A BODY WITHOUT BORDERS: THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL BODY IN APULEIUS’METAMORPHOSES1.5–1.19

Abstract

You are about to be amazed by a collection of tales on ‘the transformation of people's fortunes andfiguraeinto different shapes, and their restoration again into themselves in a mutual nexus (mutuo nexu)’ (Met.1.1) – this is Apuleius’ opening statement and promise to his listeners in the very first lines of theMetamorphoses. In this article I read the first inserted tale (Met. 1.5–19) from a corporeal point of view. Modern researchers consider this tale programmatic for the whole novel, which in itself has a strong corporeal orientation as it tells the story of a humanfigurathat becomes bestial; of changing bodies, tortured limbs, and beaten organs; and of lascivious and uncontrollable desires. My focus is particularly on the nocturnal scene at the inn (Met.1.11–17), where I analyse the nature of the body and its representations’ literary and philosophical implications. I investigate the tension between rationality and sensuality; explore spatial and temporal dimensions; and discuss sexuality and birth. My main argument is that in the first tale the body has a crucial function in the perception of the characters’ world and self alike. Furtheremore, I suggest that the body and the ‘corporeal subjects’ (a term explored later in the article) are this tale's protagonists: the body produces its own narrative, whose plot advances in a chaotic and perplexed way through intensities, uncontrollable lust, flowing secretions, and sensual experience. I shall therefore suggest reading the scenethroughthe body, and by asking what the the bodydoesrather than merely what itmeans. I thus propose reading themututo nexuwhich appears in the prologue in the context of the nexus of body and mind, of physical shapes and mental consciousness.