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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Yourcenar's Hadrian is a man of action and pleasure reflecting upon his life as it draws to a close. He's lived an uncertain life through 40, preparing for suicide to escape his enemies if Trajan doesn't make him emperor. But alas, Trajan's wife pulls through, and Hadrian's enemies are the ones who perish.
The novel is history come to life and one of the best-researched novels I've ever read. Historical fiction feels too hackneyed to describe the journey Yourcenar went through to write Memoirs of Hadrian. She attempted to start in her 20s but didn't write the first sentence in the final text until far later in her life. Five years were spent following Hadrian's footsteps across Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor. After 2000 years, Hadrian lives again through her words.
This book was just a pleasure to read. For anyone interested in Rome, philosophy, or tragic love stories, pick it up.
The novel is history come to life and one of the best-researched novels I've ever read. Historical fiction feels too hackneyed to describe the journey Yourcenar went through to write Memoirs of Hadrian. She attempted to start in her 20s but didn't write the first sentence in the final text until far later in her life. Five years were spent following Hadrian's footsteps across Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor. After 2000 years, Hadrian lives again through her words.
This book was just a pleasure to read. For anyone interested in Rome, philosophy, or tragic love stories, pick it up.
A wonderful book, beautifully written and profound in its examination of his life by a man reconciled to his approaching death. It reminded me of the "Meditations" of Marcus Aurelius, which was one of the highlights of my study of Roman History.
The following is the review I put up on MobileRead where the Literary Book Club is reading the book this month:
I was very impressed by it, both the beautiful prose and the immense scholarship which underpinned the work.
The Penguin edition I read also contains Yourcenar's Reflections on the Composition of Memoirs of Hadrian and in it she writes of retaining only one sentence from an early draft of the book, which was one which I noted as both beautiful and profound:
Quote:
Like a traveler sailing the Archipelago who sees the luminous mists lift toward evening, and little by little makes out the shore, I begin to discern the profile of my death. (page 16)
This one I also noted and appreciated for its wisdom:
Quote:
... each of us has to choose, in the course of his brief life, between endless striving and wise resignation, between the delights of disorder and those of stability, between the Titan and the Olympian ... To choose between them, or to succeed, at last, in bringing them into accord. (page 121)
And a quote from Yourcenar's reflections on writing the book:
Quote:
A human life cannot be graphed, whatever people may say, by two virtual perpendiculars, representing what a man believed himself to be and what he wished to be, plus a flat horizontal for what he actually was; rather, the diagram has to be composed of three curving lines, extended to infinity, ever meeting and ever diverging. (page 284)
A wise and beautiful book. I kept being reminded of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (the Mark for whom the memoirs are written), and I can't give higher praise than that. Here is a quote from Book 8 of the Meditations:
Quote:
The first rule is, to keep an untroubled spirit; for all things must bow to Nature's law, and soon enough you must vanish into nothingness, like Hadrian and Augustus. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are, remembering that it is your duty to be a good man. Do without flinching what man's nature demands; say what seems to you most just - though with courtesy, modesty, and sincerity.
The following is the review I put up on MobileRead where the Literary Book Club is reading the book this month:
I was very impressed by it, both the beautiful prose and the immense scholarship which underpinned the work.
The Penguin edition I read also contains Yourcenar's Reflections on the Composition of Memoirs of Hadrian and in it she writes of retaining only one sentence from an early draft of the book, which was one which I noted as both beautiful and profound:
Quote:
Like a traveler sailing the Archipelago who sees the luminous mists lift toward evening, and little by little makes out the shore, I begin to discern the profile of my death. (page 16)
This one I also noted and appreciated for its wisdom:
Quote:
... each of us has to choose, in the course of his brief life, between endless striving and wise resignation, between the delights of disorder and those of stability, between the Titan and the Olympian ... To choose between them, or to succeed, at last, in bringing them into accord. (page 121)
And a quote from Yourcenar's reflections on writing the book:
Quote:
A human life cannot be graphed, whatever people may say, by two virtual perpendiculars, representing what a man believed himself to be and what he wished to be, plus a flat horizontal for what he actually was; rather, the diagram has to be composed of three curving lines, extended to infinity, ever meeting and ever diverging. (page 284)
A wise and beautiful book. I kept being reminded of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (the Mark for whom the memoirs are written), and I can't give higher praise than that. Here is a quote from Book 8 of the Meditations:
Quote:
The first rule is, to keep an untroubled spirit; for all things must bow to Nature's law, and soon enough you must vanish into nothingness, like Hadrian and Augustus. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are, remembering that it is your duty to be a good man. Do without flinching what man's nature demands; say what seems to you most just - though with courtesy, modesty, and sincerity.
Un chef d'oeuvre monumental. Déjà un fait de reconstruire la vie de l'Empereur ; il aurait dû être impossible d'en faire un mémoire au lieu d'un roman, mais Marguerite Yourcenar y a réussi, avec comme résultat une refléxion sincère et souvent bouleversante sur la nature humaine depuis le sommet d'un monde évoqué avec maîtrise et une précision étonnante.
(A monumental masterpiece. It's already a feat to reconstruct the Emperor's life; it should have been impossible to make it into a memoir as opposed to a novel, but Marguerite Yourcenar has done it, resulting in a sincere and often stunning reflection on human nature from the top of a world that is evoked with mastery and astonishing accuracy.)
