Dictator (Harris)
Dictator is a historical novel by the British writer and journalist Robert Harris . The work includes a as the third part of the trilogy -scale biography about the Roman lawyer, politician, orator, philosopher and writer Marcus Tullius Cicero from. The book was published by Hutchinson on October 8, 2015 and was published in the same month, October 12, in a translation by Wolfgang Müller by Heyne Verlag .
action
A detailed description of the plot is dispensed with with reference to Cicero's biography .
In the third novel in the trilogy, the plot is also described from the point of view of Cicero's house slave and private secretary Tiro . The author orients himself largely on the traditional career of Cicero and thus represents the decline of the Roman Republic . Imperium , the first work in the trilogy, was initially devoted to the rise of Cicero up to his election as Roman consul . The second volume of the trilogy, Titan , dealt with the consulate of Cicero in 63 BC. And the following period up to his exile in the year 58 BC. Chr. Harris himself commented on the trilogy as follows: "Thus Imperium (2006) describes the rise to power, Lustrum (2009) the years in power and Dictator (2015) the repercussions of power."
The first part of the work deals with the exile of the consular Cicero, which he had to go into because of his involvement in the execution of Catilinarian conspirators . In addition, the rehabilitation of Cicero and his vita in the years of the so-called first triumvirate between Gaius Iulius Caesar , Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus and the civil war between Caesar and Pompey until his pardon by Caesar in 47 BC. Chr. Described. The second part deals with the last years of Cicero's life, during which he witnessed Caesar's dictatorship on the one hand and, on the other, as a former consul again after Caesar's death in 44 BC. Dominated the political stage in Rome and finally 43 BC. Falls victim to the proscriptions of the second triumvirate ( Octavian , Marcus Antonius and Lepidus ).
Reviews
The Frankfurter Rundschau attested Harris that he was able to "turn historical figures into flesh and blood".
The literary critic Denis Scheck is also convinced that the third part of the Cicero trilogy is not only the best historical novel of the 2015 literary season, but that Harris also describes “the circumstances of that time so precisely and vividly that we can feel as witnesses while reading it. "
Bernd Graff sums up in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that this closing volume of Harris' trilogy, which one can read without knowing the first two parts, is a "gripping reading spectacle". Robert Harris wrote "modernly, without denouncing the historicity of history."
The English newspaper The Guardian described the novel as a "remarkable literary achievement".
literature
- Robert Harris: Dictator . Hutchinson, London 2015. ISBN 0-09-175210-8 .
- Robert Harris: Dictator . Heyne, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-453-26871-5 .
- Robert Harris: Dictator . Translation by Wolfgang Müller, Random House Audio 2015, read by Frank Arnold , 6 CDs, 7 h 45 min, ISBN 978-3-8371-3169-7 .
- also available as a full download, 16 h 6 min, ISBN 978-3-8371-3170-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert Harris: Robert Harris: why I write political fiction. Retrieved September 3, 2017 .
- ↑ Sebastian Borger: Der Redekünstler , Frankfurter Rundschau of October 12, 2015, accessed on December 21, 2016 (German)
- ↑ Denis Scheck: Robert Harris: Dictator (interview and memento from November 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on DasErste.de
- ↑ Bernd Graff: Cicero, the liveliest of all hikers , Süddeutsche Zeitung of November 24, 2015, accessed on December 22, 2016 (German)
- ↑ Stephanie Merritt: Dictator by Robert Harris review- a remarkable literary achievement , The Guardian of October 18, 2015, accessed on December 22, 2016 (English)