The third book on the life of poet and novelist Robert Graves is the story of his achievement of great public success, and then what? So many poets have achieved greatness only to spend the rest of their lives in a hapless chase to regain it. Graves' unique pursuit of his path should be a salutory example to all that it need not be so. Along the way we also find out about his new muses and other new relationships both with his growing family as well as with the world. Particularly interesting are his lectures and synopses of his remarks on other poets including Lawrence, Hopkins, Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Auden, Thomas and Byron, most of whom earned his displeasure to a greater or lesser degree. There are also amusing vignettes such as Graves' introducing J.R.R. Tolkien to Ava Gardner when neither one had ever heard of the other. Although Graves' last decade is almost too sad and his pursuit of younger women sometimes a bit pathetic, overall it is always a moving, intriguing and enjoyable story. The second volume of this work does not seem to be on Amazon, which I find a horrible omission.

When one reads or views Graves' poetry or his wonderful novel I, CLAUDIUS, one can only wonder whence came such talent. This book is the answer, detailing his fascinating family background and upbringing, as well as his impressive struggles with schooling, with family and in the trenches of France in the First World War. Nor did his married life and early career become any easier, the life of a young poet paying as well as you might imagine, particularly a poet with four young children. Still, Graves is truly inspirational in the way he always followed his own path and refused to waver, despite considerable pressures. Tempered by these experiences and never forgetting to work hard, he prepared for the astounded beginnings of success described in the next book in the series, The Years With Laura Riding. That this latter book is not on Amazon is a horrible omission.

an essential volume to any science fiction library. this is the most original novel, speculating on future sociology, since "brave new world".

I agree with another reader in that it is unfortunate we don't have similar biographies of the later Roman emperors such as Hadrian, Trajan and Marcus Aurelius; but here in the book of twelve Caesars Suetonius captures at least some of the various emperor's characters including Julius Caesar, Augustus, Claudius and Vespasian as well as others up to and including Domitian, the last of the twelve. Some histories are quite detailed such as that of Augustus whereas the relatively short reigns of Otho, Galba and Vitellius are quite short by comparison. The interesting thing about this book is the way Suetonius writes about the emperors in the "warts and all" style letting the public know every detail of their, at times, dubious habits and cruelties. No one gets away scott-free not even Augustus. The account is very honest with little held back no matter how crude. The emperors' greatest weaknesses and strengths are laid bare. It is written in a less formal style to that of say Cassius Dio or even of Tacitus and as such is enjoyable by itself. It also brings to mind how similar the Empire was to the lifestyle of today especially when it comes to public servants and government officialdom and responsibility. It is obvious Roman law is carried over to modern versions very easily forming the backbone of later centuries. There are telltale differences such as the incredible power emperor's wielded, especially as regards their ability to execute or defame anyone at will. The collapse of Roman values becomes glaringly obvious as the emperors themselves no longer provide an adequate example to the people. Former titles and honours which meant something in earlier times are progressivley demeaned by emperors such as Nero or Domitian at their worst and upheld by Titus or Vespasian. Yet another excellent classic text in the Penguin range.

Suetonius, one of the great Roman historians, gives a detailed account of the lives and follies of twelve of the Roman Caesars. He goes not only into their political lives but their personal lives as well, looking at the faults and their sometimes humorous shortcomings. It is a very vivid and racy history, but that is what good history does, it exposes the innermost facets of the past, and like Suetonius, without being bias. This is an excellent book, not just for history students, but for any who would like a more personal and informative look at the men behind the deified personalities of Imperial Rome. Not only does it include the histories of the Caesars but also maps, genealogical tables, an index of names, and a helpful little key of names and places of the past and where the present day location is located. Overall this is a very good book that is well translated and very fun to read. It is both informative and amusing at the same time. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, and am glad to see that a high school student has read and taken the time to give a review. Not many high school students get a chance to read, let alone such authors as Suetonius and the like. I hope others will continue to read and encourage others to do the same.

