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A review by carlageek
Julian by Gore Vidal
5.0
A delightfully readable fictional account of Julian, a nephew of Constantine who, in his very brief 4th-century tenure as Emperor of Rome, attempted to roll back the adoption of Christianity as the religion of the empire. The narrative unfolds as a memoir of Julian, punctuated by the wry epistolary commentary of a Stadtler-and-Waldorfian pair of philosophers, Priscus and Libanius. These two take swipes at one another and at members of Julian’s retinue, while exposing some of Julian’s blind spots and revisionist indulgences.
Vidal’s Julian was something of a polymath, with a deep love for philosophy, a passion for leading armies into battle, and a reverence for the mysteries of the ancient Hellenistic religion. As Vidal constructs Julian’s story, the strain of making room for all of these passions in one man is ultimately what undoes him. Julian (under the influence of a priest/charlatan called Maximus) comes to see himself as the second coming of Alexander, destined to reconquer all the Asiatic lands as far as India. His rash leadership of Persian campaign and his arrogance in the persecution of Christians combine to cost him the loyalty of his Christian generals.
And yet through Julian’s deploring ancient Christianity, Vidal voices harsh critiques of modern Christianity, pointing up the hypocrisies of power-hungry priests and the dangers of too much mingling of religious powers with state administration. Julian is a flawed, overreaching leader who makes some shocking errors in judgment; yet he remains solidly sympathetic, and the editorial force of the book is behind his views, not those of his detractors, who restyled him as Julian the Apostate and carefully controlled the public narrative of his life.
Vidal’s Julian was something of a polymath, with a deep love for philosophy, a passion for leading armies into battle, and a reverence for the mysteries of the ancient Hellenistic religion. As Vidal constructs Julian’s story, the strain of making room for all of these passions in one man is ultimately what undoes him. Julian (under the influence of a priest/charlatan called Maximus) comes to see himself as the second coming of Alexander, destined to reconquer all the Asiatic lands as far as India. His rash leadership of Persian campaign and his arrogance in the persecution of Christians combine to cost him the loyalty of his Christian generals.
And yet through Julian’s deploring ancient Christianity, Vidal voices harsh critiques of modern Christianity, pointing up the hypocrisies of power-hungry priests and the dangers of too much mingling of religious powers with state administration. Julian is a flawed, overreaching leader who makes some shocking errors in judgment; yet he remains solidly sympathetic, and the editorial force of the book is behind his views, not those of his detractors, who restyled him as Julian the Apostate and carefully controlled the public narrative of his life.