“Los dioses no estaban ya y Cristo no estaba todavía”, Flaubert.

Marguerite Yourcenar achieved with “Memoirs of Hadrian” a colossal and poetic recreation of the life of this emperor. It took her many years of research and subsequent writing. It was worth it. The work is read astride between fiction and biography, leaving a residue of good literature, very rarely surpassed even by herself. It is an essential work, even if you don't like history in general or the Roman era in particular. In my case, being a lover of both, I greatly enjoyed reading it. I highly recommend it.

This novel offers a unique perspective on the life of Emperor Hadrian. Yourcenar's meticulous research is evident in the detailed descriptions of the Roman world, its politics, culture, and society. The narrative is both engaging and thought-provoking, delving into the inner turmoil and philosophical musings of the emperor.

Whether you are a history buff or simply a lover of great literature, “Memoirs of Hadrian” is a must-read. It transports you to a bygone era and allows you to experience the life and times of one of Rome's most fascinating emperors.

I don't know how to find the right words to comment on this book. I start by babbling the common opinion that yes, it is a masterpiece. Yourcenar shows an unrivaled ability to sketch the Roman emperor Hadrian, a man almost deified who had the audacity to oversee the entire world of his era.

Yourcenar's scope is wide and includes everything. The universality of her work shines a blinding light and gives the reader an unreturnable ticket that propels him to all the lengths and breadths of the earth, educates him in a higher aesthetic sense of literature, which is expected to become his new unit of measurement, to stand as a new reference point for his crisis of what is Beautiful and Noble.

This work stands proud and superb, like a polished oculus by the most delicate and sensitive hands, without pretentious language but with the full extent of all its capabilities, all-sweet without being cloying, a trembling text that overflows with life, virtue, a intoxicating sobriety and above all an inspiration that characterizes the works of the life of a great artist.

This work is also poetic, a hymn that lifts us directly to the celestial dome to see this vain world passing like a fleeting cord under our feet; fugitive, ephemeral, deeply true and human.

In this period of History, a capable emperor, with the banner of the idea of peace, took it upon himself to re-lay the road of civilization with rose petals, to enrich the poorly written. The unrolling of this thread allows us to step more firmly on the ground, to grasp the myth of the past and to unite it with the present; above all to get out of the stagnation of the present, from our microcosm, and to connect with the past in a way that makes us almost physically understand how everything starts from somewhere and leads somewhere.

Finally, it is a treatise on death, a study so well researched, a theory so specific and yet so inaccessible, that the reader risks hoping that when his time comes, he will be able to face it with the courage, virtue and wisdom that Hadrian had, this brave and proud man, emperor of the Roman Empire.

Hadrian, sketched and reconstituted as faithfully as possible through the dignity of this woman, can, in every angle, impartially, teach us a lesson about life. Through his life, one redefines his gaze on things, on History, on the present and on the future. He was a man as much as a god as we would like to be, and a god as much as a man as we would like to be. The path of his life was intertwined with Aristotelian moderation and one needs no other reason than this to cleanse his eyes, to open his eyes, to dust off his spectacles and to take paper and pen. Virtue, strength, the wisdom of the ancient Greek spirit, the balance of thought, the idea of friendship and above all of Love, trust and respect for the gods, the broad vision and speculation on the world and the material from which it is made, these and so many other Ideas dance on the pages through a language of overwhelming beauty, with the calm and sense of an artist with a sure hand, who knows how to handle the detail that will reflect beauty directly and devastatingly on the most unassuming recipient. A simple peasant as well as a leader can understand these bright ideas, to transform the radiation of Hadrian, to the extent that is appropriate for them, to the measure of their abilities.

Through the footnotes at the end of the book, which are also brilliant works of art, fragments of the author's thoughts on the book, the person of Marguerite Yourcenar emerges. And again, I can only make one bow. Her work seems to me like that of an archaeologist. I don't forget the shiver I felt when I read the inscription of Manolis Andronikos in the museum of Vergina, where it is mentioned the moment when he realized that he had just discovered the tomb of Philip. I felt that Yourcenar must have experienced, if not the same, but similar feelings "digging up" the personality of Hadrian; a thrill at every new digit, an additional blow at every new detail that composed the mosaic of this worthy man. Because it is not just about the presentation of a memorable emperor; it is about the deposition of an entire bright and primeval world of yesterday in front of our feet, as a gift. Its mapping was laborious and extremely time-consuming for the author; she carried Hadrian on her shoulders from the age of 20 until she completed it at the age of 48; the result should have given her the greatest justification.

