Apuleius, Dafoe, Walpole, Russian Symbolist Theatre

Apuleius's Golden Ass is a picaresque novel that was written a long time ago, in Latin. It sounds a little flip to put it that way, but it is good. I also read good biographies of Daniel Dafoe, by Paula Backscheider, and Horace Walpole by Lewis Melville. Dafoe's life was the usual tumultuous mess. Walpole's life was comparatively comfortable -- certainly he never was imprisoned for bankruptcy. I also learned a great deal from Michael Green's Russian Symbolist Theatre. I have never heard of most of the writers, but the various texts and struggles for publication was excellent.