If you have a fascination with Imperial Rome and its Caesars, this book will keep you enthralled. For anyone who's seen the visual performances on television of I, Claudius, this book will give you a greater insight as to what exactly happened. Keep in mind the style of writing is dated, but then again, the author Suetonius lived almost 2000 years ago, still, if you can see through the translation, there's a lot of interesting tidbits here.

This book is wonderful and MUST be read by anyone interested in Roman history. It's focused on emperors life, reported annedocts and facts.

Just beware: not all the facts are considered to be true.

I find this book essential not, as most readers see, a simple history of Rome, but rather as a grim example of the excesses possible when democracy fails and absolute power is contained in one human being(Rome beginning its career as a wonderfull Republic). Although most see Suetonius' vivid descriptions of lust and other deviant vices as mere gossip, I propose that is exactly what he is trying to elucidate for the ages to see. These same excesses gave rise to almost the entire fundamental ideas of the religion known as Christianity and their whole hearted opposition to orgies, torture, crucifictions, feeding to the lions and the like, all due to the whims of deranged monkeys who called themselves Caesar. Read for yourself, for example, the history behind St. Valentine's day.

In historical study there are two types of literature. Secondary sources are written based on the original writings which are known as Primary sources. If you want to lern about the earliest Roman Emperors this source is indispensable. True, some of it is not historical and Suetonius is somewhat of a gossip monger at times, seeing as he explains in detail the various sexual appetites of each Caesar as well as other deviant behaviour. Still, this is one of the foremost primary sources about those famous Romans and most of the history books written on the Caesars are standing on Suetonius' shoulders.

Even though parts of the book read like therapy-writing, this is the only account of Graves by himself, and as such it should be highly valued. Enter Britain at the beginning of the century: Public Schools, Oxford and -preeminent in the narrative- World War I at the french front. Graves was courageous, shell-shocked and always artistic. Back at Oxford as a neurasthenic veteran he still had enough brains left to entertain T.E. Lawrence. I admire Graves deeply and I regret he decided not to continue his autobiography past his time as a Professor of Literature at the University of Cairo. Those interested in his years in Majorca could follow Graves to Deja with the biography written by his friend Seymour-Smith.

I spotted this remarkable book on ... Top 100 Non-Fiction Books of the Century list. In "Good-bye to All That, " the British poet Robert Graves (1895-1985), best known to American readers as the author of the novel of ancient Rome, "I Claudius," writes the autobiography of his youth, justifiably famous for its eloquent but straight-forward depiction of the horrors of WWI, during which Graves spent years in the trenches of France as an army captain.

More than the war, however, Graves' topic is the passing of an era: the class-ridden and naïve culture of the Edwardian upper classes, a culture did not survive the war. Graves came from a landed family and received a classic boarding-school education. Even in the trenches officers like Graves had personal servants and took offense when they had to dine with officers of 'the wrong sort' (promoted from the lower classes).

Graves' narrative itself barely survives the end of the war; the post-war chapters seem listless and shell-shocked, emotionally detached. The battles he survived are written about with precision, gravity, and emotional impact; but Graves' marriage and the birth of his children seem like newspaper reports. Surprisingly, he doesn't even talk of his poetry much. This, surely, is not a defect of the book but a genuine reflection of his feelings at the time: After the War, nothing meant much to him.

Graves' literary style is very matter-of-fact--the opposite of the imagistic, adjective-driven language one might expect of a poet. Instead, he had a gift for the right details: in only a sentence or two, by careful description, he can perfectly describe a fellow-soldier or give the exact sense of 'being there' in battle. The book is a remarkable achievement worth reading even for those who may be glad the old days were left behind.

Robert Graves, poet and author of "I, Claudius", was also an infantry officer in the Great War. Here he has written a war memoir which ranks in the same league as Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia".

Honest and open to a fault, he chronicles his upbringing in the English public schools system and his dislike of hypocrisy. This antagonism he will carry with him throughout his period in the trenches.

