Transcript John Williams Augustus - Impressions By Maria

John Williams
Augustus
Title: Augustus
Author: John Williams
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Pages: 305
Publisher: , 0
ISBN: 0670141127
Format: PDF / Kindle / ePub
Size: 8.5 MB
Download: allowed
Description
A brilliant and beautifully written novel in the tradition of Robert Graves’ I, Claudius, Augustusis
a sweeping narrative that brings vividly to life a compelling cast of historical figures through their
letters, dispatches, and memoirs.
A mere eighteen years of age when his uncle, Julius Caesar, is murdered, Octavius Caesar
prematurely inherits rule of the Roman Republic. Surrounded by men who are jockeying for
power–Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Mark Antony–young Octavius must work against the
powerful Roman political machinations to claim his destiny as first Roman emperor. Sprung
from meticulous research and the pen of a true poet, Augustus tells the story of one man’s
dream to liberate a corrupt Rome from the fancy of the capriciously crooked and the wildly
wealthy.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Insightful reviews
Rod: I've never been particularly interested in political novels or had any great fascination with
ancient Rome, but this beautifully written novel held me transfixed nonetheless. It's a cliché to
say it "brings history alive," but it does indeed bring history alive. Told in epistolary form as a
compendium of letters and journal entries by characters both integral and incidental, we get to
know Octavius Caesar the August from the perspective of those who love him and of those who
despise him, but we don't hear directly from the titular character until near the end of the novel
(and the end of his life), as he writes to an old friend and ruminates in moving fashion over his
accomplishments and regrets, his beloved city of Rome, and the legacy he leaves behind.
These multiple viewpoints give Augustus a richness and believability that almost makes one
forget that one is reading a masterful work of historical fiction and not a collection of actual
historical documents, yet it still reads like a novel, not a history. From a historical novel there is
not much else one can ask.
Oh, and I just wanted to add that it seems as if this work gets short shrift compared to Williams'
other novels, Stoner and Butcher's Crossing, possibly because they are on the great NYRB
imprint and Augustus isn't, denying it that sort of instant cachet. I've read all three, and in my
opinion Augustus is superior to the vaunted Stoner (which commits the sin of telling-and-notshowing a little too much for my taste, although it redeems itself somewhat through its sheer
emotional impact) and to Butcher's Crossing (which is, frankly, just kind of dull). I would love to
see more people reading and talking about it; it won the National Book Award, for crying out
loud.
Ryan: John Williams wrote a supreme novel in Augustus, his fourth and last. It's a historical
drama set in the ancient republic of Rome and revolves around the eponymous emperor. The
style is epistolary, with letters, memoirs, and memoranda exchanging hands among a fairly
large cast of characters deserving of an ensemble acting award, or rather distinct voices award,
for moving along the strands of plot toward a visionary conclusion. Williams's cohesive vision of
power and consequential human destiny is Shakespearian. He has consolidated exacting
language, strong characters, flashes of awesome feelings, and moments of simplicity and
grace. I was actually quoting these qualities.
Mankind in the aggregate I have found to be brutish, ignorant, and unkind, whether
those qualities were covered by the coarse tunic of the peasant or the white and purple
toga of a senator. And yet in the weakest of men, in moments when they are alone and
themselves, I have found veins of strength like gold in decaying rock; in the cruelest of
men flashes of tenderness and compassion; and in the vainest of men moments of
simplicity and grace.
Augustus shared with Williams's early novel Stoner not only the well-chiseled and polished
prose of a modern classicist but a rather ruthless understanding of characters, their deep
contradictions and inconsistencies, and their heroic and base natures.
"How contrary an animal is man ... !" exclaimed the emperor Augustus at one point. The book is
a theater of human contrariness and inconsistency. Its cinematic scenes have the heft of an
epic. Wonderful to see the action develop from the volley of hand delivered letters. I suppose
the snappy emails of today have nothing on the deliberate transcription of experiences written
by hand on a blank page. The novel's sequencing of letters alone is informed by the craft of a
builder of suspense. The privileged peeks at human quirks and spontaneous madness are
worth the price of reading. Without the televisual prompts, the novel enacts an intelligent game
of thrones.
