Rating: 
Summary: Black Comedy At Its Best
Review: I, Claudius has just made its way onto my Netlfix queue, and I can only hope that the mini-series based on the Robert Graves novels are played as a black comedy! Robert Graves has managed to write a wickedly funny portrayal of the "royal family" from the reign of Augustus Ceaser through the wanton debauchery of Caligula. All three reigns are told through the eyes of the seemingly idiotic Claudius, whom ends the book on the shoulders of his countrymen as their new Ceaser. Graves, who is a true literary giant in his own right, colorfully fills in the blanks of the historical Roman record. Whether his interpretations of events are factual or not is left up for debate, but the genius of his narrative through Claudius is not. You'll need to draw a map of how all the various characters are related since marriage, divorce and adoption within the same family is rampant. Claudius' grandmother Livia is a real force whose product ends up being the sordid reign of Caligula. Augustus and Tiberius are "interesting" in their own way, and the stories attached to each Ceaser's reign or one part tragic and 10 parts black comedy. That Claudius is able to survive by playing the embicile shows his true genius. Can't want to see what the DVDs have in store!
Rating:
Summary: A Literary Masterpiece
Review: This by far the best of Robert Grave's fictional works. A convincing portrayal of what life was like at the core of the early Roman empire.
Graves masterfully develops the character of Claudius as he ponders his life and impresses his thoughts on to his "autobiography." The reader is then taken through the ambitions and intrigues of the Julio-Claudian dynasty from the reign of Augustus to Nero's. Through the eyes of Claudius, the reader is given a bird's eye view into the dynastic contests with wit and humor as well as the evolution of the empire from the remnants of a crumbled republic. With this insight, Claudius is soon appreciated by the reader as having a keen intellect as opposed to being dull and slow of wit. His desire for truth and his loathing of the imperial struggle gives his story clarity and impartiality. All of the characters are well developed; their actions and motivations all come to light in the course of the story.
Along with Gore Vidal's "Julian" this is one of the greatest works in historical fiction in this genre or any genre. A must read for anyone who enjoys history or just a good story full of intrigue and suspense.
Rating: 
Summary: Gotta Love that Clau, Clau, Claudius
Review: This novel truly surprised me. I had never heard of it before seeing it mentioned on the Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Centry and probably never would have pick it up either. Historical fiction has never siezed my interest. However, this is a fascinating book that is beautifully written and packs some very subtle satire and characters worth rooting for. It gets off to a slow start, and the numer of and relationships between characters is vast and confusing, but by the time you put the book down, you too will respect Graves' mastery of rhetoric and characterization. You know how biased (and probably dishonest) Claudius is, but ya just can't help but cheer for him at the end. Now I just need to pick up the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: All around GOOD book
Review: Well there are so many things to say about this book so where can I start. First off, the subtle humor of the author is untouchable, Graves is a very good writer. The way he describes the characters in this book gives you a very keen feeling as if you were living in Rome at the time it was written, he gives every one of them a very authentic personality that directly matches the time of history this book takes place in. Just like you know a good actor by the way he makes you feel, you know a great author the same way. As you read you develope likes and dislikes for certain characters and the actiions they perform. Throughout the book you find yourself sub consciously cheering for the "good"characters and wishing demise for the "bad" ones. All in all the book delivers what you want in the end, a good storyline, great character developement, and an all around good book, one of the better one's that I've read. I would recommend it to anyone
Rating:
Summary: Thank goodness my grandmother was not Livia
Review: Robert Graves' "I, Cladius" is cetainly a masterpiece on several levels. The book is a wonderful work of historic fiction that entertains from cover to cover with a lively story of the treacherous Julio-Claudian family. The book is also an excellent example of Graves' method of "channeling" the personalities of the past into the present by emersing himself in the historic records and then allowing the missing pieces to emerge as he writes. Finally, the book is a wonderful lesson on survival. Claudius during the reigns of his treacherous relatives and Elizabeth I during the reigns of her younger brother and older sister have much in common. Primarily both Cladius and Elizabeth had to work to hide their brillance in a world where it was best to be underestimated.
Claudius' grandmother Livia must be one of the most interesting characters in fiction or non-fiction. As a young woman with two small sons, she left her Senator husband to marry the young Emperor Caesar Augustus. She remained his most trusted, shrewd, intelligent advisor and partner until in old age she poisons him. She is ruthless, impatient, controlling, manipulative, ambitious, and extremely insightful. She eventually is able to penetrate Claudius' public persona, which is that of a bumbling fool. Claudius was a clumsy cripple, with a nervous twitch. He also stuttered and drooled. All of this made him appear to be a fool when in fact he was extremely intelligent and cunning. Claudius is at most risk when his grandmother Livia finally sees how bright and cunning a survivor he really is.
