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Memoirs of Hadrian: And Reflections on the Composition of Memoirs of Hadrian (Penguin Modern Classics) Paperback – 7 Dec. 2000

by Marguerite Yourcenar (Author), Paul Bailey (Introduction), Grace Frick (Translator)
4.5 out of 5 stars 662 ratings
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Framed as a letter from the Roman Emperor Hadrian to his successor, Marcus Aurelius, Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian is translated from the French by Grace Frick with an introduction by Paul Bailey in Penguin Modern Classics.

In her magnificent novel, Marguerite Yourcenor recreates the life and death of one of the great rulers of the ancient world. The Emperor Hadrian, aware his demise is imminent, writes a long valedictory letter to Marcus Aurelius, his future successor. The Emperor meditates on his past, describing his accession, military triumphs, love of poetry and music, and the philosophy that informed his powerful and far-flung rule. A work of superbly detailed research and sustained empathy, Memoirs of Hadrian captures the living spirit of the Emperor and of Ancient Rome.

Marguerite de Crayencour (1903-88), who went by the inexact anagrammatic pen name 'Marguarite Yourcenar', was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist, the first woman to be elected to the Académie française. Her first novel Alexis was published in 1929; in 1939 she was invited to America by her lover Grace Frick, where she lectured in comparative literature at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. When Mémoires d'Hadrien was first published in 1951, it was an immediate success and met with great critical acclaim.

If you enjoyed Memoirs of Hadrian, you might like Robert Graves's I, Claudius, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

'A timeless masterpiece ... every page is informed by her profound scholarship'
Paul Bailey, author of Gabriel's Lament

'Yourcenar conjures worlds. She can make us share passion - for beauty, bodies, ideas, even power - and consider it closely at the same time. She is that most extraordinary thing: a sensual thinker'
Independent on Sunday

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  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Classics
  4. Publication date
    7 Dec. 2000
  5. Dimensions
    12.95 x 1.68 x 19.56 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0141184965
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0141184968
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From the Back Cover

Framed as a letter from the Roman Emperor Hadrian to his successor, Marcus Aurelius, Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian is translated from the French by Grace Frick with an introduction by Paul Bailey in Penguin Modern Classics.

In her magnificent novel, Marguerite Yourcenor recreates the life and death of one of the great rulers of the ancient world. The Emperor Hadrian, aware his demise is imminent, writes a long valedictory letter to Marcus Aurelius, his future successor. The Emperor meditates on his past, describing his accession, military triumphs, love of poetry and music, and the philosophy that informed his powerful and far-flung rule. A work of superbly detailed research and sustained empathy, Memoirs of Hadrian captures the living spirit of the Emperor and of Ancient Rome.

Marguerite de Crayencour (1903-88), who went by the inexact anagrammatic pen name 'Marguarite Yourcenar', was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist, the first woman to be elected to the Académie française. Her first novel Alexis was published in 1929; in 1939 she was invited to America by her lover Grace Frick, where she lectured in comparative literature at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. When Mémoires d'Hadrien was first published in 1951, it was an immediate success and met with great critical acclaim.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 7 Dec. 2000
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0141184965
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0141184968
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 216 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.95 x 1.68 x 19.56 cm
  • Best Sellers Rank: 19,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 662 ratings

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars A memorable read.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 April 2015
    Verified Purchase
    This book is justifiably renowned. It tells in the first person the life of Emperor Hadrian, the one who organised the building of the famous wall between England and Scotland, among other things. Miss Yourcenar's historical knowledge illuminates the story but not in a dry way. We are privy to Hadrian's thoughts and opinions and he comes over as very much a man of his times but also as a sympathetic charismatic man. One of the other things he was famous for is his great gay love affair with the beautiful young man, Antinous. Hadrian made him immortal by commissioning a multitude of busts and statues of this youth so that hundreds of years later his face is more familiar than that of more famous people of his time. It is made clear that Antinous was not the only gay relationship Hadrian enjoyed but it was the one which made the most impact. In dying young Antinous became immortal as an example of beauty and gay love. This love is described delicately and poignantly. The reader feels as bereft as Hadrian. In the book Hadrian acknowledges that if Antinous had not died when and as he did time might have allowed their love to subside into affectionate friendship...or it might not. The power of the narrative is in this honesty of thought. Lost love cannot be tarnished or grow less...it remains at full power. Hadrian goes on with his life but Antinous never truly leaves him for he can see him in memory and dreams, perfect as he was in life. This is a book you can read again and again. The insight into the Roman world of that time is endlessly fascinating. I recommend this book unreservedly.
    20 people found this helpful
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  • M. Torma
    5.0 out of 5 stars A book that can re-read a few times and its as good every time
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2012
    Verified Purchase
    If you wish to have a quick, easy and even amusing dip into the era of the late Roman empire - this is not the book for you. If you want to know the facts of battles, constructions, bloodlines and courtly intrigues (which there were plenty, accession of Hadrian wasn't quite so straightforward as we see it through Hadrian's/Yourcenar's eyes) - this is not the book for you. There are other books to read if this is what you are after (say Lindsey Davies' Falco series).