The quote above is from a letter of Octavius Caesar (Augustus) to Nicolaus of Damascus, dated
A.D. 14. Here's another clip, from an earlier letter by Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) to Sextus
Propertius, 10 B.C.:
I shall not subject you, my dear Sextus, to one of my disquisitions; but it seems to me
more nearly true, as the years pass, that those old "virtues," of which the Roman
professes himself to be so proud, and upon which, he insists, the greatness of the
Empire is founded—it seems to me more and more that those "virtues" of rank, prestige,
honor, duty, and piety have simply denuded man of his humanity.
How Ovid was able to come up with a bleak assessment of civilization lies at the core of this
historical novel. It is a brilliant aphoristic text, especially the essential Book III which is the point
of view of Augustus himself, and I am here resisting the urge to ransack for this review the many
scintillating passages I've noted on my copy.
Powerful and literary figures of the day populate the book: Julius Caesar, Cicero, Mark Antony,
Cleopatra, Ovid, Livy, Brutus, and Horace. Their relations play out in a stunning display of
hunger for power and immortality.
Through the character of the charismatic emperor, Williams comes close to establishing a
hierarchy of loves (love of literature, love of a woman, love of one's child, love of countrymen,
love of power). At a very high price, Augustus comes close to recognizing "the highest form of
love ... for an object that approaches the absolute." He also comes close to identifying the
essential attribute of a true leader, the key to fulfilling a destiny.
What is said of Augustus by Mark Antony, his perennial rival to power, is accurate: "I know that
he does nothing from passion or whim. He is such a cold-blooded fish that I must almost admire
him". From one Machiavellian leader to another, that is as good as an acknowledgement of the
well-rounded character of the emperor, his cunning and intelligence. Of the fate of the human
race, Augustus is not optimistic.
We tell ourselves that we have become a civilized race, and with a pious horror we
speak of those times when a god of the crops demanded the body of a human being for
his obscure function. But is not the god that so many Romans have served, in our
memory and even in our time, as dark and fearsome as that ancient one? Even if to
destroy him, I have been his priest; and even if to weaken his power, I have done his
bidding. Yet I have not destroyed him, or weakened his power. He sleeps restlessly in
the hearts of men, waiting to rouse himself or to be aroused. Between the brutality that
would sacrifice a single innocent life to a fear without a name, and the enlightenment
that would sacrifice thousands of lives to a few that we have named, I have found little to
choose.
This is a very wise novel if only because it underlines life's crucial paradoxes and the
compromises, traditions, and belief systems we can hardly escape from. If Augustus has no
faith in a Roman god or an ancient god, then in humanity at least his trust is not completely
revoked. He himself, as shaper of destinies, is part of this "remaking".
It was more nearly an instinct than knowledge, however, that made me understand that
if it is one's destiny to change the world, it is his necessity first to change himself. If he is
to obey his destiny, he must find or invent within himself some hard and secret part that
is indifferent to himself, to others, and even to the world that he is destined to remake,
not to his own desire, but to a nature that he will discover in the process of remaking.
In this novel of power, the novelist has hardly changed the world. Yet in registering the changes
in his characters as they take over the world, he has remade it.
Isidora: Augustus is an epistolary novel set in classical Rome. This is written by John Williams,
an author I haven´t read before. Many favourable reviews of Stoner which came into my way
lately made me very curious about Williams´ work. He seems to have written only great novels.
Not many though, but it says that all can be placed on the great American novel bookshelf. So
when I saw Augustus at my library, I knew the time was right.
In Augustus Williams tells the story of the founder of the Roman Empire. Using letters and diary
entries by his friends, relatives, enemies, opponents, and, in the very end, by the emperor
himself, he brings the picture of Octavius Caesar´s life and his rise to the most powerful man in
the ancient world. But the term historical fiction is somewhat deceiving here, for the central part
of the book is emperor´s relationship to his only child, daughter Julia and the sections from
Julia´s diary are the most beautiful parts.
