Pierre Louÿs, Psyché, 1927

The focus on erotic and imaginative reception of Cupid and Psyche continues into the 20th and 21st centuries, and the less religious, less serious reading of the tale once again moves to the foreground in modern times.

Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925), a friend of Oscar Wilde, wrote erotic poetry and novels, often combining lesbian and classical themes, for example in Songs of Bilitis, where he claimed to be the editor of poems by a contemporary of the Greek poetess Sappho of Lesbos. His unfinished romance Psyche was first published posthumously in 1927, with an ending supplied by Claude Farrère. It is set in contemporary Paris and charts the relationship between Aimery Jouvelle and Psyche Vannetty in often explicit scenes very loosely echoing some motifs of Apuleius’ story. For example, in the use of a lamp in a recognition scene: just before the novel breaks off, Psyche raises a lamp to read her lover’s letter. This is the moment that Psyche realises that Aimery (whose name may evoke amor, another Latin word for Cupid) is no longer in love with her, whereas in Apuleius’ story, Psyche lifting the lamp realises that her hitherto invisible lover is the god of love, Cupid.

The illustrator Carlègle (Charles Émile Egli, 1877-1937) is best known for illustrating the ancient novel Daphnis and Chloe (1913), a text of a very similar genre to Apuleius’ Metamorphoses.

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