Wisdom floods this work; it remains to stand at the height of the circumstances it defines and to swim in order to reach the opposite shore, exhausted but clearly more capable.

If you are a reader who underlines like me, I pity you in advance that you will fall into the trap of underlining so many things, excluding the others, which you should also have underlined. If you are one of the pastoral ones, I envy you because you will have the pleasure of rediscovering from the beginning a top text, fresh and new, like its ideas. Because of course I leave it to be understood that this book is worth reading again.

I have not read another book like this one. I came out richer.

An Ode

Hadrian, born in 76 AD and passing away in 138 AD, was a man, a Roman, and an Emperor who reigned from 117 AD to 138 AD. He was fictionalized in historical form from 1924 to 1951 by a French woman writer, Marguerite Yourcenar, who lived from 1903 to 1987. Nearly two millennia separate his life from the chronicle, the event from the research. The Roman Empire has been the subject of so much study, praise, distortion, misuse, and inheritance of both thought and form.

Hadrian is one of many historical figures, chosen here because of the intersection of his life with the death of Roman Gods and the struggles of Christianity. Within this theological miasma, he had his youth, with its glorious physicality, flights of poetic fancy, and slow dissolution into the machinations of power hidden behind robes and other panderings at officiated strivings. He came, he saw, and he succeeded in the name of Greece and the sense of restraint of one with the broadest stretch of conquered land the Romans ever saw.

He continued to rule contentedly and dabble in realms of indulgence rich in form and thought. But is he happy? By this clemency and audacity to reinterpret his mind and all its efforts, his fate seems well suited to his Age, where self-awareness was afforded expression on the widest field at his disposal. The author has granted him interests in a multitude of thoughtful meanderings of Art, Culture, Philosophy, love of the flesh, and thrill of the hunt.

However, I view Hadrian with a mix of acquiescence and contrariness. His generosity, restraint, and insight are inextricably mixed with his nationalism, colonialism, and the assurance that a wave of his hand would raise a city. Would it make him angry if I stripped his sensibilities of all its high flown phrases and simply termed it white savior complex?

He is dead and gone, and his proud Rome is split and sundered. The worth of his beloved Greece lies solely in its ancient past. The current Age has no patience for his encapsulated philosophizing, conquering streak, or yearning to imprint himself on the widest stage of remembrance. And yet, I delight in this prose of his life, constrained as it is by the breach of centuries, the warp of fiction, and the woof of translation. I find worth in his thoughts, mongering as they are in brutal horrors and the easy conscience of a ruler of ages past.

For better or for worse, Hadrian, Publius Aeilus Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, you are known. And so, I leave you this ode, a mix of little praise and heavy caution, grudging admiration and audacious critique. The profile of your death is not mine to make, not with my veins of cynical forbearance and lack of interest. You were born, and through fate and fortune, you found yourself in a seat of power, made your mark on land and record by all the skills vested by culture and self-interest. And thus the world remembers you as such, as time melds history with embellishment, and those of the past seep into the newfangled forms of the future. You came, you saw, and now you sleep, to be brought forth in all your good and all your ill by minds who see fit to do so.

No, this is not an uplifting book.

However, it is rather like poor Atlas uplifting the Heavens.

At first, I admired this book much more than I liked it. It was not until I reached the central chapters that it crystallized for me.

Yourcenar has written a book about a lonely, depressed, ageing Roman Emperor Hadrian suffering from a congenital heart condition. If that does not sound enticing enough to the prospective reader, he has been brooding over a certain event which he perceives, or unconsciously shows us, as illuminating his entire life.

The book is written in the form of a letter to his adopted successor, the future Emperor Marcus Aurelius. I am not entirely convinced that the Hadrian we meet in this book would have written this intimate letter to his designated successor. We don't see him being intimate in that way at all in the book - which no doubt is part of his problem.

