In Augustus, his third great novel, John Williams took on an entirely new challenge, a historical narrative set in classical Rome, exploring the life of the founder of the Roman Empire. To tell the story, Williams turned to the epistolary novel, a genre that was new to him, transforming and transcending it just as he did the western in Butcher’s Crossing and the campus novel in...
In Augustus, his third great novel, John Williams took on an entirely new challenge, a historical narrative set in classical Rome, exploring the life of the founder of the Roman Empire. To tell the story, Williams turned to the epistolary novel, a genre that was new to him, transforming and transcending it just as he did the western in Butcher’s Crossing and the campus novel in Stoner. Augustus is the final triumph of a writer who has come to be recognized around the world as an American master.
John Williams (1922–1994) was born and raised in northeast Texas. Despite a talent for writing and acting, Williams flunked out of a local junior college after his first year. He reluctantly joined the war effort, enlisting in the Army Air Corps, and managed to write a draft of his first novel while there. Once home, Williams found a small publisher for the novel and enrolled a...
John Williams (1922–1994) was born and raised in northeast Texas. Despite a talent for writing and acting, Williams flunked out of a local junior college after his first year. He reluctantly joined the war effort, enlisting in the Army Air Corps, and managed to write a draft of his first novel while there. Once home, Williams found a small publisher for the novel and enrolled at the University of Denver, where he was eventually to receive both his B.A. and M.A., and where he was to return as an instructor in 1954.
He remained on the staff of the creative writing program at the University of Denver until his retirement in 1985. During these years, he was an active guest lecturer and writer, editing an anthology of English Renaissance poetry and publishing two volumes of his own poems, as well as three novels, Butcher’s Crossing, Stoner, and the National Book Award–winning Augustus (all published as NYRB Classics).
Daniel Mendelsohn was born in 1960 and studied classics at the University of Virginia and at Princeton, where he received his doctorate. His essays and reviews appear regularly in The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review. His books include The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million; a memoir, The Elusive Embrace; and the collection Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays from the Classics to Pop Culture, published by New York Review Books. He teaches at Bard College. His essay in the September 25, 2014 issue will appear as the introduction to a new translation of The Bacchae by Robin Robertson, to be published in September by Ecco.
书信体的运用非常聪明，多线交织，时间线切换自然，人物纷杂但灵动。一开始怀疑这种依靠旁人视角的讲述是否可以写进奥古斯都的内心。但正如他自述：“一切生命都是神秘莫测的，包括我的生命”，旁人视角所展现的片面与混沌自有其美感，人心深不见底，这种写法或许可以最大还原其不可探测不可追究。结尾读得动容，罗马的统治者一生被罗马的理念统治，二十三岁时在战争中献祭的那头蓝眼睛的白牛就是他自己。也很喜欢关于屋大维女儿尤...书信体的运用非常聪明，多线交织，时间线切换自然，人物纷杂但灵动。一开始怀疑这种依靠旁人视角的讲述是否可以写进奥古斯都的内心。但正如他自述：“一切生命都是神秘莫测的，包括我的生命”，旁人视角所展现的片面与混沌自有其美感，人心深不见底，这种写法或许可以最大还原其不可探测不可追究。结尾读得动容，罗马的统治者一生被罗马的理念统治，二十三岁时在战争中献祭的那头蓝眼睛的白牛就是他自己。也很喜欢关于屋大维女儿尤利娅的部分，是那个时代所有女性的疑问，为了政治为了权力为了罗马，“must I give my life”？(展开)
"It was destiny that seized me that afternoon at Apollonia nearly sixty years ago, and I chose not to avoid its embrace." No matter how outstanding Octavius is or how unexceptional Stoner is, we all w..."It was destiny that seized me that afternoon at Apollonia nearly sixty years ago, and I chose not to avoid its embrace." No matter how outstanding Octavius is or how unexceptional Stoner is, we all wind up as pieces on the cheeseboard of destiny.(展开)
![[美国] 约翰·威廉斯](https://img9.doubanio.com/img/author/medium/public/1547217394.25.jpg)
约翰·威廉斯 作者
遠濤
上海人民出版社2018版
谷立立
上海人民出版社2018版
赵松
上海人民出版社2018版
anchor
上海人民出版社2018版
晓渔
上海人民出版社2018版
1 有用 翔如飞飞 2016-02-02 11:47:19
好书好书好书╰(*°▽°*)╯细节超赞，需要再看一遍缕缕
1 有用 prophecccy 2019-04-13 23:54:36
今天一口气看完了终章帝王自述。之前还在截图做笔记，这一章做不到了，除非每个字都截。 至少年度前三吧。 可能是少数不是被更著名的stoner吸引过来的。倒是坚定了下一本就是它。
8 有用 遠濤 2016-04-23 21:46:57
第三卷陡高！
0 有用 Nussknacker 2022-03-30 12:12:32
第一二卷，I was like: intrigues…more intrigues…adultery…more adultery…ok typical Rome, keep going…第三卷，突然升华了而且我快哭了？Williams怎么总是能写出灵魂之光。
1 有用 0xNPC 2021-01-18 13:15:49
And that, my friend, is how he became Caesar, and Rome Rome.
