Historical Novels

Nichael Cramer nichael at sover.net
Wed Jul 12 17:29:00 EDT 2000


Jon Weatherly wrote:

> Years ago I enjoyed the BBC's production of *I,
> Claudius* on "Masterpiece Theater*. Last year,
> prompted by the MLA's list of 100 best novels in
> English in the 20th century, I read it. I found it an
> engrossing portrayal of Imperial Rome. Whatever the
> deficiencies it might have in representing the period,
> Graves's first-person narration through the voice of
> Claudius is a remarkable literary achievement. He
> created one of the most vivid characters in recent
> literature, I think.

_I, Claudius_ is a lot of fine (even allowing for the awful "...in 2000
years, a man will open graves..." pun).  But we should bear in mind that
IC is --even by Grave's own admission-- largely a novelization of
Suetonius.

Nichael




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