Memoirs of Hadrian

Memoirs of Hadrian
Cover of the first french edition
AuthorMarguerite Yourcenar
LanguageFrench
GenreHistorical novel, philosophical novel
PublisherLibrairie Plon, France
Publication date
1951
Publication placeFrance
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages347 pp (2005 paperback)

Memoirs of Hadrian (French: Mémoires d'Hadrien) is a French-language novel by the Belgian-born writer Marguerite Yourcenar about the life and death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. First published in France in 1951, the book was a critical and commercial success.[1] It was translated into English by Grace Frick and published as Hadrian's Memoirs in 1954 by Farrar, Straus and Young and the following year in the UK as Memoirs of Hadrian (by Secker & Warburg). American editions of this translation are now published under the latter title.

The book takes the form of a letter to Hadrian's adoptive grandson and eventual successor "Mark" (Marcus Aurelius). The emperor meditates on military triumphs, love of poetry and music, philosophy, and his passion for his lover Antinous, all in a manner similar to Gustave Flaubert's "melancholy of the antique world."

Yourcenar noted in her postscript "Carnet de note" to the original edition, quoting Flaubert, that she had chosen Hadrian as the subject of the novel in part because he had lived at a time when the Roman gods were no longer believed in, but Christianity was not yet established. This intrigued her for what she saw as parallels to her own post-war European world.[2][3][4][5][6] Although the historical Hadrian wrote an autobiography, it has been lost.

  1. ^ Moore, K. (22 August 2022). The Routledge Companion to the Reception of Ancient Greek and Roman Gender and Sexuality. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-62619-3.
  2. ^ Yourcenar. Memoirs of Hadrian. English Edition. 2005. p. 319-320.
  3. ^ Houston, John (1961). "The Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar". Yale French Studies (27): 140–141. doi:10.2307/2929331. JSTOR 2929331.
  4. ^ Parkinson, Richard Bruce (1 July 2019). "Imaginary histories: ancient Egypt in the writings of Marguerite Yourcenar and Philippe Derchain". Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur. 48. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag: 207–240. pub 992103. Free PDF download here
  5. ^ Kapsaskis, Dionysios (2018). "Yourcenar, Sartre and the Limits of Authenticity: Re-reading "Mémoires d'Hadrien" from an Existentialist Perspective". Dalhousie French Studies. 112: 49–61. JSTOR 45172525.
  6. ^ Guardiola, Rosario Rovira (2008). Museums and literature: Marguerite Yourcenar's "Memoires d' Hadrien. University of La Rioja, Logroño: International Congress "Imagines". Antiquity in the performing and visual arts October 22-24, 2007. pp. 387–394. Retrieved 5 July 2023. Also see: Dialnet listing