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.
| ISBN: | 9781487548810 |
| Publication date: | 14th March 2024 |
| Author: | K R Bradley |
| Publisher: | University of Toronto Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 479 pages |
| Series: | Phoenix. Supplementary Volume |
| Genres: |
Ancient, classical and medieval texts Biography: historical, political and military Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval Historiography European history: the Romans Literature: history and criticism |
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's Hadrian features in the following genres: Ancient, classical and medieval texts, Biography: historical, political and military, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Historiography, European history: the Romans, Literature: history and criticism
Marguerite Yourcenar's Hadrian is available in Hardback
Marguerite Yourcenar's Hadrian was written by K R Bradley and published by University of Toronto Press
Marguerite Yourcenar's Hadrian has 479 pages
Yes it is part of Phoenix. Supplementary Volume series
£77.40