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A review by raulbime
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar, Marguerite Yourcenar
5.0
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.