Apuleio V.M. 18. Le Metamorfosi a luci rosse di Georges Pichard

Abstract

This article investigates, using methods from narratological, semiotic, and thematic criticism, a singular chapter in the reception of Apuleius’s novel The Golden Ass, namely L’asino d’oro. Libero adattamento ispirato al testo di Apuleio. This two-volume comic book, created by Georges Pichard, was first published in France by Glénat in 1985 and later translated and reprinted in Italy. The aim of this inquiry is to examine how the illustrator engages with the original work and to explore the ways in which key themes from The Metamorphoses — particularly those of the body and sexuality — are projected into a ‘men-only’ product traditionally relegated to the margins of literary studies: the erotic graphic novel. This pornographic comic, which the French artist reimagines in a modern direction, becomes a vehicle for layered and radical social critique — made possible, in this specific case, by the Apuleian narrative.