The Last Days of Pompeii

Ziemlich eindimensionales Lesevergnügen mit scharfen Kontrasten

Zur Entstehungszeit war die romanhafte Gestaltung der archäologischen Funde sicherlich eine absolute Sensation, die Schicksale zu den Opfern des Ausbruchs des Vesuv absolut zu Herzen gehend. Die 1830 hoch gehaltenen Werte sind inzwischen ziemlich in Verruf gekommen, daraus resultierende Negativurteile über gleichgeschlechtliche Dispositionen zu Diskriminierungen geraten. Zudem langweilt mich, wie schon bei Don Quixote, die Tendenz die schönen Menschen bei erster Gelegenheit als Paar vorzustellen, das sich liebt und gegen alle Anschläge von Schurken zusammen oder sich gewogen bleibt, ohne nur einen Wimpernschlag die Alternativen zu erwägen. Die klare Trennung in Gute (Christen oder solche, die es noch werden) und Schurken (allesamt habgierige Scharlatane, die der Vesuv beim Raffen ereilt) macht die letzten Tage von Pompeji zur ziemlich eintönigen Lektüre.
Natürlich lässt sich das Ganze auch als Parabel auf der Untergang der korrupten heidnischen Welt und dem Aufstieg einer besseren christlichen Menschheit lesen, aber gerade die Kapitel mit der Guten Nachricht sind dermaßen für ein frommes Publikum mit der Siegerperspektive geschrieben, dass keinerlei Heilsverheißung überspringt, auch wenn der von Jesus von den Toten erweckte Jüngling als alter Mann von seiner Erfahrung erzählt.
In dieser historischen Vorlage steckt sicherlich mehr Potenzial, deshalb haben sich genügend neuere Autoren daran versucht und dabei auch die Vorurteile der eigenen Epoche gestaltet. Da mich Pompeji von Robert Harris seinerzeit auch enttäuscht hat, wollte ich dem Klassiker noch mal eine Chance geben, das ist hiermit geschehen. Nach über sechs Jahren auf Pause war mir der kindle mit seiner Suchfunktion eine wesentliche Hilfe beim Neustart, bzw. dem Ermitteln früherer Auftritte von weniger prominentem Personal.

Once wildly popular, Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton is now best know for a couple of his quotes. One is "the pen is mightier than the sword," which is often used; the other is the opening to his novel Paul Clifford: "It was a dark and stormy night," which was later used by Charles Schulz in Peanuts, with Snoopy's attempts at writing a novel always starting with that line.

In 1834 Bulwer-Lytton published The Last Days of Pompeii, a potboiler about the days leading up the August 14, 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. He has a network of characters, heroes and villains, that get into tight spots, but all goes poof when the mountain erupts and the town is buried in ash.

The main characters are Glaucus, an Athenian, who is in love with the beautiful Ione. But she is also loved by the Egyptian Arbaces, who turns out to a mustache-twirling villain: "'Then hear me,' said Arbaces, sinking his voice into a whisper; 'thou shalt go to thy tomb rather than to his arm! What! thinkest thou Arbaces will brook a rival such as this puny Greek? What! thinkest thou that he has watched the fruit ripen, to yield it to another! Pretty fool--no! Thou are mine--all--only mine: and thus--thus I seize and claim thee!'" Other key characters are the blind slave girl, Nydia, who falls in love with Glaucus, who is good to her, but in her jealousy ends up getting him sentenced to the arena to be eaten by a lion. Along with him is Olinthus, the Christian, who is the bright ray of sunshine in this pagan world: "They regarded the Christian as the enemy of mankind; the epithets they lavished upon him, of which 'Atheist' was the most favored and frequent, may serve, perhaps, to warn us, believers of the same creed now triumphant, how we indulge the persecution of opinion Olinthus then underwent, and how we apply to those whose notions differ from our own terms at that day lavished upon the fathers of our faith." Bulwer-Lytton was ahead of his time on religious tolerance.

