Augustus

New York Review Books Classics

by John Williams

No cover — John Williams: Augustus (2014, New York Review Books)

305 pages

English language

Published Sept. 6, 2014 by New York Review Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-59017-821-8

View on OpenLibrary

(15 reviews)

"Winner of the 1973 National Book Award. In Augustus, the third of his great novels, John Williams took on an entirely new challenge, a[n] historical novel set in classical Rome, exploring the life of the founder of the Roman Empire, whose greatness was matched by his brutality. To tell the story, Williams also turned to a genre, the epistolary novel, that was new to him, transforming and transcending it just as he did the western in Butcher's Crossing and the campus novel in Stoner. Augustus is the final triumph of a writer who has come to be recognized around the world as an American master. "[In Augustus,] John Williams re-creates the Roman Empire from the death of Julius Caesar to the last days of Augustus, the machinations of the court, the Senate, and the people, from the sickly boy to the sickly man who almost dies during expeditions[;] to what …

10 editions

georgewhatup reviewed Augustus by John Williams

Review of 'Augustus' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A great read, I’m biased due to my love of Stoner but this stands on its own as a completely different sort of novel. Having said that you don’t have to squint much to see themes connecting the two.

Never realised how important Augustus was. I’m an idiot! He was the most important one! More than Julius Caesar! My entire view of history has been irrevocably altered!

Love when a book does that.

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A warning for anyone considering this book, for the love of all the Roman Gods, don’t listen to this on the Audible audiobook. A great example of the wrong reader almost ruining a great book. Epistolary format is hard at the best times via audiobook, but this was especially bad. The reader managed to take this format - specifically designed to capture a broad range of voices and perspectives - and reduce it down to one …

Geoff reviewed Augustus by John Williams (New York Review Books Classics)

Review of 'Augustus' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Augustus is a perfectly written, surprisingly moving epistolary novel about the life of Caesar Augustus. Williams pulls off a magic trick here, telling an engrossing and compelling story of the first Emperor of Rome through personal drama. The world-altering historical events are a backdrop here. This is a book about the man and, to a lesser extent, his daughter.

The phrase “It does not matter” is a recurring motif. It reduces the events of the story to footnotes, and in the process the characters are elevated.

The despair that I have voiced seems to me now unworthy of what I have done. Rome is not eternal; it does not matter. Rome will fall; it does not matter. The barbarian will conquer; it does not matter. There was a moment of Rome.

Williams is a masterful writer. Each character writes with a distinctive voice, and you find youself feeling who is …

The despair that I have voiced seems to me now unworthy of what I have done. Rome is not eternal; it does not matter. Rome will fall; it does not matter. The barbarian will conquer; it does not matter. There was a moment of Rome.

Williams is a masterful writer. Each character writes with a distinctive voice, and you find youself feeling who is writing through voice alone. And the writing style is impeccable. I’m not versed enough it the world of Roman classics to identify this myself, but my child (who is) tells me Williams is using patterns here closely connected to Latin rhetorical style of the time.

Augustus has a core theme of inevitability: the inevitability of the Roman Empire itself, and its inevitable fall. And also of impermanence and perhaps even futility. These are surprising themes for a book about the rise of the empire.

Do they know that before us lies a road at the end of which is either death or greatness? The two words go around in my head, around and around, until it seems they are the same.

I love this book enough to immediately listen to the audiobook. And I’m sure I’ll read it again.

Zéro Janvier reviewed Augustus by John Williams

Review of 'Augustus' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Une lecture passionnante et émouvante sur la vie d'Octave, neveu et fils adoptif de Jules César puis premier Empereur de Rome sous le nom d'Auguste. Un livre à la fois passionnant d'un point de vue historique et sur la vie et les rapports humains.