Graves' vivid portrayal of life in the trenches is second to none. He recounts the endless routine of trench life with its boredom and the terror of attack and German shelling. Held up to special scorn is the sheer stupidity of the higher command and its insistence on wasting the lives of officers and men.

Graves successful attempt at convincing a military board to go easy on his friend and writer Siegfried Sassoon is an amazing segment in itself (Sassoon wrote a pacifist tract while at the same time leading his infantry company with- by all accounts- great courage).

His description of the effects of life in the trenches is well written. Neurosthania (shell-shock) was the 19th century term before post-traumatic disorder was coined. The portrayal of it is vivid, not in a clinical way, but in the way Graves writes about himself and his comrades as they adjust to civilian life.

Everything before Graves life seems a prologue to the war, and everything after an epilogue. What an great and important book this is.

Both Volumes 1 and 2 of Penguins Le Morte D'Arthur were filled with an endless fountain of legends and reading these books one knows why it provided inspiration for writers throughout the centuries. The sub plots alone (ex: King Mark and Sir Tristam's love for Isoud and Sir Palomides internal and external battles) provide the aspiring writer with a wealth of plots and ideas. But for the love of God Penguin could have included some clear annotation throughout the book. The footnotes are in dire need of a major overhaul. All Penguin gives us is a few pages of translation for the more obscure words, but the reader has to go back and forth between the story and the dictionary. To put it simply it's an enourmous pain to do this. A system of annotation similar to Signet's publishing of Paradise Lost & Regained (which is also an excellent copy of this classic which I highly recommend) would have put this set of books up to five stars. Once you get past the obscure English the book becomes surprisingly easy to read, far easier than Shakespeare or Chaucer. Malory, obviously, was not a writer like Chaucer but he did do us a favor and put the bulk of the French legends into a handy volume so we wouldn't have to search through obscure Old French romances. So think of this more as an anthology rather than a novel. For those of you struggling through the text, as I did, you can skip to almost any part of the book (except the very first and very last part) and the story you will read will make sense (this is of course assuming you understand the obscure English).

LE MORTRE D'ARTHUR (The Death of Arthur) was written by Sir Thomas Malory while he was imprisoned for some number of years. It was one of the very first times that the Arthurian legend was penned in English. There were some older Latin fragments of the myth floating around, but it's thru Malory's account by which we know the stories most thoroughly. The most successful movie adaptation of the legend, EXCALIBUR, is based on elements taken from Malory's epic.

As I struggled through Chaucer while in college, I've not yet gotten up the courage to read the original middle-English version of this work (my apologies to all of the English professors out there). Therefore, it is good that Mr. Keith Baines was kind enough to translate the middle-English into a more accessible lexicon for me & people like me. Baines reveals the myths and legends in all their glory, and I can't help but believe that he expresses them in at least some measure of their middle-English power.

This is an ABSOLUTE must-read for all persons who have even a remote interest in the Arthurian fantasy. Although the book is abridged from the original, it nonetheless contains all of the most famous characters and episodes from the legend.

Within these pages, one will encounter Arthur, Gwynevere, Sir Launcelot, Sir Galahad, Sir Modred, Sir Bors, Sir Percivale, Merlin and all the rest. The purity of Galahad is contrasted with the sinful nature & temporary madness of Launcelot. The memorable allegory of Sir Percivale's duel with Satan, as well as so many other knightly adventures, are all recorded for us here.

This book is highly recommended to all fans of medieval times, medieval literature, the history of Great Britain and the idea of Chivalry. The codes of honor, the rules of fair play and the heroic ideals conceived by the knights of the middle-ages have followed us down thru the centuries and are still as relevant to the best of us today as they were 500-1500 years ago. The story ends with one of the most memorable Latin phrases in literary history:

HIC IACET ARTHURUS, REX QUONDAM REXQUE FUTURUS

[Here lies King Arthur, the once and future King]

Now for the details, open up the book!

