Julian

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Julian
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Gore Vidal
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:544
Dimensions(mm): Height 199,Width 130
Category/GenreModern and contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
ISBN/Barcode 9780349104737
ClassificationsDewey:813.54
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Imprint Abacus
Publication Date 23 September 1993
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Gore Vidal's fictional recreation of the Roman Empire teetering on the crux of Christianity and ruled by an emperor who was an inveterate dabbler in arcane hocus-pocus, a prig, a bigot, and a dazzling and brilliant leader.

Author Biography

Gore Vidal is one of the greatest living American novelists and essayists. He has written numerous Hollywood screenplays, including BEN HUR, and ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress. He appeared with Tim Robbins in the film BOB ROBERTS.

Reviews

"High entertainment." --"The New York Times Book Review " "A subtle, provoking, enthralling book. . . . Vidal's ability to invoke a world is amazing." --"The Christian Science Monitor ""Simply great. . . . A truly monumental novel." --"Associated Press ""Historical fiction in the true, honorable sense. . . . Full of vivid, richly wrought fictional detail." --"The Wall Street Journal ""Impressive. . . . To the formidable task which Vidal sets himself, he brings an easy and fluent gift for narrative; a theatrical sense of scene and dramatic occasion; and a revealing eye and ear for character delineation-to say nothing of wide reading." -"Newsweek " "A real hero. . . . An excellent book." -"Chicago Daily News " "Gore Vidal has the sharpest sense of what political power consists of, how it is achieved and what it does to a man. And at the same time he is funny, roaringly funny. . . . "Julian "is a brilliant beacon of light in the dim grey landscape of the historical novel." -Louis Auchincloss "A brilliant study of Julian's era. . . . That rare historical novel which enjoys all the virtues of good history and good fiction." -"Washington Star " "No odder figure ever guided the destinies of the Roman Empire than the Emperor Julian Augustus. Here was a recluse and a scholar who became a great military leader, an ascetic who preached the life of the senses, a fatalist who believed he would remake the world. . . . He is endlessly fascinating." -"Time" " "