The character of Caesar Augustus is wonderfully developed. Imagine Lyndon Johnson married to Leona Helmsley and you have an idea of the dynamic duo of Augustus and Livia. Augustus is charming and persuasive to his will, the consumate leader and politician. He is extremely wise, listening to Livia analyze and deconstruct every policy and its implications. Yet he is fully human, loving his family, even as Livia destroys them one by one. In the end, after Augustus' family has been destroyed and murdered by the forces of Livia, he remains in control even though his life forces and joy have been gradually destroyed. This is a perfect example of the parasitic nature of Livia. She destroys all those who are close to Augustus and love him. Augustus is the source of her power and she does not want to share that power with anyone, his grandsons especially. Yet as she brings about the tragic end of his family, she causes the poor man to spritually shrink. As he nears death, she ensures that she is totally in control of Tiberius, her eldest son, and a monument to perversion and abuse of power.
The chapters on the insane reign of Cludius' nephew Caligula are beyond belief. Whereas Tiberius is dangerous and cruel, he is not insane. Caligula is just as dangerous but he is less predictable due to his insanity. Also, to increase the terror, Tiberious was not especially fond of Claudius, whereas Caligula liked his uncle and thus poor Claudius was continually in harm's way in the court of Caligula.
I could write page after page on the wonderful characters in this story. Octavia, Germanicus and others that make this work one of the primary works of historic fiction. How could a historic novel full of murder, treachery, power, sex, insanity, incest, poison, and ambition not be fun?
Rating:
Summary: Arguably the great historical novel of the 20th century
Review: This novel by Robert Graves represents the supreme instance in the twentieth century to write a literarily serious historical novel. There has, of course, been no shortage of historical novels during the past century, but for the most part "historical" fiction has become a species of genre fiction, like Sci-Fi, detective fiction, spy fiction, and Westerns. I, CLAUDIUS, on the other hand, is a historical novel composed by someone otherwise regarded as a serious writer. This relationship between serious writers and the genre of historical fiction has not always been the case. Until the mid-19th century, a host of novels attempted to recreate a historical era, not least Dickens in A TALE OF TWO CITIES, William Thackeray in HENRY ESMOND, Flaubert in SALAMBO, Tolstoy in WAR AND PEACE, and Pynchon's GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. But for the most part, writers in the latter half of the nineteenth century and all of the twentieth century have forsaken historical fiction to write in the present tense, or at the latest of their childhood, as with Marcel Proust or Anthony Powell or Harper Lee.
Because of his success in the writing of I, CLAUDIUS and its sequel CLAUDIUS THE GOD, many today think of Robert Graves as primarily a novelist, but in fact most of his writing falls into the nonfiction realm, much of that with a historical bent. Graves was a passionate student of antiquity, both the Greeks and the Romans, and his goal in writing I, CLAUDIUS was to chronicle the period in Roman history immediately after the collapse of the republic and near the beginning of the rule of the Caesars. On the one hand, he wanted to adhere as closely to the documentary evidence for the events in the period as is compatible with a work of fiction, and on the other produced a first rate historical novel. He succeeds splendidly on both counts. His history is not pristine, but it is very close, with imaginative additions only for the sake of making sense of the narrative. The historical details are sufficiently solid and comprehensive for this novel to serve an excellent introduction to the early days of Imperial Rome.
In order to tell his story of Imperial Rome, Graves chooses as his narrator and eyewitnesses none other than the future emperor Claudius, once considered to be one of the weakest and most inept of the early Roman emperors, if also the least corrupt and ruthless. In the early 20th century several historians of Ancient Rome began revising their assessment of Claudius, not least the great Italian classicist (who relocated to England and America) Arnaldo Momigliano. Following the lead of these scholars, Graves presents Claudius as a cautious, sagacious, humble, unambitious, and scholarly soul, one who is simultaneously a gifted survivor and a closeted adherent to republican values. Though a stutterer and physically deficient, Grave's Claudius is a highly eloquent and intelligent observer of his world, a sage analyst of the personalities populating his Rome, and a gifted student of human nature. He also emerges as a highly likable and even admirable soul. One of the great achievements of Graves's novel has been to re-enforce on the popular level that reassessment of Claudius undertaken by the scholars mentioned above.
The precise period covered by Grave's novel begins roughly midway through Augustus's (formerly Octavian) career, the reign of Tiberius, and the shorter but extraordinarily horrid (though immensely entertaining) rule by Caligula. A host of other characters populate the story, but two above all others. One is, not surprisingly, Claudius himself, but the other is in many ways the dominant personality in the entire book, Claudius's grandmother, Tiberius's mother, and Augustus's wife Livia. She emerges as one of the great villains in modern literature, larger than life and exceptionally vile. One of the most brilliant moments in the novel is when Livia confesses to Claudius what motivates and drives her wretched behavior.
I, CLAUDIUS did not inspire a host of imitations among the other top fictional writers in the past century, but Graves did prove that it is a genre that still has potential to inspire, entertain, and educate. It also graphically illustrates the fact that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The world of Claudius may be long past, but the motives driving the actions of novel's characters are as alive now as then, and though the events of the novel took place two thousand years ago, Claudius feels very much our contemporary.
Rating:
Summary: Where history is never boring!