Highbridge Classics' "Le Morte d'Arthur,"as read by legendary British thespian Derek Jacobi, is a great adaptation of Thomas Malory's quintessential Arthurian tome. Newcomers to Malory will find the audio book more accessible than the beautiful but often enigmatic source volume, while long-time Malory devotees will discover fresh nuances in Jacobi's authoritative rendition. Necessarily, some significant abridgements have been made, but at six audiocassettes this production still captures much of the Arthurian world's enormous scope. Featured storylines include Arthur's rise to the throne and his claiming of Excalibur, the epic search for the Holy Grail, the doomed love between Lancelot and Guenever, and the tragic final battle between Arthur and his ill-begotten son, Mordred. Jacobi conveys all the glory of Malory's prose style, while nonetheless cleaning up the diction a bit for modern ears. Finally, Ruth Morse's concise text introduction provides some keen observations on the big picture of the Arthurian myth. A magnificent version of Malory that no lover of Camelot should be without.

Take any of his published works and there is no doubt that Robert Graves is a thorough scholar. King Jesus is unusual in that it is a novel filled with scholarly references from the canonical books of the Bible, Gnostic gospels, Apocryphia and Semitic mythology that tries to convince the reader of Grave's view of the significant relevance of the Triple Goddess mystery religion in the culture of ancient Israel.

Following the theme set out in his work White Goddess, Graves retells the story of the gospel(s) with more than a little literary license I found both fun and interesting.

It turns out that Christ's message was completely misinterpreted. And yet, in the end, Christ won in the sense that were it not for his death and resurrection and the subsequent growing popularity of his cult, we might be going to the sacred grove on Sundays to worship the Goddess instead of Church to worship the God.

Despite some insightful gems such as "The Three Marys" -- WOW! I never realized the connection before! -- overall his thesis doesn't seem very convincing. Anyone who has read the Bible and standard Apocryphia cover to cover can see that there were clearly defined messages for both the Old and New Testaments that had nothing even remotely to do with Goddess worship. Moreover, his argument for a more prominent role of a matri-centric mystery cult in the patriarchal dominated culture of ancient Israel is very weak. Graves confuses the dualistic concepts of the Gnostics with Christ's goal of destroying the supposed feminine influence in Judaism.

Still, it was a fun read if you don't take it too seriously

Readers already familiar with Graves know that he brings a unique blend of scholarship, wit, literary talent, and profound sympathy to whatever subject matter he addresses himself. As in "I Claudius," Graves is superbly deft at breathing life into the arcane, alien traditions and source materials that have come down to us from that time. Though best known as a classicist, Graves uses the story of Jesus to explore the themes and symbols of Judeo-Christian mythology. Characters familiar from "Claudius" appear in this tale as well (Augustus, Livia, Herod the Great), and through skilful manipulation of plot and dialogue Graves depicts Jewish tradition in a context of the mythical corpus prevalent at the time and known from Europe's Atlantic seabord to the fringes of India.

Ever the independent thinker, Graves never shied away from controversy, and true to form he offers up an alternative, historically plausible view of Jesus' early life at odds with the official version that has come down to us. Whatever the shortcomings of his efforts, Graves has at least concocted a story that is consistent with our knowledge of society and theology of the time and actually explains elements of the tradition that otherwise defy logic.

In fact, Graves is able to use this novel intelligently to explore and explain issues surrounding authorship, religious politics, and redaction in the Scriptures--normally the exclusive province of turgid academia--all in highly readable and readily understood style. It is a testament to his skill as an author and to his deeply humane worldview that Graves is able to challenge our distorted and obfuscated beliefs about Jesus even as he pays respect to the Master and reaffirms the significance of His ministry.

