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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
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
I did not like this, Sam I Am, I did not like Hade-re-an. The first person perspective made me feel as if I was trapped on an endless phone call with someone who never let me interrupt his soliloquy and ask clarifying questions. There was a lot of surface and not much detail. When I read historical fiction, I like to learn about the historic period in question. Hadrian's endless blathering meant that I got a glimpse into things I might find interesting, but there was never any follow up on those things. The book club member who chose the book began by apologizing for choosing it, because, though it is his desert island book, it is not a "book-club" kind of book, not being very linear.
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After a slow start (which made me nearly lose interest in the book) it picks up, getting better and better with every page and becoming a true masterpiece with Antinous' first appearance, including everything that comes after.
The writing is undoubtedly wonderful, and the Italian translation (which is the one I read) includes an insert written by the translator herself talking about her experience and friendship with the author, which made me appreciate the writing even more.
Although the start was a bit slow, it is definitely worth reading.
The writing is undoubtedly wonderful, and the Italian translation (which is the one I read) includes an insert written by the translator herself talking about her experience and friendship with the author, which made me appreciate the writing even more.
Although the start was a bit slow, it is definitely worth reading.
“Each of us believed that he was escaping from the narrow limits of his human state, feeling himself to be at the same time himself and his own adversary, at one with the god who seems to be both the animal victim and the human slayer. Such fantastic dreams…they helped me in those days to endure life”
Immense and beautiful. A hand trailing in water, horses striding across a frozen landscape, a lover buried deep in the earth, this book has some indelible images.
Immense and beautiful. A hand trailing in water, horses striding across a frozen landscape, a lover buried deep in the earth, this book has some indelible images.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely brilliant. Humanity as seen from the past by a mindful ruler with a global view. Astonishing, deep, resounding prose.
Convinced that humans are immortal as an animal species and finite as individuals, Adriano, the most powerful man of the Roman Empire, exposes the essential characteristics of human nature with minute details and beautiful metaphors.
Despite having absolute power, he feels incapable of modifying the natural development of his own life. With a lucid mind, full of wisdom and knowledge of the desires of human beings of all social conditions, he regrets the contradiction between his body and his mind, old and sick.
Reflect, comparing if it has been worth playing the role of omnipresent and all-powerful with the immense loneliness he has felt countless times at night in his rooms for many periods of his reign after participating in orgies, official acts, religious ceremonies, or deciding the fate of life or death of another human being.
All earthly joys, sexual experiences without limit, trips by the empire's territory, participation in the rites of diverse religions, and the birth of a new belief, Christianity, were considered inoffensive. For being directed to the poor and enslaved people, the knowledge of various cultures, his admiration for the Greek culture, his successes in front of the military legions, the official banquets, the eternal adulation, the conspiracies, the political assassinations, everything seems to have turned into a bucket full of ashes.
Winner of many military and political battles, he feels humiliated when his favorite servants must constantly help him perform the simplest acts of daily life.
At the end of his life, the human established throughout the Pax Romana empire cannot achieve his inner peace. A historical novel fully shows the permanence and complexity of the human condition over the centuries.
Despite having absolute power, he feels incapable of modifying the natural development of his own life. With a lucid mind, full of wisdom and knowledge of the desires of human beings of all social conditions, he regrets the contradiction between his body and his mind, old and sick.
Reflect, comparing if it has been worth playing the role of omnipresent and all-powerful with the immense loneliness he has felt countless times at night in his rooms for many periods of his reign after participating in orgies, official acts, religious ceremonies, or deciding the fate of life or death of another human being.
All earthly joys, sexual experiences without limit, trips by the empire's territory, participation in the rites of diverse religions, and the birth of a new belief, Christianity, were considered inoffensive. For being directed to the poor and enslaved people, the knowledge of various cultures, his admiration for the Greek culture, his successes in front of the military legions, the official banquets, the eternal adulation, the conspiracies, the political assassinations, everything seems to have turned into a bucket full of ashes.
Winner of many military and political battles, he feels humiliated when his favorite servants must constantly help him perform the simplest acts of daily life.
At the end of his life, the human established throughout the Pax Romana empire cannot achieve his inner peace. A historical novel fully shows the permanence and complexity of the human condition over the centuries.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Death is hideous, but life is too.”