The novel has a serial quality, with episodes rather than a thorough plot. There is also a lot of purple prose, some of it for pages and pages, that don't seem to have much to do with anything. I slowed down when actual events were taking place, but there is a ton of filler, perhaps to satisfy Bulwer-Lytton's attention to his research.

"Pompeii was the miniature of the civilization of that age. Within the narrow compass of its walls was contained, as it were, a specimen of every gift which luxury offered to power. In its minute but glittering shops, its tiny palaces, its baths, its forum, its theatre, its circus--in the energy yet corruption, in the refinement yet the vice, of its people, you beheld a model of the whole empire." Of course, this is true given that the ruins of Pompeii, which were discovered in the 1700s, was the best chance to see Roman civilization as it was, untouched for two-thousand years.

The last few chapters are a real page turner. Arbaces has framed Glaucus for a murder he himself committed. Glaucus is about to enter the arena to be eaten by a lion. Will Nydia's letter to Glaucus' friend, exonerating him, be read in time? Of course, there's also the impending volcanic eruption, that only we know about. Bulwer-Lytton provides some striking details in the last few pages: "The lion had been kept without food for twenty-four hours, and the animal had, during the whole morning, testified a singular and restless uneasiness, which the keeper had attributed to the pangs of hunger. Yet is bearing seemed rather that of fear than of rage; its roar was painful and distressed; it hung its head--snuffed the air through the bars--then lay down--started again--and again uttered its wild and far-resounding cries." It's a kind of genius to shift the point of view to the lion at that point, but then we learn why--the lion, once released, will ignore exposed Glaucus, an innocent man, leading the mob to cry out for justice.

Then, when the volcano erupts: "The eyes of the crowd followed the gesture of the Egyptian, and beheld, with ineffable dismay, a vast vapor shooting from the summit of Vesuvius, in the form of a gigantic pine-tree; the trunk, blackness--the branches, fire!--a fire that shifted and wavered in its hues with every moment, now fiercely luminous, now of a dull and dying red, that again blazed terrifically forth with intolerable glare!"

Bulwer-Lytton will then go on to the obvious--those engaged in looting and larceny will end up buried in ash, alongside the good--you can't take it with you! A few will escape to the sea. But he sums up the notion of time nicely here: "Nearly Seventeen Centuries had rolled away when the City of Pompeii was disinterred from its silent tomb, all vivid with undimmed hues; its walls fresh as if painted yesterday--not a hue faded on the rich mosaic of its floors--in its forum the half-finished columns as left by the workman's hand--in its gardens the sacrificial tripod--in its halls the chest of treasure--in its baths the strigil--in its theaters the counter of admission--in its saloons the furniture and the lamp--in its triclinia the fragments of the last feast--in its cubicula the perfumes and the rouge of faded beauty--and everywhere the bones and skeletons of those who once moved the the springs of that minute yet gorgeous machine of luxury and of life!"

J'ai relu le livre,pas tant pour son contenu historique,mais surtout pour la langue absolument magnifique et les passages littéraires qui le traversent :

" Moi, je crois à deux divinités, la Nature et la Nécessité. Le respect me courbe aux pieds de la dernière, l'étude me fait adorer la première....)"
"Jetez les yeux sur le monde.L' œuvre proclame un créateur. Mais quel est le créateur ? un Dieux, vous écriez-vous ? Arrêtez, pas de confusions, pas de d'applications incertaines : de l'Être qui créa le monde nous ne connaissons,nous ne pouvons connaître que les attributs.Le mélange du bien et du mal, l'existence de la douleur et du crime,ont de tout temps embarrassé les sages.En créant un Dieu, ils le supposent bienveillant: d'où vient donc le mal ? Pourquoi Dieu le peut-il ? bien plus, pourquoi l'avoir inventé, pourquoi le perpétuer ? Quelle est la moralité que ma religion m'enseigne ? Celle-ci : toutes les choses ne sont soumises qu'à des règles générales ; le soleil luit pour la joie du plus grand nombre, mais il peut apporter de la peine à quelqu'un ; la nuit répand le sommeil sur la multitude, mais elle protège le crime aussi bien que le repos (...)
La nature n'agit donc que pour le bien général et non pour le bien universel, et la Nécessité hâte sa course terrible (...)
Je veux étendre la vaste carrière de la civilisation : en cela je sers les masses, j'obéis à la loi générale, je mets en action la grande morale que prêche la Nature : mais pour moi même je réclame l'exception individuelle, je le réclame pour le sage, assuré que mes propres actions ne sont rien dans la grande balance du bien et du mal .."

