Marguerite Yourcenar's Hadrian
Writing the Life of a Roman Emperor
Seiten
2024
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-4881-0 (ISBN)
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-4881-0 (ISBN)
This book offers a critical appreciation of Marguerite Yourcenar's historical novel Mémoires d’Hadrien as an authentic portrait of a Roman emperor.
Marguerite Yourcenar is best known as the author of the 1951 novel Mémoires d’Hadrien, her recreation of the life of the Roman emperor Hadrian. The work can be examined from the perspective of the issues raised by writing Roman imperial biography at large and the many ways in which Mémoires has a claim to historical authenticity.
In Marguerite Yourcenar’s Hadrian, Keith Bradley explains how Mémoires d’Hadrien came to be written, gives details of Yourcenar’s own biography, and describes some of the intricate historical problems that her novel’s portrait of Hadrian presents. He draws on Yourcenar’s correspondence, her interviews with journalists, and her literary corpus as a whole, emphasizing Yourcenar’s profound knowledge of the ancient evidence on which her life of Hadrian is based and exploiting a wide range of contemporary Yourcenarian criticism.
The book pays special attention to the methods by which Yourcenar believed Hadrian’s life history to be recoverable, compares examples of modern life-writing, and contrasts the procedures of conventional Roman biographers. Revealing how and why Mémoires d’Hadrien is as it is, Marguerite Yourcenar’s Hadrian illustrates how imaginative literary recreation is often little different from historical speculation.
Marguerite Yourcenar is best known as the author of the 1951 novel Mémoires d’Hadrien, her recreation of the life of the Roman emperor Hadrian. The work can be examined from the perspective of the issues raised by writing Roman imperial biography at large and the many ways in which Mémoires has a claim to historical authenticity.
In Marguerite Yourcenar’s Hadrian, Keith Bradley explains how Mémoires d’Hadrien came to be written, gives details of Yourcenar’s own biography, and describes some of the intricate historical problems that her novel’s portrait of Hadrian presents. He draws on Yourcenar’s correspondence, her interviews with journalists, and her literary corpus as a whole, emphasizing Yourcenar’s profound knowledge of the ancient evidence on which her life of Hadrian is based and exploiting a wide range of contemporary Yourcenarian criticism.
The book pays special attention to the methods by which Yourcenar believed Hadrian’s life history to be recoverable, compares examples of modern life-writing, and contrasts the procedures of conventional Roman biographers. Revealing how and why Mémoires d’Hadrien is as it is, Marguerite Yourcenar’s Hadrian illustrates how imaginative literary recreation is often little different from historical speculation.
Keith Bradley is the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame and an adjunct professor in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Victoria. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
List of Illustrations
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Authenticity Pursued
3. Authenticity Filtered
4. The Rules of the Game
5. The Accession
6. Antinous
7. The Jewish War
8. Rise and Fall
9. The Isle of Achilles
10. Residue
Notes
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index
Erscheinungsdatum | 28.12.2023 |
---|---|
Reihe/Serie | Phoenix Supplementary Volumes |
Zusatzinfo | 4 b&w illustrations |
Verlagsort | Toronto |
Sprache | englisch |
Maße | 157 x 234 mm |
Gewicht | 760 g |
Themenwelt | Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte |
Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik | |
Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik | |
Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
ISBN-10 | 1-4875-4881-8 / 1487548818 |
ISBN-13 | 978-1-4875-4881-0 / 9781487548810 |
Zustand | Neuware |
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
Stories
Buch | Softcover (2024)
New Directions Publishing Corporation (Verlag)
14,95 €