Julian (historical novel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Julian
Author Gore Vidal
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Historical novel
Publisher Little, Brown & Company
Publication date 1964
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-375-72706-X

Julian by Gore Vidal is a work of historical fiction written primarily in the first person dealing with the life of the Roman emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, (labeled by Christians as Julian the Apostate), who reigned 360-363 CE.

Contents

[edit] Novel

The story of the novel begins in March of A.D. 380, nearly 20 years after the death of Julian. It starts as the text of a series of letters between Libanius and Priscus, two confidants of Julian. In their various letters they discuss their lives and in particular the recent events involving an imperial edict of Theodosius involving the Nicene Creed of Christianity. In his first letter to Priscus, Libanius proposes to write a biography of Julian. Eventually Priscus agrees to send a manuscript written by Julian himself to Libanius along with his own comments written in the margins.

The rest of the novel is then presented as the manuscript of Julian in its original form including instructions to the eventual editor and publisher. The marginal notes of Priscus are incorporated into Julian's narrative where he feels fit to comment on or expand certain parts of the narrative. These comments are then often followed by the comments of Libanius on both the narrative and the comments of Priscus. Frequently they offer a different and sometimes contradictory hindsight interpretation of events and people than Julian expresses in his manuscript.

The narrative of Julian presents his life story but is very self-reflective in parts. He attempts to be critical of his own shortcomings as well as trying to reconstruct his thoughts and emotions at various points in his life and public career. He frequently incorporates his own observations on everything from human nature to religion, philosophy, and government.

[edit] Plot summary

Julian was the last direct relative of Constantine the Great to assume the purple, his father being Constantine's half-brother, and attempted to destroy the influence of the Christian church, bringing back the worship of the old Roman pantheon, as well as other religions including his attempted restoration of the Jewish Temple, and Mithraism, a mystery religion that had been popular among Roman soldiers. The book relates Julian's life from the time so many members of his family were purged by his cousin, the emperor Constantius II, (whom he succeeded on the throne), his "exile" to libraries as a child, his administration in Gaul, military success over the Germans, to his last days invading and fighting in the Persian empire.

[edit] Major themes

Vidal's own introduction notes that it deals with the changes to Christianity wrought by Constantine and his successors. Vidal's view is that the promotion of Christianity by Constantine, and the creation of an orthodoxy, conflicting schools of thought, (many later denounced as heresy) was driven by Constantine's political needs, rather than a deeply held belief, and that this policy was continued by his dynastic successors.

Like other historical novels by Vidal, the novel is based on extensive use of contemporary sources, including Julian's own works, and much of the latter part of the book obviously uses Ammianus Marcellinus (who witnessed Julian's death) and Libanius, both of whom were friends of Julian and appear as characters in the novel, It also reflects the opinion of Julian held by Edward Gibbon in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

The death of Julian, and the reasons for it, are based on the opinion of Libanius and Vidal's interpretation of a very short but vital lacuna in Ammianus' history as due to active censorship rather than the ravages of time.

[edit] Historical Accuracy

The novel is considered to be very well-researched and accurate not only in the events it mentions but also in the details of its portrayal of daily life for the time period. The author is at pains to stress that he did not merely copy the narrative history of Ammianus Marcellinus in writing the novel, but drew upon several sources. The author gives a partial bibliography in an appendix to the novel to emphasize and deflect any criticism along those lines.

[edit] See also