Un lien épique remarquable,entre désastre, drame et vie ancienne.Je ne peux que faire une analogie entre le "Quo Vadis" de Sienkewicz et ce roman que je considère comme supérior. Les deux décrivent des scènes de la vie provinciale du premièr siècle de l'ère chrétienne.
Dans le petit théâtre de Pompei , on trouve des passions,intrigues, complots,mœurs - placés à la fois dans l'opposition et conflit.Parce que, comme le dit l'auteur, - l'âme humaine est toujours la même, qu'elle soit recouverte d'un tunique grecque,robe romaine ou manteau moderne.
Si jamais je voulais écrire un roman historique,le seul ex.que je suivras serait celui de Bulwer Lytton. Je vois, en plus de Walter Scott, par ex. ,- une capacité innée à relier les sentiments d'une manière authentique, parfaitement intégrée à l'état d'esprit de la période décrite.

Most likely few people know the name of Edward Bulwer-Lytton. He authored the famous opening line “It was a dark and stormy night.” Which inspired cartoon dog Snoopy to be an author and an annual contest named for the author (human not canine). Bulwer-Litton was also the author of the famous quote: “The pen is mightier than the sword.” But likely few track attributions too closely. As for his book The Last Days of Pompeii (Kindle Edition) my speculation is that many know the title, have seen one or another of the movies and at most figure they may get around to the book someday. It is a fair read, hardly great literature. Not so much purple pose as over written. Calling it family friendly is oddly not that simple. There is no bad language and no sex and minimal violence. There is more than a hint of sex as entertainment, for hire and the beginnings of sexual predation. The Gladiator fight has a kind of staid stylized violence less bloody than would make a modern audience squirm. So even as this is a book as they used to write ‘em, it is not free of “a glimpse of stocking” or whatever the ancient Roman equivalent.

Speaking of Roman equivalent, The Last Days of Pompeii was inspired by a walking tour EB-L had taken of the recently rediscovered ruins of Pompeii. A rude person might suggest that he had lifted much from his guide book and pasted it directly into his novel. Depending on you pleasure in the latest in 19th century archeology along with your light reads, these can get to be a bit of a drag. If all he is doing is showing off what he learned while on vacation it would be that much more irritating, but much of it is used to infuse romantic images onto the prosaic facts of the remains of an ancient party town.

Last Days is a melodrama, toga costumed version of the “Perils of Pauline” variety. It is more. It is an ensemble drama more like the cast of dozens who are doomed books much later to be made famous. Titanic, Poseidon Adventure, On the Beach and of course the parody, Airplane! come to mind. None of these rates as great literature. Last Days, like the later books can be read on the beach or during the office lunch break without hiding the cover.

We already know that the city is doomed. The title alone is a clue. The problem for the author is to engage us with the characters and their respective plights and plot turns. Overall Bulwer-Lytton achieves this. However, getting to the pyroclastic climax takes a lot of getting there. Allowing that he was writing when a more leisurely pacing of plots was expected, The Last Days of Pompeii has a few too many sub plots and narrative diversions. I suspect that having read The Last Days of Pompeii, you may not feel driven to read his entire shelf, but not so turned off as to avoid other titles.

When I was in the third grade, I attended St Mary's School, Downers Grove, IL. Every Wednesday, we were summoned from our classroom to have this book read to us.

At least I THINK it was this book. That was 60 years ago, so who can be sure.

It was the pastor of our church, a Catholic priest, who did the reading.

It is a memory seared into my brain.. at least the memory of sitting in an aluminum folding chair in the gym hearing some Vesuvius tale being read to me.