This is an extremely well-written novel. Fifty pages in I'm so impressed by the clarity and
precision of the writing that I´m almost breathless. The rest of the book is equally elegant and
fine. But I miss something. The reason for that? Could be that I feel it's blowing cold from the
pages of this beautiful but detached story. That I don´t know who Augustus is. That even Julia
remains in a far, far away land. Could be all of this.
I´m ending by giving four stars to the book. It is highly recommended, indeed, but I wish my
heart was more along for the ride.
orsodimondo: I BARBARI ASPETTANODalle be aware d'autore: Alcuni errori di fatto, in questo
libro, sono voluti. Ho modificato l’ordine di numerosi avvenimenti. Ho inventato là dove i dati
storici sono incerti o incompleti. E ho creato alcuni personaggi cui los angeles Storia non fa
cenno… Tranne poche eccezioni, i documenti che formano questo romanzo sono inventati… Ma
se in questo lavoro sono presenti delle verità, sono le verità della narrativa più che della Storia.
Sarò grato a quei lettori che lo accoglieranno in line with quello che vuole essere: un’opera
dell’immaginazione.Questo si legge all’inizio, e non alla fine, dell’opera. E già questo
dovrebbe convincere a lasciar perdere l’attendibilità storica, il confronto testo-a-fronte.Come se
non bastasse, Williams scrive:Ma los angeles Storia non conosce l. a. verità, ammesso che los
angeles Storia possa mai conoscerla.E forse è stato proprio questo a spingere il filologo e
storico Luciano Canfora a bocciare il romanzo di Williams proprio sul piano della veridicità
storica – con inutile puntiglio accademico , con una serie di motivazioni che lasciano il pace che
trovano.Williams imbastisce l. a. sua narrazione con una collazione di testi e fonti: carteggi,
diari, testimonianze, documenti ufficiali.Per oltre trecento pagine Augusto esiste solo attraverso
quello che di lui riportano coloro che lo hanno conosciuto, frequentato, amato, servito, ubbidito,
temuto, combattuto, tradito. Il college si compone di molte voci, sfalsate nel tempo, oppure
contemporanee ai fatti: toni diversi, punti di vista diversi, angolazioni diverse, piani temporali
diversi. Un coro di voci che racconta bene il pace e il protagonista, in certi momenti costruendo
perfino suspense, in altri regalando autentiche sorprese (su tutte, l. a. descrizione di Roma che
fa Strabone al suo amico Nicolao di Damasco, una città forty three anni prima della nascita di
cristo che fa venire in mente l. a. Ville Lumière, e anche los angeles Grande Mela).Augusto fu
investito dalla Storia che period ancora adolescente: il suo corpo fragile fu una costante che
sconsigliava dal ritenerlo duraturo. Eppure, nonostante le frequenti malattie, si sottopose a
fatiche non comuni: oltre le battaglie, le vittorie, le conquiste, riportò speed unità e diritto a
Roma, donandole quarant’anni di stabilità e prosperità. Questo, l. a. lunga pace, fu il suo più
grande successo: il suo poema, paragonabile a quelli degli amici poeti, letterati, filosofi con cui
amava intrattenersi (Virgilio, Orazio, Ovidio….).Peccato che l. a. terza parte del libro sia
totalmente diversa dalle top due, poliedriche, agili, leste, leggere, spedite, snelle… l. a. terza è
un blocco monolitico, un'unica lunga lettera di Augusto, quarantacinque pagine di cui davvero
non sentivo il bisogno. C’era già tutto, non mi pare che l. a. diretta voce di Augusto aggiunga
dettagli o novità.Come mi è già successo, un autore che mi ha regalato letture meravigliose
(Stoner, Butcher’s Crossing) mi delude parzialmente proprio nella sua opera più famosa e
premiata (National ebook Award). I barbari aspettano. Ma Roma non cadrà davanti a loro, cadrà
alla wonderful davanti a quel barbaro cui nessuno si sottrae… il Tempo
Arwen56: Un libro pregevole, sebbene non all’altezza di Stoner, in step with quel che mi
riguarda. Qualcuno ha osservato che Augustus “non è abbastanza romanzo e non è neppure
abbastanza vera storia” e, forse, non ha tutti i torti. Anzi, togliamo natural il “forse”.