0 有用 最后的12码 2023-05-29 10:40:12 美国
第三部分看哭了 time will destroy Rome
0 有用 Joie 2023-04-29 22:07:37 美国
书信体的运用非常聪明，多线交织，时间线切换自然，人物纷杂但灵动。一开始怀疑这种依靠旁人视角的讲述是否可以写进奥古斯都的内心。但正如他自述：“一切生命都是神秘莫测的，包括我的生命”，旁人视角所展现的片面与混沌自有其美感，人心深不见底，这种写法或许可以最大还原其不可探测不可追究。结尾读得动容，罗马的统治者一生被罗马的理念统治，二十三岁时在战争中献祭的那头蓝眼睛的白牛就是他自己。也很喜欢关于屋大维女儿尤... 书信体的运用非常聪明，多线交织，时间线切换自然，人物纷杂但灵动。一开始怀疑这种依靠旁人视角的讲述是否可以写进奥古斯都的内心。但正如他自述：“一切生命都是神秘莫测的，包括我的生命”，旁人视角所展现的片面与混沌自有其美感，人心深不见底，这种写法或许可以最大还原其不可探测不可追究。结尾读得动容，罗马的统治者一生被罗马的理念统治，二十三岁时在战争中献祭的那头蓝眼睛的白牛就是他自己。也很喜欢关于屋大维女儿尤利娅的部分，是那个时代所有女性的疑问，为了政治为了权力为了罗马，“must I give my life”？ (展开)
0 有用 Matthewwwwwww 2023-03-21 11:37:50 美国
看过最难读的英文版之一了，原因是为了营造古代的氛围，遣词造句比较古风，所以用了很多的生僻词语，中间需要不停地查字典... 回到书，历史本身就比较精彩，所以故事还是很吸引人的，终于搞懂了屋大维、凯撒、雷必达、提比略等人的关系，但是个人感觉不如John Williams的其他两本小说
1 有用 野次馬 2023-01-22 13:47:36 美国
看来实在和威廉姆斯不投缘。一直在等「陡高」的第三卷，读罢只能说不过尔尔…「伪」书信体的使用意图并不明确，反而绊手绊脚、方枘圆凿。尤其是这类多人通信之作，作者一直在属于当下的限知视角和难以抑制的全知口吻之间游移不定，譬如第二卷就不得不在当前时间线（ca 30BC）和Julia日记的回顾（4AD）之间来回切换——人物总是有一种越俎代庖成为叙事者的冲动，而想要记述对话就成了尴尬的任务，以至于某封信中寄信... 看来实在和威廉姆斯不投缘。一直在等「陡高」的第三卷，读罢只能说不过尔尔…「伪」书信体的使用意图并不明确，反而绊手绊脚、方枘圆凿。尤其是这类多人通信之作，作者一直在属于当下的限知视角和难以抑制的全知口吻之间游移不定，譬如第二卷就不得不在当前时间线（ca 30BC）和Julia日记的回顾（4AD）之间来回切换——人物总是有一种越俎代庖成为叙事者的冲动，而想要记述对话就成了尴尬的任务，以至于某封信中寄信人不得不宣称要效仿前人《谈话录》，才得以将餐桌上的对话逐句记述下来。而到了第三卷，就更无所谓书信体了。所有人用的都是同一套正式的literary register，仿佛所有人（不论是贺拉斯、克莉奥帕特拉还是奥古斯都乳母之女）都是同一个三艺老师教出来的…另外读的时候一直在想，布洛赫真是找了个好题目啊。 (展开)
0 有用 依然笑眯眯 2022-10-02 04:12:03 美国
"It was destiny that seized me that afternoon at Apollonia nearly sixty years ago, and I chose not to avoid its embrace." No matter how outstanding Octavius is or how unexceptional Stoner is, we all w... "It was destiny that seized me that afternoon at Apollonia nearly sixty years ago, and I chose not to avoid its embrace." No matter how outstanding Octavius is or how unexceptional Stoner is, we all wind up as pieces on the cheeseboard of destiny. (展开)