The Satyricon is the most celebrated work of fiction to have survived from the ancient world, and is considered to be the first realistic novel, the father of the picaresque genre. It recounts the sleazy progress of a pair of literature scholars as they wander through the cities of the southern Mediterranean. En route they encounter a teacher in higher education, a libidinous priest, a vulgar freedman turned millionaire, a manic poet, a superstitious sea-captain, and a femme fatale.
The recommended translation is that of Sullivan which is available in Penguin Classics.
This week's book is Petronius's The Satyricon and we'll be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury.
