Robert Graves: I, Claudius

[saliotthomas]

This book was in my stock for a while,a sound advice made me take it out and i was well rewarded.
The story of Claudius in the Romain decadence.The only thing that saved he from poison and murder from his imperial familly was that they thought him retarded.Because of a stamer,a limp,and bad health in general he passed through the net of political intrigue and tell them as the great historian he is.
The tone is light,witty,and historical fact flow like a told by a good friend on a winter night.
I truly recomande this book,and shall get to the following "Claudius the god" very soon

 

[silverseason]

Did you see the TV series based on the Claudius books a few years ago? I saw it in the U.S., but it was an English production with Derek Jacoby as an unforgettable Claudius. The woman who played Augustus' wife was quite outstanding also. The tapes are available in our local library, which doesn't help you much, but you might look for it.

 

[Stewart]

I was sent this at random by Penguin UK last year as part of their 'Blog a Penguin Classic' promotion. I only got about fifty pages in but they were a plod and I gave up there, hating the book.

 

[saliotthomas]

Did you see the TV series based on the Claudius books a few years ago? I saw it in the U.S., but it was an English production with Derek Jacoby as an unforgettable Claudius. The woman who played Augustus' wife was quite outstanding also. The tapes are available in our local library, which doesn't help you much, but you might look for it.

I didn't see the program,but it's the audio medium i used.The narrator was good.
As for steward hating the book.Fair enough,i usualy avoid commenting when i don't like some stuff.

 

[Stewart]

i usualy avoid commenting when i don't like some stuff.

Some books I do hate, more for being crap than anything else, but I had high hopes for I, Claudius and it disappointed. Getting through pages was a struggle. To be fair, I doubt I had enough understanding of its context and will return to it one day. But for just now, I hated every minute of reading the part I read.

 

[Phlebas]

I've read this and Claudius the God was a while back though but don't remember either hating it or loving it.

I did really enjoy his autobigraphy Goodbye to All That and have read some of his poetry which seems to fit quite well with my sometimes cynical outlook on life.

 

[The waveguide]

I LOVED I, Claudius! I read it around 7 years ago, and found it funny, unexpected, very close to the historical facts that we learned at school (I am not good at history but I remember whatever my teachers tought us about roman/greek periods)

Several years afterwards I was in Rome, and actually it was the book that I had in my mind as we walked through the remains of the Roman culture... I could imagine the castles, Epless Livia and Augustus, the soldiers passing through the gates, crazy Calligula organizing gladiator games, and Claudius watching all this craziness ...

I enjoyed the book and it vividly stayed in my mind even now... I did not see the TV series, but I really enjoyed the book!

Now that I read Baudolino by Eco I could see some similar lines... I think that I like the historical fiction of this type, where the authours know history well enough to play with it as they wish

 

[chuephödli]

I have always been in 2 minds about I, Claudius. It is basically a soap, Dallas set among the First Family of ancient Rome, lots of scheming and backstabbing and intrigue, but really not all that much history involved.

Still, the book is a very good read, and the BBC TV series is breathtaking.

 

[Cooroo]

I studied Ancient History A Level at school (18 year old exams), and the series was on TV at that time (showing my age...) so I watched it then and really enjoyed it. A friend lent me the discs a year ago, and it was still every bit as good. Sometimes I love the BBC so much I want to hug them!

 

[bookishwormish]

Graves is the master of historical fiction with the emphasis on fiction... i love the way he puts capturing the character of Claudius as the ultimate aim of the book and not necessarily enslaving himself to historical accuracy. This leaves us walking away with the most exquisite impression of the leader...but only a faint recollection of what he actually did. Far more important....

 

[pontalba]

I, Claudius and Claudius the God are certainly two of my all time favorites. I did watch the series when it played on television in the States, and bought the tapes, yes, that's how long ago, the tapes, not DVDs.

Derek Jacoby was marvelously unforgettable as Claudius, and I remember being most irritated when I saw an advert in later years that trumpeted Patrick Stewart as "starring" in the series. Yes Stewart was in a few episodes, but hardly "starred". They only made his name prominent on account of his television series Star Trek, The Next Generation, in an attempt to capture more viewers.

 

[Max Cairnduff]

I thought I, Claudius spectacular, exceptionally good. I was less taken by Claudius the God, thinking it merely very good indeed but to be fair I, Claudius was a hard act to follow.

I agree with the original recommendation, it's a hugely enjoyable read despite containing a great deal of history (and even more scurrilous gossip).

Surprised Stewart hated it, but sometimes books just don't agree with us and so it goes.

 

[beer good]

I can definitely see why Stewart was put off; I, Claudius is a bit of a slog at times, since the central conceit - a man simply writing down everything that's happened to him, or rather one long list of people to whom stuff happened while he kept his head down and his ears open - is so well done that it really reads like that and often gets bogged down in detail about political assassinations rather than what's actually going on outside the palace walls. Graves later claimed he only wrote the Claudius books for money, and it does have a certain air of being written quickly, with more thought to authenticity than to literary greatness. Plus, it made me feel I had to rewatch Caligula and I'm not sure I can ever forgive it for that.

That said, you can hardly fault Graves for sticking (largely) to historical facts, and there's no doubt it's a fascinating and competently written story. It's just that personally I thought Derek Jacobi told it better than Graves. But still, as historical fiction goes, it's not the best I've ever read, but definitely above average - just not up there with the likes of Maalouf, Bengtsson, et al. +

 

[pontalba]

I don't know that Jacobi told it better than Graves, after all, when I read the books I pictured pretty much what Jacobi portrayed. Plus that section of Ancient History happens to be my favorite period/place, so I'm sure that makes a difference in enjoyment. The Maalouf's look interesting though I must say.

 

[beer good]

Plus that section of Ancient History happens to be my favorite period/place, so I'm sure that makes a difference in enjoyment.

That's actually one of the reasons I would have liked it to be a little bit more about the Roman empire at large and less about Julians and Claudians poisoning each other.

 

[pontalba]

That's actually one of the reasons I would have liked it to be a little bit more about the Roman empire at large and less about Julians and Claudians poisoning each other.

That is exactly why I enjoyed it so much I suppose, it acted as an enhancement to my knowledge of the era. According to histories I've read, there were stories of exactly the things Graves spoke of, so these books are as sort of window into those stories.

 

[Aderyn]

I loved both the book and the tv series - which I recently bought on DVD (online). The series was made in the 70s but the actors are fantastic and the story is such an intriguing one. Obviously the costuming, sets and special effects would have been much better if made today, but it is still entertaining viewing.

 

[KatK]

I really liked this story! I really love anything about Ancient Rome and I like how it follows the generation and shows the cruelty of Rome. My favourite character is Livia. I just love how evil she is!

 

[Bookhooked]

Probably like many people I read the books long after I saw the TV series. I thought Graves did a good job with what is essentially speculation at best. I probably would have liked the books less if I had read them first. It is certainly difficult to keep up with all of the many characters, especially all of the children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren of Augustus who keep getting bumped off.