    As someone said in the comments below - this is rather a philosophy book set in historical era, an era that Yourcenar knew very well (I believe she spoke Latin and ancient Greek fluently). It's historically impeccable (even if it doesn't go on about battles) but you can sense the tensions and ideals of mid 20th century in the book set in the 2nd century. Writing a "ghost biography" limits how much you can say about a person so it limits how many different story lines you can keep going and limits analysis of different aspects of Hadrian (he was no saint) but this is not a flaw in the book as the biggest beauty of the book lies in Marguerite Yourcenar's prose. She worked on the book for 10 years and in the sentences became tense with meaning while appearing deceivingly simple. You want to slow down and absorb this book. It is like the most excellent wine you unexpectedly find (not to diminish the book or aggrandise the wine) - you just want to savour it until the end.
    26 people found this helpful
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  • Ellen Howells
    4.0 out of 5 stars Arrived on time well packaged
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 August 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Not my usual read but interesting.
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  • Philip Lee
    5.0 out of 5 stars Can't wait to read it!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 May 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Having read & reviewed Herman Whatshisface's Death of Virgil, I was recommended this as a more readable alternative by a Goodreads friend. Join the community!
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  • marinetti
    5.0 out of 5 stars Clear & sublime
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 January 2019
    Verified Purchase
    When suddenly, at midnight, you hear
    an invisible procession going by
    with exquisite music, voices,
    don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
    work gone wrong, your plans
    all proving deceptive—don’t mourn them uselessly.
    As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
    say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
    Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
    it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
    don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
    As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
    as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,
    go firmly to the window
    and listen with deep emotion, but not
    with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
    listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
    to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
    and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Roman Clodia
    3.0 out of 5 stars Slow, meditative and sad
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 June 2010
    I really wanted to like this book but while I found it well-written with a lingering, contemplative beauty, it was ultimately a little too self-interested and, dare I say, self-indulgent for me. Yourcenar's Hadrian is definitely her own creation and one which reflects herself, I would guess, rather than the second-century Roman emperor.

    The blurb describes this as `part historical novel and part general reflection about life' - I would say it's almost wholly the latter, with hardly any of the former at all. Other reviewers have praised Yourcenar's historical evocation but I'm afraid I'm not one of them. I admit I'm far from being an expert on the second century CE, but the sense of `Romanness' feels very unconvincing to me.

    Structured as a long valedictory letter to Marcus Aurelius, this is a book which only takes place within Hadrian's own mind, so there is little drama, no scenes, no speeches, no other voices other than Hadrian's own.

    The Antinous episode, in particular, suffers from a melancholy, romantic flavouring that is very nineteenth-century (in a Goethe's Werther mode) rather than anything more robustly Roman.

    So overall this is a strange book, definitely worth reading as an intelligent meditation on the `human condition', but which I found very unsatisfactory as a novel.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • genericbloke
    5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great work, a love letter to antiquity
    Reviewed in Germany on 2 October 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Fantastic book, oozes history, you get a real palpable sense of being there, along for the ride.
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  • JS485SQUID@aol.com
    5.0 out of 5 stars A grand masterwork.
    Reviewed in the United States on 10 October 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I know well the original French version, but like also the translation, written carefully by the author’s close companion, the American Grace Frick. An excellent translation.
    Since I came to live in Maine10 years ago, I went to visit the author’s house in Mount Desert Island. I recommend to anyone who likes that book, to find a biography of Marguerite Yourcenar, the first woman, (Belgian by birth) accepted at the Academie Française, and to read as many other titles of hers as possible.
    Yourcenar started the Memoirs as a young woman and rewrote it a few times during adulthood (she only kept the opening sentence), it is indeed a book of passion for life but for the mature mind, of philosophical and political wisdom, and of the mysteries of relationships of all kinds. Her historical knowledge is remarkable and throughout the book you feel you are right there with one of the most interesting emperor of all times, telling you his story.
    Customer image
    JS485SQUID@aol.com
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    A grand masterwork.

    Reviewed in the United States on 10 October 2024
    I know well the original French version, but like also the translation, written carefully by the author’s close companion, the American Grace Frick. An excellent translation.
    Since I came to live in Maine10 years ago, I went to visit the author’s house in Mount Desert Island. I recommend to anyone who likes that book, to find a biography of Marguerite Yourcenar, the first woman, (Belgian by birth) accepted at the Academie Française, and to read as many other titles of hers as possible.
    Yourcenar started the Memoirs as a young woman and rewrote it a few times during adulthood (she only kept the opening sentence), it is indeed a book of passion for life but for the mature mind, of philosophical and political wisdom, and of the mysteries of relationships of all kinds. Her historical knowledge is remarkable and throughout the book you feel you are right there with one of the most interesting emperor of all times, telling you his story.
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  • Greig Ward
    5.0 out of 5 stars You will feel transported to another era.
    Reviewed in Australia on 7 July 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Just loved the work of Marguerite Yourcenar's translation of this amazing tale/memoir from an era which I was unfamiliar - until reading this. I felt as though I was alongside Hadrian (or inside his head) as he shares insights, observations, emotions, and wisdom. A beautiful - bordering on poetic - read. It will definitely be added to my copy of 'Meditations' as a book to be re-read, and re-read.
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  • Subhorup
    4.0 out of 5 stars Paperback packaging needs to improve singinicantlh
    Reviewed in India on 3 September 2018
    Verified Purchase
    When the product is a paperback, additional cardboard reinforcement would help the item reach the customer in a "less damaged" condition. Very disappointed - in spite of being very happy with having made a great purchase.
    Report
  • SteTata
    5.0 out of 5 stars Perfetto!
    Reviewed in Italy on 20 July 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Perfetto, prodotti e spedizione
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