Yourcenar struggled with writing the book. She started shortly after Robert Graves wrote I, Claudius in the 1930s. She had several false starts, struggling to find a way of letting Hadrian speak without being drowned out by other voices. The form of a letter seems a perfect solution. It is effectively a monologue but without the idea that he is silencing other voices.

At one point in the narrative, Hadrian thinks of himself as a god, or at the very least god's instrument on earth. Yourcenar's technique was to read, or rather steep herself in the writings of the Roman empire during the second century. She was inspired by a letter of Flaubert's.

The great thing about this novel for me is how Yourcenar was both inspired by Flaubert yet in her fiction transcends his statement. We see how Hadrian is initiated into Mithraism and the Eleusinian Mysteries and how their notions of life emerging from death intersect with his personal experience.

This is a tremendous literary work. It is all about the intersections, everything is interwoven. But appallingly anglo-centric as I am, Yourcenar's book led me not to think of Flaubert but of Gibbon's judgement in his the Decline and fall of the Roman empire.

Yourcenar's Hadrian's thoughts suggest a feeling that time is cyclical. I recalled also Mary Renault who, like Yourcenar, lived in a same sex relationship and set some of her fiction in a past when certain kinds of same sex relationships were culturally sanctioned. If for me this is a four star novel then Yourcenar's notes on her writing process which complete the volume are five star an utter delight.

Just when the gods had ceased to be, and the Christ had not yet come, there was a unique moment in history, between Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, when man stood alone. (Gustave Flaubert).

Gustave Flaubert’s quote served as a catalyst for Marguerite Yourcenar’s relationship with Hadrian, the Roman emperor who lived from 76 AD to 138 AD. She came to know Hadrian better than her own father, stating, “The facts of my father’s life are less known to me than those of the life of Hadrian.” (quotes in italic from 'Reflection on the Composition'). In her twenties, she first had the idea of writing a book about Hadrian but realized she was too young after several attempts. She burned some of her notes, thinking, “There are books which one should not attempt before having passed the age of forty…..It took me years to learn how to calculate exactly the distances between the emperor and myself.”

However, Hadrian continued to萦绕在她心头. Over the following years, he would pop up here and there. In an artist’s shop, she discovered a Piranesi engraving named ‘View of Hadrian’s Villa’. She wrote an essay on Greek mythology where Hadrian’s name appeared. She continued reading authors from classical antiquity and realized that “…one of the best ways to reconstruct a man’s thinking is to rebuild his library.” Eventually, in 1948, she discovered some four or five typewritten sheets with the salutation ‘My dear Mark…’. She finally realized that Mark stood for Marcus Aurelius and that she had a fragment of her manuscript in her hands, which she had believed to be lost. From this point on, she took up her work on Hadrian again. With meticulous research, she was able to bring to life an emperor about whom so little is known. Scholarship alone was not sufficient for the creation of this fascinating portrait. She knew she had to take herself out of the picture, saying, “Keep one’s own shadow out of the picture; leave the mirror clean of the mist of one’s own breath; take only what is most essential and durable in us….” The result of all those years of research, reflection, meditation, and ultimately writing was ‘Mémoires d’Hadrien’ – a very special book.

‘Memoirs of Hadrian’ consists of a valedictory letter that Hadrian writes to his successor, Marcus Aurelius. He reflects on his own life, life in general, and his approaching death. Reading these lines, it is easy to forget that this letter was written by an author who lived in the twentieth century. Yourcenar’s writing is so real. Her prose is tranquil, composed, and occasionally formal, just as one would expect from a valedictory letter written in Latin. It contains some of the most beautiful and poignant quotes, such as: “I am not sure that the discovery of love is necessarily more exquisite than the discovery of poetry.” (p.41), “Our great mistake is to try to exact from each person virtues which he does not possess, and to neglect the cultivation of those which he has” (p.47), and “Since hatred, stupidity, and delirium have lasting effects, I saw no reason why good will, clarity of mind and just practice would not have their effects, too.” (p.90). I quote here from the English translation by Grace Frick, done in collaboration with the author. Grace Frick and Marguerite Yourcenar had a romantic relationship, and I am convinced that Frick’s translation grasps the beauty of the original. I have read both the French version and the English translation, and the elegance and beauty of the prose in both are awe-inspiring.

