Historical Fiction · ThoughtfulTold in letters and fragments, the life of Augustus from the day Julius Caesar summons him at seventeen
Augustus
The life of Rome's first emperor, told in letters and fragments
The novel is epistolary historical fiction, told through letters and fragments. It follows Augustus from youth to old age in ancient Rome and opens when Gaius Octavius is seventeen and is summoned from his mother's side by his great-uncle Julius Caesar, who plans to make him his successor. Viking Press published it in 1972, in 305 pages.
More about this book
Who
Gaius Octavius, later Augustus, and the people around him in Rome.
World
Ancient Rome, from Julius Caesar's time through the rule of Augustus.
What makes it different
It is told through letters and fragments instead of one narrator.
Feel
Measured and historical. It shared the 1973 National Book Award for Fiction with John Barth's Chimera, the first time the award was split.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- AugustusWikipedia