When asked what book I enjoyed being read to me, this is what I remembered.

I will have to read it again someday just to see if this was the one. (Of course, if it turns out to not be the one, I will be devastated).

I read this perhaps 25 years ago, but just downloaded a copy, not remembering that I'm already familiar with it. The opening lines reminded me. Of course, being so long ago, I don't remember a lot about the reading (good reason to revisit the book,) but it did make quite an impression on me. Since I was a teenager, I've watched many documentaries that reference Pompeii, and have a fascination with volcanoes.

In 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted, the top 1/3 of the mountain disappearing in a moment. I was 9 years old. We were near enough to the mountain to see it, but far enough away to make the catastrophe only a moderate inconvenience. I remember standing on my Aunt's back deck and watching the ash plume drifting east. Over the next several weeks, ash settled on everything, and our neighbors closer to the volcano had to cope with ashy air, ash in and on all of their possessions, unreliable transportation, and property damage. 57 people died - DIED, in spite of massive warnings from scientists watching the mountain's activity. Spirit Lake all but disappeared, poisoned by gas and debris, clogged with ash. It was an incredible thing to witness - especially for a 10 year old.

Sometime thereafter, I found The Last Days of Pompeii at the library, and devoured it. In glancing over it again, I'm not sure how my middle school mind took in the archaic language, but having been raised on a steady diet of daily bible readings, I suspect I was more used to it than I would be now.

I do remember the story being a fascinating look at the day to day lives of a somewhat decadent Greco-Roman city. There were elements of influence from other cultures and religions also, which made the story even more interesting to me as a child, steeped as I was in fundamentalism. It was a rare peek into other philosophies, couched in historical fiction.

Perhaps on re-reading, it wouldn't stand up to my early experience. Still, I think I'll give it a shot.

قصة دارمية لطيفة جداً تدور أحداثها قبل حدوث بركان فيزوف بأيام ، الأيام الأخيرة لمدينة بومبي، المدينة الرومانية الشهيرة التي كانت مشهورة بالفساد والتبذير والثراء الفاحش..

مؤامرات وحب وتضحيات ومدينة تضج بالحياة والكهنة ، أجواء رومانية جميلة رصعها ليتون في روايته..

قرأتها للمرة الثانية بعد سنوات عديدة ولازلت أجد فيها ريح الجمال وعذوبة القصص الباكرة ..

A veiled Roman lady walks down the cobble stone street of ancient Pompeii. She smiles when she sees her friend and modestly removes only half her veil to greet her in front of the House of the Tragic Poet, a name that will be conferred upon it seventeen centuries hence.
t
“O friend! By wise Juno, how are you?”
t
“Alas and alack, dear friend! This day I am forced to place a one star review on Goodreads!”
t
“By the gods this is sore news indeed! Why?”
t
“The melodramatic overacting of the main characters is quite, quite terrible! Everything they say, by thunderous Jove, is exclaimed upon!”
t
“But-but, by Vulcan’s forge, a volcano ruins their whole world, is that not enough reason to be dramatic?”
t
“Not when the volcano erupts in only the last ten of 400 pages!”
t
The women stand and, with nervous hands, twist at the edges of their stola, a garment that was a long, pleated dress, worn over an undergarment called a tunica intima. The stola was generally sleeveless but versions of it did have short or long sleeves. These sleeves could belong to the stola itself or be a part of the tunic. The traditional sleeveless gown was fastened by clasps at the shoulder called fibulae. The stola was typically girt with ribbons, and typically had two belts. The first was worn just below the upper chest creating a great number of folds. The second and wider belt was worn around the waist. Stolas were generally made of fabrics like linen or wool, but a wealthy woman could be seen wearing a stola made of silk.
t
“Well then, you must at least then get a good day-in-the-life examination of the ancient city!”
t
“Nay! Tis a horrible Victorian soap opera of halfhearted assassinations and chaste love affairs!”
t
“O alas! That such a tale is wrecked in the telling!”
t
“Alas! By Mercury!”