It is difficult to describe the emotions that this book evokes in the reader. To understand the philosophical depths of Yourcenar’s writing and to absorb the beauty of her language, it really must be read. For this reason, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes in-depth reading. You will start asking questions about your own life, your own views, and the way you deal with challenges. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that Yourcenar’s work might not be very well known outside of France. None of my literary friends here (in Zurich) have heard of her, and her books are not stocked in the local bookshops.
Even though Yourcenar’s historical research on Hadrian is said to be thorough, I would not classify the book as pure historical fiction. Indeed, readers of historical fiction might be disappointed, as ‘Memoirs of Hadrian’ is rather on the philosophical side. It is more a reflection on life and politics, with no plot to speak of. It is not a fast read; at least, I did not find this to be the case. I would not recommend it as a beach read or an airport novel. Rather, this is a book to be savoured in front of the fire, with a delicious cup of tea or a glass of red wine. In your favourite wing chair, under your favourite tree. Wherever your chosen haunt is – go there with this book, settle down, take your time, and lose yourself in Hadrian’s memoirs.

This is a historical novel that vividly and humanely recreates the life of the famous emperor.

It can be enjoyed even more if one has knowledge of the historical period in which it developed, but it is not essential.

It offers a wise reflection on the great themes of humanity.

The story unfolds, taking the reader on a journey through the emperor's life, with all its joys, sorrows, triumphs, and challenges.

The author's detailed descriptions bring the characters and settings to life, making it easy for the reader to immerse themselves in the story.

Whether you are a history buff or simply enjoy a good novel, this work is sure to captivate you and leave you with a deeper understanding of the human experience.

It is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the rich tapestry of history and the complex nature of humanity.

I have been completely enamored with this book ever since I turned to page 5. It is truly astonishingly well-written. By default, it can be regarded as a masterpiece, exquisitely crafted to vividly depict the life of a man who lived long before us and will continue to have an impact long after us.

I don't know precisely why this story evokes such a strong emotion in me that I feel like crying. (I just completed reading it three minutes ago.) I simply have this urge to view Hadrian as a human being with his own set of flaws, who was thrust into a position where he received an excessive amount of credit for his actions. History does not remember him in the same light as Marguerite Yourcenar does. This is because history is composed of cold and unforgiving data that cannot be altered.

Yourcenar, on the other hand, accomplished something entirely different. She delved into the essence of the man. And she did so in such an extraordinary manner that throughout the entire book, I haven't sensed the woman's touch in the man's thoughts. I find that to be truly amazing. If this isn't amazing, then I don't know what is.

This is a beautiful book, and I highly recommend that you read it!!

Dear friends, , the French writer, published this book, namely "Memoirs of Hadrian" or "The Memoirs of Hadrian" in 1951 AD.

Dear ones, reigned over the Roman Empire from 117 to 138 AD and ruled over Rome and other lands. Now the story of this book begins like this: Hadrian is on his deathbed, sick and dying, and he describes his memories for , a 17-year-old youth who, like Hadrian himself, is of Spanish origin. It should be noted that this 17-year-old youth is none other than , who is famous as the Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD.

Hadrian speaks in his memoirs of his life full of achievements and his hard fate. He talks about his great flights, how he spent most of his life on the frontiers of the empire in times of war. He says that when he was not on the battlefield, he spent most of his time and energy on building. He has climbed the ladder of success and progress step by step and, in almost 20 years that he has been on the imperial throne, he has been engaged in governing the distant lands, especially the eastern lands, and has not been at ease for a moment.

Hadrian was the Roman Emperor when ancient Greece was on the verge of decline and destruction of its power and advanced civilization, and Christianity was spreading like a dangerous virus and disease in that land.

In fact, in this story, you will encounter the physical and mental weaknesses and diseases of man, lust, power, death, suicide, war, love and desire, and so on, all of which have been with great and small humans throughout the ages and will probably be with them forever.

I hope this review has been useful in understanding this book.

Be victorious and be Iranian.

Rereading is obligatory.