Highly recommended to atheists, agnostics, and apostles alike.

in that King Jesus is certainly not a soap opera. Graves has constructed a well-researched and intriguing life of Christ on earth, which departs in many ways from the received tradition. An excellent book to give the brain cells a stretch of the legs: highly recommended

A lot of the reviews of this book fail to recognise the exercise in which Graves was engaged when writing this book. I agree that he glorifies Claudius beyond what we will find in many historical texts, and also that he goes on about Herod Agrippa (although some people, including myself, find this very interesting) and in general, the book is written rather differently to I, Claudius.

You must recall, however, whether you have read the book already or are considering reading it, that Graves sets about to write a fictional autobiography. That is the style that he chose and I think he does it brilliantly. In I, Claudius we see the various emperors of Rome through Claudius's eyes - we are shocked by their terror, their blood-thirstiness and the general tyranny of their rule. Claudius, as a Republican, allows us to see these things in a manner that we would understand. In this book, however, Graves is trying to give us insight into the mind of an emperor: we see the difference between what occupies his mind now and what did when he was just a citizen. We also see the manner in which he justifies his actions to himself. He is constantly claiming that his actions were not tyrannical, that he was not exercising imperial authority but that he was doing what any reasonable man in his circumstances would have done. In these passages Graves is making it clear to us that he is writing about Claudius as Claudius would have seen himself.

After all, it would have been rather boring to just have another book on how terrible this or that emperor was - here, Graves has attempted, quite boldly, to put us in the shoes of the emperor and see how a reasonable man could fall prey to the charms of virtually unlimited power over the most powerful empire in world history.

I think he does it brilliantly.

This is a great sequel and a must read, though it is a very different book from the one it follows. Where 'I, Claudius' was introverted and historical centered, Claudius the God moves into the wider circles of the Empire. This should by no means perturb the reader who came to hunger for the political machinations of Livia or the tawdry depravity of Tiberius in the first novel, this one presents new hurdles and struggles through which Claudius must muddle in order to survive: a wicked nephew, a military uprising, war against Boadicea and two caniving wives.

This is the better of the two books, no matter what your interest in them is, and it builds to a truly profound ending.

Like other reviewers before me, I urge that anyone who read and enjoyed the characters as represented in these two books: see the miniseries. It may be 12+ hours in length but it is worth it!

Graves' portrait of Claudius may be a little generous, given the records of the actual man by his contemporaries, but he can make his case well, I think, with the sources he chooses to utilize. But who cares anyway! Any lover of ancient Rome or epic stories in general will love this book. The details of the exploits of Claudius are mind-boggling; by the end of it, you'll feel as though you spent time in the ancient Medditerranean. If he had written this story in fifteen volumes, I would read them all. And while it's a great book on it's own, I'd suggest reading 'I, Claudius' first.

I am reviewing the two volume edition of Robert Graves's "The Greek Myths."

For many years I have used Robert Graves's "The Greek Myths" as my primary source for information about Greek mythology, but recently I have had to reevaluate the book. The book should be used with a great deal of care and caution.

