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The Ides of March: A Novel
by: Thornton Wilder

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780060088903
ISBN: 0060088907
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: September 01, 2003
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: September 16, 2003
Sales Rank: 248698
Studio: Harper Perennial

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:

Drawing on such unique sources as Thornton Wilder's unpublished letters, journals, and selections from the extensive annotations Wilder made years later in the margins of the book, Tappan Wilder's Afterword adds a special dimension to the reissue of this internationally acclaimed novel.

The Ides of March, first published in 1948, is a brilliant epistolary novel set in Julius Caesar's Rome. Thornton Wilder called it 'a fantasia on certain events and persons of the last days of the Roman republic.' Through vividly imagined letters and documents, Wilder brings to life a dramatic period of world history and one of history's most magnetic, elusive personalities.

In this inventive narrative, the Caesar of history becomes Caesar the human being. Wilder also resurrects the controversial figures surrounding Caesar -- Cleopatra, Catullus, Cicero, and others. All Rome comes crowding through these pages -- the Rome of villas and slums, beautiful women and brawling youths, spies and assassins.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- If you liked "I, Claudius," you will like this book...
I think this wonderful epistolary novel deserves to better known. Even though it is critically acclaimed and by a famous American writer, I, a huge fan of quality historical fiction set in Rome, never heard of it for years.

Using letters, journals, and excerpts from other "documents," Wilder tells the story of Caesar in the days leading up to his assassination. We already know what will happen of course, and our attention is sustained by the subtle way Wilder sets the scene and coyly circles around as he approaches his climax. This is not linear narration; I think an author attempting just to "novelize" the historical account the old-fashioned, chronological way would end up writing the type of simplistic, melodramatic "reads like a made-for-TV movie" type of historical fiction that makes me so wary about the genre.

Some readers, perhaps accustomed to being entertained by everything ... Read More

Rating:

- Caesar's last months
The structure of this novel, made up of letters written by different persons, allows us to examine Julius Caesar from multiple points of view. Undoubtedly a man of enormous energy, ambition, intelligence and the will to exercise power, Caesar is different things to different observers. Dictator, traitor, military genius, great politician, depraved soul. Who exactly is Caesar? Through family and political gossip, a tight web is being formed around this titan of history, until the final stabbing in the Senate. A fascinating counterfactual question is: What would have happened had Caesar survived the attack? But he didn't and civil war ensued, ending with the death of the Roman Republic and the beginning of Empire. Some of the best parts of the novel are Caesar's own letters, especially those adressed to Lucius Mamillius Turrinus, where Caesar develops his views on politics, power, and government, as observed by a natural ... Read More

Rating:

- Fascinating novel about Caesar
This excellent novel, Wilder's masterpiece, is set during the last 17 years in the life of Julius Caesar in Rome. In it he attempts to answer the following: "What sort of person was Caesar and why was he assassinated?" Told mainly through letters and documents of people who knew him, from the famous - Cleopatra, Catallus, Cicero, Brutus - to the lesser known - Cytheris, an actress; Turrinus, a friend; Cornelius Nepos, a political observer - and including such sources as Caesar's commonplace book and journal, broadsides, and various official memoranda, Wilder creates a brilliant picture of the man and the people who surround him. We learn of Caesar's great love for Rome, but his disdain for those who populate her. In a magnificent observation by his physician Sosthenes, he says, "Caesar does not love, nor does he inspire love. He diffuses an equable glow of ordered good will, a passionless energy that creates without fever, ... Read More

Rating:

- A 1950's Book, set in 44 BC, and perfect for 2009
The year? 44BC. The secret police are rifling through an artist's dresser. An emperor's mistress from the Middle East has come to pay him a visit in Rome. Soldiers are mobilizing for another assault on Persia. Senators are plotting against Caesar. His scatterbrained wife is worried about dresses while the great Cleopatra plays her for a fool. Poetry, assaults, poisonings, decadant parties, price fixing, and intregue. We all already know about ancient Rome. The question is, how could Thornton Wilder predict 2006. Ah, the more things change... the more they stay the same. What a fun read for the average guy, like me!

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