Probabilmente è proprio questo fatto che me l’ha fatto apprezzare un po’ meno rispetto al
primo. Oltre che una maggior “freddezza” espressiva, sia pur necessaria alla materia trattata e
alla modalità letteraria scelta in line with elaborarla, ossia quella epistolare e di stralci di vario
genere. Comunque, vale davvero los angeles pena leggerlo, perché los angeles prosa di
Williams è un grande piacere in sé e il ritratto di Augusto che ne deriva, vero o falso che sia,
affascinante.Chissà se Butcher's Crossing sarà altrettanto coinvolgente. Ce l’ho in attesa di
lettura, perché questo autore è stato indubbiamente una felice scoperta. Oddio, avrei anche
Nulla, solo los angeles notte, ma una personality di cui mi fido lo sconsiglia. Di conseguenza,
temo proprio resterà nel limbo dei “libri negletti senza alcun rimpianto”.
Lynne King: And but a 3rd ideal publication by means of this inimitable writer who was once
operating on the very peak of his powers. I now understand that i'm going to by no means back
encounter a publication reminiscent of this. i really didn’t are looking to end it as I felt that I
needed to proceed during this spell binding dream. What disturbs me, however, is the drawback
that after one has enjoyed something/someone so much, these following, good to my brain
anyway, will in simple terms be substitutes which in itself is quite a tragic nation of affairs.As I
learn this e-book i used to be transported again to my college days whilst i used to be regularly
taking notes however it is assorted right here simply because i've got resorted to 3M post- it
notes which virtually disguise each web page at any time when a suitable sentence or observe
has struck me.Where can one in all probability start with this outstanding individual? this can be
the lifetime of Augustus as might be noticeable by means of the canopy yet this isn’t a standard
novel because it is written within the epistolary sort and for the 1st web page this did difficulty
me yet because the e-book progresses and develops, the fictional memories, letters and
dispatches describe a extra intimate point of the lifetime of the 1st Roman Emperor which
matches this paintings exactly. In fact, i don't think that this is able to were accomplished in the
other way.When I remember learning this era when at school, i discovered all of it fairly heavy to
absorb and truly fairly bland and the textbooks have been usually fairly tedious, the single
exception being the conflict of Atrium. Now that used to be a greatest conflict indeed. Williams
admitted that he did switch convinced old occasions from this era yet he additionally under
pressure that this used to be a singular of his personal invention. people who weren't coated
intensive in daily heritage have been additionally introduced in, akin to Julia, the daughter of
Augustus.As I learn Julia’s magazine written at the island of Pandateria the place she used to
be in exile, the intimacy of her writing in components used to be so touching that it was once
tricky to proceed analyzing the text. For this type of lively and passionate girl as Julia, she
should have suffered to be compelled to marry 3 times for the benefit of Rome and for her
father. husbands died and she or he used to be very keen on Marcus Agrippa yet as a result of
his death, she used to be pressured to marry Tiberius. She detested him with a passion.
therefore it took some time for her to conceive and soon after the kid was once born, a boy, it
died. After this Tiberius and Julia went their separate ways.Julia was once by no means to event
any kind of a sensual, idealistic love and a gathering of the minds until eventually ultimately a
guy got here into her lifestyles that introduced such love and passion, yet who unfortunately will
be liable for bringing approximately her personal ruin.The remark that Julia made right here
used to be so poignant for me after assembly this actual man:No guy has touched me
considering that afternoon. No guy shall contact me for so long as I shall live. and she or he
may do not forget that up until eventually her death.VI. The magazine of Julia, Pandateria (A.D.
