Julian (historical novel)
Cover of the first edition
|
|
| Author | Gore Vidal |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown & Company |
|
Publication date
|
1964 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| OCLC | 53289864 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3543.I26 J8 2003 |
Julian is a 1964 novel by Gore Vidal, a work of historical fiction written primarily in the first person dealing with the life of the Roman emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, (known to Christians as Julian the Apostate), who reigned 360–363 C.E.
The story of the novel begins in March of CE 380, nearly 20 years after the death of Julian. It starts as the text of a series of letters between Libanius and Priscus of Epirus, two confidants of Julian. In their various letters they discuss their lives and in particular the recent events involving an imperial edict of Theodosius involving the Nicene Creed of Christianity. In his first letter to Priscus, Libanius proposes to write a biography of Julian. Eventually Priscus agrees to send a manuscript written by Julian himself to Libanius along with his own comments written in the margins.
The rest of the novel is then presented as the manuscript of Julian in its original form including instructions to the eventual editor and publisher. The marginal notes of Priscus are incorporated into Julian's narrative where he feels fit to comment on or expand certain parts of the narrative. These comments are then often followed by the comments of Libanius on both the narrative and the comments of Priscus. Frequently they offer a different and sometimes contradictory hindsight interpretation of events and people than Julian expresses in his manuscript.
The narrative of Julian presents his life story but is very self-reflective in parts. He attempts to be critical of his own shortcomings as well as trying to reconstruct his thoughts and emotions at various points in his life and public career. He frequently incorporates his own observations on everything from human nature to religion, philosophy, and government.
Julian was the last direct relative of Constantine the Great to assume the purple, his father being Constantine's half-brother, and attempted to destroy the influence of the Christian church, bringing back the worship of the old Roman pantheon, as well as other religions including his attempted restoration of the Jewish Temple, and Mithraism, a mystery religion that had been popular among Roman soldiers.
...
Wikipedia