(A monumental masterpiece. It's already a feat to reconstruct the Emperor's life; it should have been impossible to make it into a memoir as opposed to a novel, but Marguerite Yourcenar has done it, resulting in a sincere and often stunning reflection on human nature from the top of a world that is evoked with mastery and astonishing accuracy.)
reflective
slow-paced
The last part was actually quite good but this book felt like the longest book I've ever had to read
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was very boring to me. No plot at all.
All history is heavy.
Grace Frick translated three of Marguerite Yourcenar's books. Mémoires d'Hadrien is written in an incredibly French style, but, remarkably, Frick managed to translate that idiosyncratic phraseology and diction into something that not only flows well in English but also remains painstakingly accurate to the original. This is a masterful translation, one of the best I've ever read; Frick's version is almost as good as Yourcenar's.
Grace Frick translated three of Marguerite Yourcenar's books. Mémoires d'Hadrien is written in an incredibly French style, but, remarkably, Frick managed to translate that idiosyncratic phraseology and diction into something that not only flows well in English but also remains painstakingly accurate to the original. This is a masterful translation, one of the best I've ever read; Frick's version is almost as good as Yourcenar's.
Written in epistolary form, Hadrian writes to his adopted grandson Marcus Aurelius. This book begins as an update after Hadrian sees his physician Hermogenes and later develops into the reflection and recollection of his life. This book is beautiful, from beginning to the end, beautiful.
From his childhood in Spain, to his army life, to the beginnings of his political life, his ascent to power and career successes, his policies as well as love for art and Greek culture, his finding his love Antinous, loss and the grief he suffers, and later old age and approaching death. This was a wonderful, wonderful reading experience.
Of course Hadrian has always been considered a great statesman and was indeed an impressive figure. Some of his policies were meant to help improve the conditions of slaves, women and other marginalized groups in Roman society; he also relatively maintains peace and avoids war, especially compared to his previous predecessor, in the empire. However, he is still determined to maintain the status quo and systems that made his rise to power possible, and keeping the empire and colonies intact, even if it means a war that murdered hundreds of thousands and the destruction it led to as was the case with Jerusalem.
Reading the book, it was the writer Marguerite Yourcenar and not Hadrian that was at the back of my mind with every read sentence. She worked to bridge the distance of eighteen centuries that separated her from Hadrian, reconstructing that world that is long vanished save for the histories, ruins and artworks from the period and worked successfully to give a self-portrait of the emperor. She was the one more impressive to me and not the emperor, even though she claims her role was as a sorcerer:
"The sorcerer who pricks his thumb before he evokes the shades knows well that they will heed his call only because they lap his blood. He knows, too, or ought to know, that the voices who speak to him are wiser and more worthy of attention than are his own clamorous outcries."
This is a project that was a three decade process; reading the writer's reflection on composition, which was part of the library copy I had, was a fascinating reveal into the process that bore this book as well as the research the writer undertook and the bibliography notes provided. How she was able to dissolve history, facts, hypotheses and invention and have it all merge, formed and crystallized into the marvel that is this book, how she did it all, I'm still impressed. This is a remarkable artistic achievement.
The photographs illustrated and selected by the writer, along with the reflections on composition and bibliography notes contribute to the wonderful reading experience. The glowing and brilliant reviews the book has received are more than merited.
The English translation of the book was also impressive. Reading this at times I forgot that it was a translation, translated from French by Yourcenar's partner Grace Fick who worked in collaboration with the writer and who the writer also acknowledges for her role in the writing of the book (not related to the translating). This was brilliant, it was with a mixture of awe, admiration and envy that I read this.
From his childhood in Spain, to his army life, to the beginnings of his political life, his ascent to power and career successes, his policies as well as love for art and Greek culture, his finding his love Antinous, loss and the grief he suffers, and later old age and approaching death. This was a wonderful, wonderful reading experience.
Of course Hadrian has always been considered a great statesman and was indeed an impressive figure. Some of his policies were meant to help improve the conditions of slaves, women and other marginalized groups in Roman society; he also relatively maintains peace and avoids war, especially compared to his previous predecessor, in the empire. However, he is still determined to maintain the status quo and systems that made his rise to power possible, and keeping the empire and colonies intact, even if it means a war that murdered hundreds of thousands and the destruction it led to as was the case with Jerusalem.
Reading the book, it was the writer Marguerite Yourcenar and not Hadrian that was at the back of my mind with every read sentence. She worked to bridge the distance of eighteen centuries that separated her from Hadrian, reconstructing that world that is long vanished save for the histories, ruins and artworks from the period and worked successfully to give a self-portrait of the emperor. She was the one more impressive to me and not the emperor, even though she claims her role was as a sorcerer:
"The sorcerer who pricks his thumb before he evokes the shades knows well that they will heed his call only because they lap his blood. He knows, too, or ought to know, that the voices who speak to him are wiser and more worthy of attention than are his own clamorous outcries."
This is a project that was a three decade process; reading the writer's reflection on composition, which was part of the library copy I had, was a fascinating reveal into the process that bore this book as well as the research the writer undertook and the bibliography notes provided. How she was able to dissolve history, facts, hypotheses and invention and have it all merge, formed and crystallized into the marvel that is this book, how she did it all, I'm still impressed. This is a remarkable artistic achievement.
The photographs illustrated and selected by the writer, along with the reflections on composition and bibliography notes contribute to the wonderful reading experience. The glowing and brilliant reviews the book has received are more than merited.
The English translation of the book was also impressive. Reading this at times I forgot that it was a translation, translated from French by Yourcenar's partner Grace Fick who worked in collaboration with the writer and who the writer also acknowledges for her role in the writing of the book (not related to the translating). This was brilliant, it was with a mixture of awe, admiration and envy that I read this.
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced