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mzhang319 's review for:
Memoirs of Hadrian
by Marguerite Yourcenar
Neither as glorious as Trajan, nor as sophic as Aurelius. Possessed of less patience than Antoninus. Yet of a uniquely cosmopolitan and romantic nature. Hadrian’s character and personal life is perhaps the most complex of the “Five Good Emperors”.
Yourcenar’s reconstruction of this colossus in “Memoirs of Hadrian” is both ambitious and contemplative. Its prose is vividly imaginative, and invokes a deep sense of ephemeral wistfulness for the failings of even the most capable personae.
Though I personally enjoyed the frequent departures to far flung provinces and Hadrian’s meditations on his decisions, the characterization of Antinoös and Hadrian’s love for the youth is perhaps the most captivating and exceptionally written portion of the entire work - meriting great praise for its humanization of the vulnerabilities of even a god-emperor.
In the words of Hadrian retold “I was god, to put it simply, because I was man.”
9/10
Yourcenar’s reconstruction of this colossus in “Memoirs of Hadrian” is both ambitious and contemplative. Its prose is vividly imaginative, and invokes a deep sense of ephemeral wistfulness for the failings of even the most capable personae.
Though I personally enjoyed the frequent departures to far flung provinces and Hadrian’s meditations on his decisions, the characterization of Antinoös and Hadrian’s love for the youth is perhaps the most captivating and exceptionally written portion of the entire work - meriting great praise for its humanization of the vulnerabilities of even a god-emperor.
In the words of Hadrian retold “I was god, to put it simply, because I was man.”
9/10