Review: What a wonderful read. Hand this historical novel off to the next person that says history is boring. It documents the life of Claudius, grandson of Caesar Augustus, and later Emperor of Rome due to a simple ability to outlive worthier and wilier heirs. I will spare you the synopsis, but Robert Graves takes what is a sensational and complicated story of a very dysfunctional family and humanizes the history. As good as the book is, the 1970s British show, BBC I believe, is even better. Despite cardboard staging, the acting is brilliant and the dialoge sparkles. Shames current TV. Livia, wife of Augustus and Claudius' grandmother is pure charm and evil as played by Sian Phillips. I believe that is her name. And Derek Jacobi is wonderful
Rating:
Summary: Black Comedy At Its Best
Review: I, Claudius has just made its way onto my Netlfix queue, and I can only hope that the mini-series based on the Robert Graves novels are played as a black comedy! Robert Graves has managed to write a wickedly funny portrayal of the "royal family" from the reign of Augustus Ceaser through the wanton debauchery of Caligula. All three reigns are told through the eyes of the seemingly idiotic Claudius, whom ends the book on the shoulders of his countrymen as their new Ceaser. Graves, who is a true literary giant in his own right, colorfully fills in the blanks of the historical Roman record. Whether his interpretations of events are factual or not is left up for debate, but the genius of his narrative through Claudius is not. You'll need to draw a map of how all the various characters are related since marriage, divorce and adoption within the same family is rampant. Claudius' grandmother Livia is a real force whose product ends up being the sordid reign of Caligula. Augustus and Tiberius are "interesting" in their own way, and the stories attached to each Ceaser's reign or one part tragic and 10 parts black comedy. That Claudius is able to survive by playing the embicile shows his true genius. Can't want to see what the DVDs have in store!
Rating:
Summary: Quite unexpectedly Good
Review: Usually I hate historical fiction preferring my history to be history and fiction to be fiction, but this book confounded me because I loved it. It was a good overview of the first five Caesars but I kept wondering what was fiction and what was truth {don't say I didn't warn you}. But soon into it, the ambivalence quieted and it was just a good gripping tale. Your family does wonder when you go around muttering about Livia and Caligula and the stupidity of Augustus but that is the effect it has, almost like a soap opera. It so inspired me that I have ordered the sequel along with a few other books of the same era but somehow, I know this one will be hard to top. It is a winner if one can get over the insistance on separating history from fiction. But what the hey, you only live once, so try it.
Rating:
Summary: From historian to emperor
Review: I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius is an account of the life of Tiberius Claudius and, as the title has stated in a self-explanatory manner, is written in the form of Claudius's autobiography. Claudius narrates events relevant to the Roman Empire and his family from about 4 BC all the way to his crowning in 41 AD. While the book stands as one of the modern classics of historical fiction, references to characters, events, places, and architectural structure are factual. Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus (10 BC-54 AD) was a member of the royal Julian House: son of Drusus and Antonia, grandson of Augustus (Octavian) and Lavia, down the line of Julius Caesar. Fate had destined Claudius to be a loner in the Julian House, alienated and was deprived of all opportunities for advancement. His family, even his mother Atonia, who only took care of his practical needs but did not love him, despised him as a weakling and dismissed him as an idiot. Not only was the family ashamed of his stammering, it consistently feared of Claudius's committing a solecism upon which the public would comment. Claudius's closest companions included his tutor Athenodorus who encouraged him to become a historian and his own brother Germanius, who never stopped defending his brother . Though eventually Claudius became the family priest, Claudius still felt most keenly the family's disappointment in him and the slights he met everywhere. Under the tutelage of Pollio and encouragement of Athenodorus, Claudius gathered materials for a life of his father and grandfather, the poisoning of whom had greatly perplexed and haunted Claudius. Pollio's advice to Claudius had been proved sound and perspicacious throughout the tempestuous years as Claudius survived the intrigues, manipulation, bitter contention for power, lampoons, caprices and poisonings that marked the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius (uncle of Claudius whom Livia contrived to enthrone at the expense of ridding her great-grandsons), and the mad, capricious Caligula. Always a great disappointment to his mother, ironically, it was Claudius's half-wit, feebleness, temerity, and outward incompetence that saved him from the conspiracy, murder, the wickedness, the sufferings, and the wrath that had so ineluctably befallen his brother Germanicus, his nephews Nero, Drusus, and Gemellas. I, Claudius tells the amazing tale of one man's exaltation from a historian to the emperor, a tale that magnifies Claudius's loyalty to his friends, his loyalty to his cruel family, his loyalty to Rome, and his loyalty to the truth (and defending of the truth) and how the virtue had rewarded him with the greatest honor and done him justice for the slights he had met all his life. The account celebrates Claudius's untroubled spirit and power of discernment in all his duties, both human and sacred. The characters are delineated to the full etch and nuance which lend verisimilitude of the historical period. The book is one of the most fun, interesting, behuiling book I have read that I almost reads like history. 2004 (37) © MY
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