Book description
Claudius has survived the murderous intrigues of his predecessors to
become, reluctantly, Emperor of Rome. Here he recounts his surprisingly
successful reign: how he cultivates the loyalty of the army and the
common people to repair the damage caused by Caligula; his relations
with the Jewish King Herod Agrippa; and his invasion of Britain. But the
growing paranoia of absolute power and the infidelity of his promiscuous
young wife Messalina mean that his good fortune will not last forever.
In this second part of Robert Graves?s fictionalized autobiography,
Claudius - wry, rueful, always inquisitive - brings to life some of the
most scandalous and violent times in history.
Robert Ranke Graves (1895-1985) was a British poet, novelist, and
critic. He is best known for the historical novel I, Claudius and the
critical study of myth and poetry The White Goddess. He wrote his
autobiography, Goodbye to All That, in 1929, and it was soon
established as a modern classic. He also translated Apuleius, Lucan
and Suetonius for the Penguin Classics, and compiled the first modern
dictionary of Greek Mythology, The Greek Myths. His translation of The
Rub iy t of Omar Khayy m (with Omar Ali-Shah) is also published in Penguin.
Barry Unsworth is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and
holds an honorary doctorate from Manchester University. He is the
author of 15 novels, among them 'Sacred Hunger', which won the 1992
Booker Prize. 'Pascali's Island' (1980) and 'Morality Play' (1995)
were shortlisted for the same prize. His most recent novel 'The Ruby
in Her Navel' is due for publication in 2006. He lives in Italy.
