Reading Diary
The book Claudius the God is Robert Graves' sequel to I ,Claudius which was written in the 'twenties. I first became aware of the book by seeing on TV the version by Masterpiece Theatre with a star studded cast. Crazy emperor Caligula stole the show.
The book Claudius the God continues the saga after Claudious, now emperor, accedes to the Roman throne, a byproduct of his longevity because rivals think he is too inconsequential to kill. So, in a sense it is a sort of revenge novel. The now powerful Claudius narrates, with hubris, his exploits in Britain, his military maneuverings, efforts at reform, and dealings with the colorful but tricky King Herod-- and betrayals by wife Massalina. Massalina.
His description of his conquest of Britain has a discussion of the Druids--a problematic group resisting Roman indoctrination.. They are not the gentle Wiccans we imagine today. Human sacrifice was involved, at least in Claudius's understanding, and about three quarters of the adherents to Druid priesthood died in the final stage of ordination, wherein they would be put in a coma by an alkaloid, experience visions and either awaken or not.
Not only has Graves a masterful grasp of Roman history but he manages to endow a character with the personality, speech inflections, and distortions characteristic of any autobiographer.
The book is reminiscent of Gore Vidal's historical novels in that they capture a remoter time. THey give life to individuals hitherto unknown to the reader, as well as a style of thinking unfamiliar to todays reader. One is met with surprising oddities of Roman thought. While, for example, Claudius is describing his progressive measures, his wise handling of administrative duties, and an even handed approach to various troublesome characters, he also mentions that he is considering dooming a few hundred captured soldiers to the gladiatorial amphitheater.
A first rate book--entertaining, historically complex, well written, the book succeeds on many many levels.
One of the very interesting aspects of the book is the description of Herod's belief that he is the fulfillment of the prophesy for a messiah. Meanwhile, Claudius describes a former claimant to that honor. Some fellow from Galilee, a troublemaker put to death who now has a loyal but misguided group of adherents believing him to have been a god and participating in odd rites such as drinking .
Short Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
Tyrants Destroyed
These are short stories by Valdimir Nabokov most of them while he was an emigre in Europe in the thirties and forties. One was composed while teaching at Cornell. The first story "Tyrants Destroyed" is a at times whimsical, but really terrifying memories of a tyrant. The tyrant is not exactly Stalin, not exactly Hitler, or anyone else so definable. But the narrator describes his acquaintance and memories of a now reigning politician, and his growing loathing. He follows the ascent of this brutish man and the follies of his countryman as they embrace his image, his values, his habits, and the cult like incarnation of his publicists. A murder to eliminate the tyrant is devised, but obviated as the narrator realizes he has killed the character literarily by rendering him ridiculous on paper.
Other stories are self-reflective and involve various characters Nabokov encounters in his émigré days--kindly people who take the narrator in during periods of derangement, duplicitous and brilliantly mysterious poets, characters who turn out later in the story to be simply elements of Nabokov's compositional imagination as he composes a story based on incidents he sees, and manqué lovers and their sorrowful influence on him--lovers later admitted in the story to probably have been misremembered, rendering our sympathetic pathos at the story ridiculous.
Stories from the master--they do not have the comprehensive brilliance and scope of his later novels but are readable, clever, tricky, demonstrative of his literary sleight of hand, and provide some insight into émigré society of pre-war Europe. Some of the stories were translated by his son.
The book Claudius the God is Robert Graves' sequel to I ,Claudius which was written in the 'twenties. I first became aware of the book by seeing on TV the version by Masterpiece Theatre with a star studded cast. Crazy emperor Caligula stole the show.
His description of his conquest of Britain has a discussion of the Druids--a problematic group resisting Roman indoctrination.. They are not the gentle Wiccans we imagine today. Human sacrifice was involved, at least in Claudius's understanding, and about three quarters of the adherents to Druid priesthood died in the final stage of ordination, wherein they would be put in a coma by an alkaloid, experience visions and either awaken or not.
Not only has Graves a masterful grasp of Roman history but he manages to endow a character with the personality, speech inflections, and distortions characteristic of any autobiographer.
The book is reminiscent of Gore Vidal's historical novels in that they capture a remoter time. THey give life to individuals hitherto unknown to the reader, as well as a style of thinking unfamiliar to todays reader. One is met with surprising oddities of Roman thought. While, for example, Claudius is describing his progressive measures, his wise handling of administrative duties, and an even handed approach to various troublesome characters, he also mentions that he is considering dooming a few hundred captured soldiers to the gladiatorial amphitheater.
A first rate book--entertaining, historically complex, well written, the book succeeds on many many levels.
One of the very interesting aspects of the book is the description of Herod's belief that he is the fulfillment of the prophesy for a messiah. Meanwhile, Claudius describes a former claimant to that honor. Some fellow from Galilee, a troublemaker put to death who now has a loyal but misguided group of adherents believing him to have been a god and participating in odd rites such as drinking .
Short Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
Tyrants Destroyed
These are short stories by Valdimir Nabokov most of them while he was an emigre in Europe in the thirties and forties. One was composed while teaching at Cornell. The first story "Tyrants Destroyed" is a at times whimsical, but really terrifying memories of a tyrant. The tyrant is not exactly Stalin, not exactly Hitler, or anyone else so definable. But the narrator describes his acquaintance and memories of a now reigning politician, and his growing loathing. He follows the ascent of this brutish man and the follies of his countryman as they embrace his image, his values, his habits, and the cult like incarnation of his publicists. A murder to eliminate the tyrant is devised, but obviated as the narrator realizes he has killed the character literarily by rendering him ridiculous on paper.
Other stories are self-reflective and involve various characters Nabokov encounters in his émigré days--kindly people who take the narrator in during periods of derangement, duplicitous and brilliantly mysterious poets, characters who turn out later in the story to be simply elements of Nabokov's compositional imagination as he composes a story based on incidents he sees, and manqué lovers and their sorrowful influence on him--lovers later admitted in the story to probably have been misremembered, rendering our sympathetic pathos at the story ridiculous.
Stories from the master--they do not have the comprehensive brilliance and scope of his later novels but are readable, clever, tricky, demonstrative of his literary sleight of hand, and provide some insight into émigré society of pre-war Europe. Some of the stories were translated by his son.
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