Book Review
Feb. 27th, 2008 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariI, Claudius
by Robert Graves
This novel is a fictionalized autobiography of the Roman emperor Claudius, covering his life up until he becomes emperor. Claudius comes off quite well: he is educated, relatively mild-mannered, and capable of considerable cleverness and subtlety. The best example of the latter is the way he uses his stutter and limp to make himself seem harmless and negligible to the rest of the imperial family, thereby flying under the radar of their often deadly schemes and keeping himself alive. Another example is the wonderful scene in which Claudius successfully humors Caligula's conviction that he has just become divine. Most of the other members of the imperial family don't come off so well, especially Livia: there is a ton of (very entertaining) scheming and murdering. Graves' style is very readable and engaging, too.
by Robert Graves
This novel is a fictionalized autobiography of the Roman emperor Claudius, covering his life up until he becomes emperor. Claudius comes off quite well: he is educated, relatively mild-mannered, and capable of considerable cleverness and subtlety. The best example of the latter is the way he uses his stutter and limp to make himself seem harmless and negligible to the rest of the imperial family, thereby flying under the radar of their often deadly schemes and keeping himself alive. Another example is the wonderful scene in which Claudius successfully humors Caligula's conviction that he has just become divine. Most of the other members of the imperial family don't come off so well, especially Livia: there is a ton of (very entertaining) scheming and murdering. Graves' style is very readable and engaging, too.