"I have put my virtues to use as well as I could, and have profited from my vices likewise."
What an extraordinary work of fiction. The highest compliment for Yourcenar is that I completely forgot about her while reading this because I fully felt like I was reading a missive from Hadrian to Marcus Aurelius circa year 138. In fictionalized Hadrian’s own words, this is a “written meditation of a sick man who holds audience with his memories,” a man who wants “to know myself better before I die.”
Hadrian is thoughtful, philosophical, pacific-minded. He’s also very much a soldier, ready to bloody his hands & kill, very much an emperor who gives orders to kill in order to maintain the empire he has long planned & worked for. He understands that he “can’t avoid disasters of revolts and divisions, but can postpone them for a few centuries.” His mind is not on total conquest but on the eternal: Right Roman Rule for all & forever. Roman power is to be "a cosmic and sacred character," "a pacific, protective form." Hadrian was a man of great contradictions, but his commitment to grander ideals, to his sense of morality, was strong. He thinks that "at least one fool will reign per century" and he will not be that fool; he will not let his successor be that fool.
During a melancholic moment he wonders if all his many completed tasks, his famous wall for one, are just offering “one more object as prey to Time the Devourer.” One anxious night he paces the many rooms of his home, looking at effigies of the dead by lamplight, trying to recall their long-decayed flesh. Another night during war he paces near his army's tents, contemplating what natural order actually is, slips in the blood of a recently executed rebel, then calmly goes back to bed. Such is the life of an observant, contemplative man who also sees himself as a divine ruler, who feels superior to most men, has “sought liberty more than power” but also “power because it can lead to freedom.”
This book is political, an emperor telling a future emperor the broader vision & insight into human behavior needed to rule well. This book is intimate, a man who lies back on the deck of a ship & contemplates the stars, a man recalling grief over the loss of his young male lover, realizing that “the passing of time adds only one more bewilderment to grief.” This book has been a great surprise, one of the best fictions I have ever read, an eloquent masterpiece.
Marguerite Yourcenar’s “Reflections On the Composition” at the end of this book are worth reading, really remarkable thoughts on her thirty year journey to writing this book & on writing in general.
"I have put my virtues to use as well as I could, and have profited from my vices likewise."
What an extraordinary work of fiction. The highest compliment for Yourcenar is that I completely forgot about her while reading this because I fully felt like I was reading a missive from Hadrian to Marcus Aurelius circa year 138. In fictionalized Hadrian’s own words, this is a “written meditation of a sick man who holds audience with his memories,” a man who wants “to know myself better before I die.”
Hadrian is thoughtful, philosophical, pacific-minded. He’s also very much a soldier, ready to bloody his hands & kill, very much an emperor who gives orders to kill in order to maintain the empire he has long planned & worked for. He understands that he “can’t avoid disasters of revolts and divisions, but can postpone them for a few centuries.” His mind is not on total conquest but on the eternal: Right Roman Rule for all & forever. Roman power is to be "a cosmic and sacred character," "a pacific, protective form." Hadrian was a man of great contradictions, but his commitment to grander ideals, to his sense of morality, was strong. He thinks that "at least one fool will reign per century" and he will not be that fool; he will not let his successor be that fool.
During a melancholic moment he wonders if all his many completed tasks, his famous wall for one, are just offering “one more object as prey to Time the Devourer.” One anxious night he paces the many rooms of his home, looking at effigies of the dead by lamplight, trying to recall their long-decayed flesh. Another night during war he paces near his army's tents, contemplating what natural order actually is, slips in the blood of a recently executed rebel, then calmly goes back to bed. Such is the life of an observant, contemplative man who also sees himself as a divine ruler, who feels superior to most men, has “sought liberty more than power” but also “power because it can lead to freedom.”
This book is political, an emperor telling a future emperor the broader vision & insight into human behavior needed to rule well. This book is intimate, a man who lies back on the deck of a ship & contemplates the stars, a man recalling grief over the loss of his young male lover, realizing that “the passing of time adds only one more bewilderment to grief.” This book has been a great surprise, one of the best fictions I have ever read, an eloquent masterpiece.
Marguerite Yourcenar’s “Reflections On the Composition” at the end of this book are worth reading, really remarkable thoughts on her thirty year journey to writing this book & on writing in general.