/lit/ - Literature

>>8930205

>I can't think of a single good female writer tbf

read more, m8. they are out there.

>>8363561

Marguerite Yourcenar. Memoirs of Hadrian is one of the best books ever written.

>>8298079

Yes

Hey guys, looking for fiction dealing with historical characters or events. The degree of historical accuracy can vary, I don't really mind, but I'm not looking for history books, just fiction. I'll get this started with a couple of examples and hopefully I'll get some good recs out of this. Also, no pleb shit, please.

So, my first thought is Memoirs of Hadrian, great prose, great rhythm, very introspective. Don't know how accurate it is because I know nothing about Hadrian, but the setting is pretty immersive.

In 1982, when I first read Marguerite Yourcenar's "The Memoirs of Hadrian," I asked Arnaldo Momigliano, the great scholar of the ancient world, what he thought of the novel. Italian to the highest power, he put all five fingers of his right hand to his mouth, kissed them, and announced, "Pure masterpiece." Now, nearly 30 years later, I have reread the work and find it even better than before. A book that improves on rereading, that seems even grander the older one gets—surely, this is yet another sign of a masterpiece.
(…)
Part of the mastery of "Memoirs of Hadrian" is in its reminder that the emperor, like the rest of us, remains imprisoned in a perishable human body. Hadrian's letter to young Marcus is being written at the end of his life, and so with a sure grasp of the inexorability of "Time, the Devourer."
(…)
Like most of our lives, Hadrian's—and so Mme. Yourcenar's novel—is plotless. What keeps the reader thoroughly engaged is not drama but the high quality of Hadrian's thought and powers of observation. Hadrian, through the sheer force of his mind, comes alive. That this most virile of characters has been written by a woman might be worth remarking were it not the case that the greatest novelists have always been androgynous in their powers of creation. With the dab hand of literary genius, Mme. Yourcenar has taken one of the great figures of history and turned him into one of the most memorable characters in literature in a masterpiece too little known.

Quotes of Joseph Epstein

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704116004575522281643976468

Memoirs of Hadrian

I am considering this book for my next reading. What are the thoughts of those of you who have already read it about the work?

From what I can tell from first glimpses into the volume, it is a very elegant and classic-textured prose text.

>>8101057
Does anyone know this one?

This easily.