Yo, Hadrian

When I learned the author spent over twenty years writing this book, I stopped feeling guilty that I took so long to finish it.
Hadrian, as I vaguely remember from Architecture school expands the Roman empire all the way to England.

At the beginning I really loved it. The emperor Hadrian is writing an end of life letter to his young protégé. He writes beautiful reflections about life and human relationships:

"Already certain portions of my life are like dismantled rooms of a palace too vast for an impoverished owner to occupy in its entirety. I can no hunt no longer...." (p.5)


But then, it is immersion in wars, invasions. Strange sounding lands, but many are not so strange, Alexandria, Jerusalem.

Hadrian's tactics of invasion and visionary leadership are just barely enough to keep me engaged. “…the clear-sightedness of Tiberius, without his harshness; the learning of Claudius, without his weakness; Nero’s taste for the arts, but stripped of all foolish vanity; the kindness of Titus, stopping short of his sentimentality; Vespian’s thrift, but not his absurd miserleness." (p. 167)

There is political good press of how he tried to be fair to slaves. There is love for other men.

The illustrations are weak black and white photos of old sculptures and murals.

I kept with it. When Hadrian’s beloved Antonius dies tragically, it becomes absorbing. Hadrian repeats sadly over and over A. is dead, A. is dead. Being an emperor, he can build cities and monuments and statues to this lost icon. It is a painful account, told from decades later. For me, this is when the narrative becomes a wide river and you can relax and experience it. Human sadness is the same now as then. In this way, the book is depressing because there is no peace in the middle east, not then when Hadrian fights wars with the Jewish tribes, or now.

In summary, I liked this book, but I found parts of it a bit slow going. Still, there were always great sentences to sustain:

"From time to time a servant would dip a great jar of porous clay into the cooling waters; even the most limpid verse lacked the sparkle of that clear stream." (p155)

I want to give this five stars, but it was a little slow and ponderous at times. Highlights obviously were Antinous, Yourcenar’s musings in beauty and love, and surprisingly, the notes about the writing of the book at the end. Very interesting, thinking of the lines between poetry and history (as she put it). Comparisons to Julian by Gore Vidal and Augustus by John Williams but I think she wrote a different kind of book, not better or worse, but quite distinct.

A very interesting and insightful read.

nothing i have read compares to this novel in its plunge into the depths of one man's desires, ambitions, philosophy and scope.

one major role of a historical fiction and its writer is to inspire their reader to turn to the seeds and sands of the past, leaf through its pages and explore what actually transpired, weave for themselves an accurate tapestry, as closely as possible. this means, however, not to reject inventions, for these are integral to a novelist, to a poet; but rather to embrace and understand the flourishes, the flights and the dives, keeping intact the historical backdrop, to grasp the very aspects of a character and culture that give them life and the touch of truth. at the same time, historical narrative inadvertently has its limitations, but an exceptional novelist paints upon that mechanical wall a rich mural, leaps over it sometimes, and often brings it down. here, [a:Marguerite Yourcenar|7732|Marguerite Yourcenar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1655661586p2/7732.jpg] succeeds with soaring colours.

Hadrian (24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was the Roman emperor from 117 to 138, at a time when the classical world was slowly shifting over the undercurrents of a newer one. it was a time of great uncertainty: the roman gods had not yet faded, the philosophical and cultural traditions yet not abandoned; not had the christian faith been established. now, in this version by Yourcenar, the aged and ailing emperor lies on his deathbed. he writes to his successor [a:Marcus Aurelius|17212|Marcus Aurelius|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1430676293p2/17212.jpg], meditating his on military triumphs, love of poetry and music, philosophy, and his passion for his lover Antinous. he looks back and he looks forward: what his life held and what the future now may hold.

there are no dialogues, but in a manner reminiscent of [a:Gustave Flaubert|1461|Gustave Flaubert|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1651461896p2/1461.jpg]'s "melancholy of the antique world", the book is in conversation with the writer, with the reader, as much as it is with 'My dear Mark'. meticulously crafted, Memoirs of Hadrian is an entirely moving masterpiece where moments of being meet marked by a warm melancholic movement, giving way to a musical composition that has no equal.

