Memoirs of Hadrian
Ratings12
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings12
Average rating4.3
*Mémoires d'Hadrien* est un roman historique de l'écrivaine française Marguerite Yourcenar, publié en 1951. Ces pseudo-mémoires de l'empereur romain Hadrien ont immédiatement rencontré un extraordinaire succès international et assuré à son auteur une grande célébrité. Il s’agit d’une œuvre dont le projet remonte à l’adolescence de l’autrice. Yourcenar considérant le projet comme trop ambitieux pour être une œuvre de jeunesse, le décrivait de la trempe de ceux « qu’on ne doit pas oser avant d’avoir dépassé quarante ans ».
Le livre est présenté comme une longue lettre d’un vieil empereur adressée à son petit-fils adoptif et éventuel successeur âgé de 17 ans, Marc Aurèle. L’empereur Hadrien médite et se remémore ses triomphes militaires, son amour de la poésie et de la musique, sa philosophie ainsi que sa passion pour son jeune amant bithynien, Antinoüs.
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*Memoirs of Hadrian* (French: Mémoires d'Hadrien) is a novel by the Belgian-born French writer Marguerite Yourcenar about the life and death of Roman Emperor Hadrian. First published in France in French in 1951 as Mémoires d'Hadrien, the book was an immediate success, meeting with enormous critical acclaim. Although the historical Hadrian wrote an autobiography, it has been lost.
The book takes the form of a letter to Hadrian's adoptive grandson and eventual successor "Mark" (Marcus Aurelius). The emperor meditates on military triumphs, love of poetry and music, philosophy, and his passion for his lover Antinous, all in a manner similar to Gustave Flaubert's "melancholy of the antique world."
Yourcenar noted in her postscript *Carnet de note* to the original edition, quoting Flaubert, that she had chosen Hadrian as the subject of the novel in part because he had lived at a time when the Roman gods were no longer believed in, but Christianity was not yet established. This intrigued her for what she saw as parallels to her own post-war European world.
Reviews with the most likes.
A fictional (constructed well within our known history) memoir of the Emperor Hadrian. This is an old book and so much has been written about that I can add little. It's beautifully written and best understood in the context of its time.
I'd started it once before but it's a book where the prose really matters, and I found when I started it before I couldn't give it my full attention.
I've started working through the book 1,000 books to read before you die (I've read a dismal 84) and MOH is included in that list so I set out to read it in its entirety.
Very glad I did. It's exhaustively researched but never feels dry. I'd recommend it if you are already interested in Roman History. If not, I'm afraid it might be a big of a slog.
Il était temps que je lise cette oeuvre acclamée par la critique. Je n'ai pas été déçu par ces pseudo-mémoires de l'empereur romain Hadrien, à qui Marguerite Yourcenar donne vie pour nous relater sa vie et notamment son histoire d'amour avec un jeune homme mort trop tôt. C'est à la fois une belle histoire d'amour et un récit passionnant sur l'Empire romain.
A brilliant book. If I only could read it in the original French. The one issue is that I find Hadrian's visions of the future to be a bit too on the nose, but it's not a major issue. (I know its to give him that ‘touch of the divine', but still....). Anyone who has good knowledge of Greco-Roman history and literature should enjoy.
