Please note the change of venue: while Carla continues to move into her new digs, Barbara has graciously offered to host us at her beautiful hilltop home. We will meet at noon for luncheon and Joanna will ring the bell at 1 PM to begin our meeting (if I remember to bring the bell to the meeting as it is currently sitting atop my pile of Literature Club programs in my living room, so there's a 50/50 chance said bell will actually be rung...)
I imagine many of us know I, Claudius from the amazing BBC production which first aired in the US on Masterpiece Theatre in 1977 with its haunting dissonant opening music and extraordinary who’s who of British acting talent. With a desire to re-visit the work in the late 80s, imagining a rip-roaring yarn of intrigue and romance, and before easy access to streaming, I read the book one summer. My memory is of very tiny print and pages and pages of the details of army supplies and tactics and other minutia of history, but we’ll see what Carol has to say!
Please let our hostess know only if you will be unable to attend. I look forward to seeing you all soon! xo Jacquie
Frances’ Minutes The sunny winter light of Barbara’s home cheered the 13 members and 1 associate who met there. Logs were burning in the fireplace. Outside the kitchen window, birds were eating greedily at the feeder. We ate more politely from the buffet set out on the kitchen table.
Joanna rang the bell promptly at 1 PM. We began with our recommendations. Thanks to Connie and the Persephone Newsletter, Frances read Dorothy Whipple’s Someone at a Distance. Whipple was a mid-20th century British writer whose books went out of print. Persephone, both a bookstore and a publisher in England, has taken up the work of reprinting works of excellent, forgotten writers, especially women. Turns out Barbara Pym isn’t the only forgotten gem.
Two recommendations from Sharon: The Axeman’s Carnival, by Catherine Chidgey, written from the point of view of a magpie and Maggie Farrell’s I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death, A Memoir. Carol added how much she liked Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait. The NY Times 10 Best Books of the Year was the source for two recommendations. From the 2025 list, a non-fiction memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy and from 2024, Someone Like Us (a novel) by Dinaw Mengestu.
Laura recommended The Antidote by Karen Russell, about a prairie witch who cures mental anguish with the same finesse as an Upper West Side psychiatrist. Joanna liked Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter, about the cultural shift taking place in England in the 60’s.
I, Claudius by Robert Graves had always been on Carol’s list of books to read. The length intimidated her, and were it not for Lit Club, she wouldn’t have tackled it.
Robert Graves was born in 1895. He received an excellent education; winning scholarships, including to Oxford. He fought in World War I and was severely wounded at the Battle of Somme. He suffered for years from shellshock. His life had been spared, he believed, because fate intended him to be a poet. He earned his living writing, he was the author of 140 publications, the count includes poetry, novels, essays, criticism, short stories, translations. His criticism led to the close reading method, known as the New Criticism. His poetry influenced Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Philip Larkin and Kingsley Amis
He met Laura Riding, a poet, while married to his first wife. All three moved to a house in Majorca. He stayed there from the 1920’s to his death, in 1986, except for 10 years back in England. His romantic attachments and marriages were not as stable.
I, Claudius was published in 1934 to immediate popular and critical success. Claudius was part of a “cruel and debauched ruling class” whose members “sought and maintained power through systematic murder.” Claudius wrote an autobiography, now lost, which inspired Graves to write this first-person narrative. Graves researched Claudius’ life and times carefully; most events are factual. The inner lives of the men and women in this circle of Roman autocrats and their families are Graves’ imaginative recreation. It is historical fiction.
Claudius was a sickly child. He was lame, possibly due to polio; he stammered, jerked his head, suffered stomach pains. He was reputed to have written over 28 volumes of history while others plotted for power. None of his writing survived. In an era when physical prowess and success in battle was needed to be an emperor, Claudius was believed doomed to obscurity. That Claudius was an incompetent undeserving to become an emperor was the view of 19th century British historian Edward Gibbons, and widely accepted. Graves’ novel challenged that opinion and led to a reassessment of Claudius.
Carol led us skillfully through a maze of poisonings, assassinations, rivalries, incest, executions, and betrayals to the unexpected triumph of Claudius. Graves gave Claudius the following thoughts on becoming emperor:
“No, you would never guess what was passing through my mind. But I shall be frank and tell you what it was, though the confession is a shameful one. I was thinking, ‘So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I’ll be able to make people read my books now. Public recitals to large audiences. And good books too, thirty-five years’ hard work in them.’ ”