A bit difficult at first to get the hang of the writing style. But once that hurdle was overcome, it was like joining the enlightened emperor in his peaceful meditations on life, like listening to him reminisce aloud. I appreciated that she did not idealize him. Hadrian makes mistakes, he hurts people, changes his mind, then suffers himself... Complicated, with good and bad mixed into one.

Les mémoires d’Hadrien sont un de ses textes qu’on peut relire et relire, avec différents surligneurs, et marquer ses états d’esprits à différents moments d’une vie. À cette première lecture, j’ai pu entrevoir les leçons de vie qui m’étaient présentées mais pour lesquelles j’étais encore trop jeune.

Mes ces leçons sont aussi camouflées dans un langage un peu opaque, à mon opinion excessivement pompeux. Les références historiques, culturelles et géographiques me manquait aussi pour vraiment suivre Hadrien. Si ce texte avait été écrit pour ses lecteurs, une carte et un glossaire auraient grandement facilité la lecture, mais je n’ai pas l’impression que le livre a vraiment été écrit pour nous. J’ai plutôt l’impression qu’elle vise à combler un vide dans les références historiques, pour elle-même? Pour les autres adeptes d’Hadrien? En tout cas, pas pour nous ignorants.

Finalement, je n’ai pas réussi, durant ma lecture, à dépasser cette impression de me faire arnaquer – à oublier cette femme du 20ième siècle qui se fait passer pour Hadrien. Ces mémoires prennent leur importance dans l’importance de l’empereur. Ses notes d’écritures à la fin du livre nous invitent toutefois dans son processus d’écriture fascinant, et dans son propre univers. Si seulement je les avais lues avant les mémoires. Elle a essayé de s’effacer du texte, mais je n’arrêtais pas de la chercher - à la deviner. Mais après l’avoir rencontré à travers ses notes, j’ai pu l’oublier, et me concentrer sur son projet.

Mais l’envergure du projet, qu’on ressent dans son texte, et qu’on comprend dans ses notes, en valent le détour. Et mon univers se trouve enrichi par cette rencontre avec Hadrien.

Review en Français • en Español • in English
En lisant ce livre j'ai fait la grande découverte d'une autrice que je ne connaissait absolument pas. Construites à partir de sources scientifiques, Yourcenar imagine dans ce roman philosophique des mémoires de l'empereur Romain Hadrien, un des cinq "bons empereurs", sage et pacifiste. Elle joue avec l'idée de ce que signifie de créer une Rome "éternelle". Hadrien est imaginé ayant la vision de diffuser la philosophie et l'esthétique grecque grâce à la solidité du vaste Empire Romain. De cette façon il pense apporter ce qu'il considère le summum de la culture humaine au reste du monde.
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Esta lectura fue un gran descubrimiento de una autora que no conocía para nada. Gracias a fuentes científicas, Yourcenar imagina en esta novela filosófica las memorias del emperador Romano Hadrian, uno de los cinco "buenos emperadores", sabio y pacifista. Ella juega con la idea de lo que significa crear una Roma "eterna". Hadrian es imaginado teniendo la vision de transmitir la filosofía y la estética griega gracias a él vasto y solido Imperio Romano. De esta forma piensa llevar lo que él considera el summum de la cultura humana al resto del mundo.
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This is a great discovery of an author I didn’t know at all. In this book, Yourcenar uses historical sources to imagine the memoirs of the Roman emperor Hadrien, one of five “good emperors”, wise and pacifist. She plays with the idea of what it means to create an “eternal” Rome. Hadrien is imagined and ascribed the vision to diffuse the greek philosophy and aesthetics using the solidity of the then very vast Roman Empire. This way he brings what he sees as the summum of culture, to the rest of humankind.