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Title details for The Shadow of Vesuvius by Daisy Dunn - Available

The Shadow of Vesuvius

A Life of Pliny

by Daisy Dunn
Mike Grady
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

When Pliny the Elder perished at Stabiae during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, he left behind an enormous compendium of knowledge, his thirty-seven-volume Natural History, and a teenaged nephew who revered him as a father. Grieving his loss, Pliny the Younger inherited the Elder's notebooks―filled with pearls of wisdom―and his legacy. At its heart, The Shadow of Vesuvius is a literary biography of the younger man, who would grow up to become a lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, and chronicler of the Roman Empire from the dire days of terror under Emperor Domitian to the gentler times of Emperor Trajan. A biography that will appeal to lovers of Mary Beard books, it is also a moving narrative about the profound influence of a father figure on his adopted son. Interweaving the younger Pliny's Letters with extracts from the Elder's Natural History, Daisy Dunn paints a vivid, compellingly readable portrait of two of antiquity's greatest minds.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 10, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781094021201
      • File size: 246501 KB
      • Duration: 08:33:32

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This biography of Pliny the Younger, with many references to his uncle, Pliny the Elder, interposes episodes from his life, such as the eruption of Vesuvius, rather than telling a chronological story. That approach gives a full but rather foggy sense of his life in ancient Rome. Mike Grady's narration takes the listener past the book's limitations. His intelligence and sensitivity go beyond the basics of a clear, incisive voice, a British accent, and good pacing. He reads in a kind of confidential tone, as if speaking of personal matters with care and consideration, all of which engage the listener. Beyond that, he gives an elegiac sense to this story of a life now long gone, making this audiobook affecting as well as informative. W.M. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 6, 2020
      Historian Dunn (Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet) intertwines the lives of Pliny the Elder and his nephew, Pliny the Younger, in this illuminating chronicle of the Roman Empire in the latter half of the first century CE. After narrating the elder Pliny’s heroic death in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Dunn traces the younger Pliny’s career as a lawyer and provincial governor, detailing his rivalry with politician Regulus, friendships with historians Tacitus and Suetonius, and loving marriage to his second wife, Calpurnia. Drawing from Pliny’s Letters, Dunn spotlights her subject’s yearning for his quiet countryside estate; his desire to write a magnum opus like his uncle’s seven-volume Natural History; and his philosophical musings on such topics as oysters, sleep, and snow. She ends her account with the fleeting but famous correspondence between Pliny and Emperor Trajan as the former, near the end of his life, sought guidance on how to stem the tide of Christianity in his role as the governor of Bithynia (in modern Turkey). Skillfully mining primary and secondary source material, Dunn offers a comprehensive study of how the elder Pliny influenced his equally perceptive and ambitious nephew. This eloquent and accessible history offers a revealing glimpse into the daily life of ancient Rome.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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