4)In the consulships of Octavius Caesar, the August, and Marcus Plautius Silvanus, I, Julia,
daughter of the Emperor, was once accused ahead of the Senate convening in Rome of
adultery, and therefore of the abrogation of the wedding and adultery legislation that my father
had glided by edict a few fifteen years before. My accuser was once my father. He went into
nice aspect approximately my transgressions; he named my lovers, my areas of assignation,
the dates. within the main, the main points have been correct, notion there have been a number
of unimportant names that he omitted……..He defined drunken revels within the discussion board
and debaucheries upon the very rostrum from which he had first introduced his laws; he stated
my frequentation of varied homes of prostitution, implying that out of perversity I offered myself
to a person who could have me; and he defined my visits to these unsavory tub institutions
which authorised combined bathing and inspired all demeanour of licentiousness. those have
been exaggerated, yet there has been sufficient fact in them to lead them to persuasive. and
eventually he demanded that, in response to his Julian Laws, I be exiled perpetually from the
precincts of Rome, and asked the Senate to reserve me put on this Island of Pandateria, to stay
out the remainder of my lifestyles in contemplation of my vices.If historical past recollects me at
all, background will consider me so. yet historical past won't understand the truth, if background
ever can.It was once simply because Octavious Caesar really enjoyed his daughter and due to
legislation initiated via him that he needed to denounce her himself, hence saving her from
being accomplished because the Senate might have ensured. He by no means spoke to her
back and he or she was once by no means allowed to be mentioned in his presence. it isn't till
we come to booklet three while Octavious writes a slightly lengthy letter to an outdated friend,
Nicolaus of Damascus (A.D. 14) that the real purposes are uncovered for his behaviour in the
direction of his daughter.As with Greek tragedies, Williams’s novels divulge the method
wherein “what you will have done” is progressively stripped clear of a character, leaving in
basic terms what he did do - that's to say, the residue that's “yourself.”The memoirs of Marcus
Agrippa, a chum of Octavious for plenty of years, are a travel de strength yet i used to be quite
serious about the correspondence of Mark Antony. His love for Cleopatra used to be obtrusive
however it wasn’t till the conflict of Actium that he discovered what she was once whilst she
observed the best way the conflict used to be turning and departed together with her fleet. the
subsequent was once written in a single of Marcus Agrippa’s memoirs: It was once a kind of
curious moments within the confusion of conflict with which all infantrymen are familiar. The
vessel which carried Caesar Augustus and my very own send had come so shut jointly that shall
we check out each one other’s eyes and will even shout to be heard above the furor; now not
thirty yards away, the place it were pursued after which left, was once the send of Marcus
Antonius. i think that every one 3 people observed the red sail of Cleopatra’s departing flagship
on the related time. None people moved; Antonious stood on the prow of his send as though he
have been a carven figurehead, taking care of his departing Queen. after which he grew to
become to us, even though even if he famous both folks i don't know. His face was once with no
expression, as though it have been that of a corpse. Then his arm lifted stiffly, and dropped; and
the sails have been thrust into the wind, and the nice send grew to become slowly and accrued
speed, and Marcus Antonius after his Queen. We watched the pitiful is still of his personal ships
that escaped the slaughter, and we didn't try to pursue. i didn't see Marcus Antonius
again.Maecenas brought Octavious to poets that he could by no means usually have met.
Vergil, Horace, Cicero, etc. and this resulted in my looking through all my reference books for
additional details on them. And as for Cicero’s death, surely a truly disagreeable finish yet i
used to be packed with admiration for this person on how he dealt with this. He had sort within
the face of adversity.There is not any doubt that Williams has succeeded admirably by way of
writing an epistolary novel and bringing to lifestyles this extraordinary and but very strange
Roman of his time. I’m unhappy even though that there's just one extra e-book of Williams to
be learn not anything however the Night. His first novel, of which he was once a bit dismissive,
and of which i've got ordered a duplicate and his poetry, which unfortunately i can't find.As
acknowledged before, an ideal ebook and but so tough to describe. It by no means ceases to
amaze me that once one actually loves something, it's so, so tricky to discover the suitable
words. as though it truly is of any such deepest nature, that one can't input inside and that's
certainly real of Williams, who had his personal internal sanctum.
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