The need for this reevaluation started innocently enough. I was reading "Hercules at Nemea" a poem by Robert Graves, I wondered about the first line: "Muse, you have bitten through my fool's-finger." I wondered which muse bit through Hercules's finger. So I went to his "Greek Myths" vol. 2 p. 104 where I read that Heracles wrestled with the Nemean lion, not a lioness, and it bit off one of his fingers, but he held it in a chancery and choked it to death. So Graves was free with his material and the poem, which makes poetic sense, does not make mythic sense. Still some questions remained like who were the muses? I was stymied there. In "The Greek Myths" Graves tells us who the Fates are: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. The Erinnyes: Tisiphone,Alecto, Megaera. The Charities: Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia. The Seven against Thebes:Polyneices, Tydeus, Capaneus, Hippomedon, Amphiaraus, Parthenopaeus, Adrastus, and some say Eteoclus. He even names the Sirens with all the variations: Aglaope, Aglaophonos, Leucosia, Ligeria, Molpe, Parthenope, Peisinoe, Raidne, Teles, Thelxepeia, and Thelxiope. But he does not name the Muses. In volume 1, page 53 Graves says that Zeus fathered the Three Muses on Mnemosyne with whom he lay nine nights, but in volume 2, p. 317 Graves says there are nine muses. How many muses are there? For the parentage and number of the muses Graves cites an Orphic fragment which I do not have, and Apollodorus 1. 3. 1-2. as his sources for this story. I checked Apollodorus and he states that Zeus and Mnemosyne are the parents of the nine muses and goes on to name them. In volume 1, page 55 Graves wrote that "Zeus's claim to be their [the Muses] father is a late one; Hesiod calls them the daughters Mother Earth and Air." In "Works and Days" and "Theogony" Hesiod says that Zeus and Mnemosyne are the parents of the Muses (see pp.3, 83-85 and 145 of the Loeb volume #57--"Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns"). Perhaps Graves is confusing the parents of Mnemosyne, Earth and Heaven, with the parents of the muses. Hesiod does names the Muses: Calliope, Cleio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, and Urania. Also on page 55 Graves cites Pausanius to say the number of the muses is three, but the citation he gives, ix.19.2, is wrong. The citation is actually ix.29.2.

This is not the only example of Graves' carelessness or his uncritical use of material. Graves does present a great deal of material, and generally he does present lively versions of the Greek myths, but you have to remember that these books have to be used with great caution. I would recommend that you use Graves' Greek Myths in conjuntion with other references.

Many of us had to suffer through some rehashing of classical mythology when we were in high school, as often as not Edith Hamilton's book "Mythology." While having the stories re-told to us when we were young is a part of a literary education (a dwindling part, sorry to say), sooner or later you have to graduate to a more authoritative retelling of the myths, to use as a reference and a doorway into other disciplines, such as anthropology.

Graves' book fills that gap. He provides sources for all of the myths he tells, and gives variant readings. He also retells what the classical authors had to say about the myths, and gives a wealth of etymological information about the myths as well, which given that Graves was a formidable classical scholar is saying quite a lot.

The only reason I'm not giving this book five stars is because like a great deal of Graves' anthropological commentary in his various books, what he has to say is out of date. I suppose that this was inevitable with the passage of time, but on the whole this does not detract from the literary effort. Graves is still the only classical mythology reference on my bookshelf.

Robert Graves' THE GREEK MYTHS falls between the Victorian bombast of Bulfinch and the popular style of Edith Hamilton, less stylistically intimidating than the former and more scholarly than the latter. Originally published as a two volume set in 1955 with author revisions in 1957 and 1960, this single volume text does not abridge the original text but merely confines it to a single binding.

One's reaction to THE GREEK MYTHS will depend to some extent on one's purpose in acquiring it. This is an exhaustive collection of Greek mythology that far outstrips any other modern anthology that I have encountered, including myths both better known and extremely obscure. Each myth is presented in concise, graceful prose, and where possible Graves includes genealogies of the characters and major variations of each myth; an interpretive essay also follows each myth.

While Graves' retelling of the myths themselves have been widely praised, his interpretations of the myths have been somewhat criticized--and justly so. Graves tends to see incarnations of the "White Goddess" and the "Sacrificial King" in every third story; more dangerously, he tends to tie the myths to historical events in a highly speculative way. While this does not undercut the interest of his interpretations, it does hold a number of traps for the casual reader, who may assume that Graves' essays offer standard, scholastically unbiased interpretations based on proven historical events.

For myself, I use Graves' THE GREEK MYTHS as both reference and pleasure-reading, and I enjoy it a great deal; it is an indispensable purchase for any one with a serious interest in Greek mythology for any one who must frequently reference the same for scholarly purposes, and I strongly recommend it to them. At the same time, however, I would hesitate to recommend it to readers who have not previously been exposed to Greek mythology or who wish only a general knowledge of the major Greek myths; in such cases I would instead recommend Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY: TIMELESS TALES OF GODS AND HEROES.