' work, 'Satyricon'. It was originally written in Latin and happens to be one of the very few fully preserved Roman novels. The surviving sections of the novel follows the narrator, Encolpius, and his slave and boyfriend, Giton, a handsome sixteen-year-old boy, through their bizarre experiences and exploits.

Penguin little black classic extracted a chapter from the novel originally called, 'Cēna Trīmalchiōnis', which translates to show more 'Dinner with Trimalchio', and it is exactly that. Trimalchio is a former slave who has come upon a LOT of money using tactics that most would find distasteful. He is known for extravagance and lavish dinner parties where his numerous servants bring course after course of exotic delicacies, such as live birds sewn up inside a pig, live birds inside fake eggs which the guests have to "collect" themselves, and a dish to represent every sign of the zodiac. As crazy as it sounds! And all of this happens only within a span of two pages. The surprise and shock element of the oddities of the time and the man is what makes it an especially fun read.

I am always a little reluctant to read anything which is older than the printing press. Not because I think any less of it, on the contrary, I think too much of it. I am always worried I won't understand the context, references and might end up disliking the epic, or worse, not understanding it. But I am glad I am picked up this little one. It does engage in a lot of name throwing and I am still not sure if they are real cultural figures of the time but if you ignore that and take them as side roles, it can be exciting to hear the intellectual/ trash talking style of the time. It is a very witty account of a single feast which is as eventful as many together. One of my favourite things about reading classics is engaging in what is funny in different eras and cultures, and 'Trimalchio's Feast' doesn't disappoint.

P.S. For people who reviewed it rather harshly, I understand their woes with the book. It can be triggering, with the scenes of normalized brutality towards the slaves, the inherent misogyny and so much more that is so wrong and dated. But that's the thing, it is dated to a time where this was the norm and it is an account of the feast written in a time where morality and life as we know it was different. You can dislike the book for several valid reasons, but judging it on today's evolved virtues and morality seems a bit unfair. show less

This has pederasty, paedophilia, voyeurism and impotence and is really quite brilliant. The beginning and end have been lost over the last 2000 years and the remaining text is fragmentary but it's well worth a read, if only to be left with that pleasing sensation of wanting more. The scene where the Priestess of Priapus is about to take a whalebone dildo to the hero is sadly truncated. Highly recommended.