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After more than 20 years, the rereading is completed. What then seemed to me surprising and transgressive now appears to me beautiful and admirable.

We are surely facing the most relevant historical novel never published. It is surprising in its form: to fictionalize the life of Hadrian in the middle of the past century is undoubtedly something daring. It is very well documented and, as Yourcenar explains in the extremely interesting final notes, it was years and years of documenting, sketching, trying to find the form, the narrative voice.

It is also surprising for the intimate tone used by the author for a character as relevant as this enlightened and visionary emperor like Hadrian. The sexual freedom, the triangle of Lucius, Antinous, Hadrian, the respective wives... amazing.

Much has already been written about this work and I will not be the one to expand here. I only recommend this fantastic work.

Marguerite Yourcenar's "Memorias de Adriano" revolutionized the biographical novel. As she herself clarifies in the final annotations, a sort of postscript, it was impossible to write this biography without the recourse to the novel. And it is from this conjunction of fiction and historical research that the remarkable nature of this novel emerges. Narrated as if it were a letter to Emperor Adriano's successor, Marco Aurelio, in reality, literarily speaking, it does not have the tone or style of an epistolary. Rather, in its first chapter, it is a profound interior monologue in which Yourcenar embodies Adriano and transcribes the turns of his inner conscience, becoming a kind of philosophical treatise on ethics and morality (but those of Adriano, interpreted by Yourcenar, who, contrary to Flaubert, clarifies in that postscript that Adriano is not her, although it confirms my hypothesis of embodiment). Yourcenar makes a profound exercise of otherness through an exhaustive research of historical sources (as she names them in detail in the final note) but also reveals her "trick": in the same final notes, she clarifies the historical and fictional parts, all with the intention of fitting everything within the demands of Literature. In that sense, it is more a novel than a biography, but the detail in the reconstruction of its time, and of buildings, monuments, art, sculptures, paintings is undoubtedly of absolute precision. Therefore, its historical value is equally important.

With all this, and all that has already been said about this novel, there is nothing left but to recommend it completely.

L’imperatore Adriano, now 60 years old, is seriously ill. He has no hope of recovery and each breath could be his last. He decides to write a long letter to Marco Aurelio, his adopted nephew and successor, who is destined to become emperor in turn. This is his goodbye to life and beauty. He does so by remembering his love for the young Antinoo, the glory of his conquests and achievements, and his passion for astrology and Greek culture.

Marguerite Yourcenar drew from highly authoritative sources (such as Cassio Dione's Roman History and the biography of Adriano in the Historia Augusta) to depict the figure of a cultured and modern Roman emperor. She changed some details for the linearity of the narrative or due to the scarcity of proven historical facts. After all, this is a historical novel in epistolary form or a historical-philosophical essay (define it as you like), not an official historical biography. It was inspired by an observation of Flaubert: "When the gods no longer existed and Christ was not yet, between Cicero and Marco Aurelio, there was a unique moment in which man existed, alone." Adriano lived in the period between the fall of paganism and the spread of Christianity, a moment of extreme delicacy for the convictions of mankind.

After many versions, revisions, and burned manuscripts, finally Yourcenar reached the conclusion of this masterpiece that we can enjoy today. It is illuminating and profound. I was ecstatic about its rich content and harmony. It is a truly immersive experience, including an elegant and brilliant writing style.

It has surely conquered a place at the top of my favorite novels.

«Each of us has more virtues than we believe, but only success puts them in evidence.»

This statement holds a profound truth. Often, we are unaware of the hidden strengths and qualities within us. We may go through life underestimating our capabilities and not fully realizing the potential that lies dormant.

However, it is when we achieve success that these virtues begin to shine through. Success acts as a catalyst, revealing our perseverance, determination, creativity, and other admirable traits. It gives us the confidence to recognize and embrace our virtues, and it also allows others to see them.

We should not wait for success to discover our virtues. Instead, we should actively seek to uncover and develop them. By believing in ourselves and taking on challenges, we can bring out the best in us and achieve greater things.

In conclusion, each of us has an abundance of virtues waiting to be discovered and展现. Let us strive for success, not only to achieve our goals but also to reveal the hidden gems within us.