Messalina : a novel of imperial Rome

by Alfred Jarry

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Description

Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) is admired today as the creator of a new tradition of humor. The Garden of Priapus is undoubtedly the best novel of Jarry's mature period. It is historical romance in episodic form, a series of tableaux of Rome in her decadence.

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Author Information

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153+ Works 3,467 Members
Alfred Jarry, eccentric dramatist, poet, and humorist, was born in Laval, France, in 1873. He was the co-founder, with Remy de Gourmont in 1894, of the magazine L'ymagier, which literally translated is "the maker of prints." This magazine, in existence only two years, presented texts and art images from a number of literary avant-garde artists of show more the late 19th century. Jarry is perhaps best known for the satirical and farcical play Ubu Roi (King Ubu), the first in a series of Ubu plays, published in 1896. Jarry died in 1907 in Paris. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Messalina : a novel of imperial Rome
Original title
Messaline
People/Characters
Messalina; Claudius Caesar; Mnester; Caius Silius
First words
That night, like many other nights, she descended from the palace on the Palatine in search of Happiness.
Quotations
And Messalina that evening in bed, fifty-eight years exactly since the birth of Claudius, whispered, 'Claudii, husband, emperor, god,' she repulsed him as she did when insisting on some trivial and paradoxical caprice, 'Caesa... (show all)r, augur, versed in music, even astronomy: I want THE MOON.'
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And it was then that Claudius Caesar—propped on one elbow on his couch, insatiable for love and feasting, pale, his cheek cerulean from the recent assiduity of his barber, a prototype Bluebeard just a few generations on from the cynocephalus, ancestor of our glorious warriors—meditated on his fourth wife:
Agrippina.
Original language
French

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
DDC/MDS
843Literature & rhetoricFrench LiteratureFrench fiction
LCC
PQ2619 .A65Language and LiteratureFrench, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literaturesFrench literatureModern literature1900-1960
BISAC

Statistics

Members
45
Popularity
663,714
Rating
(3.94)
Languages
5 — Catalan, Czech, English, French, German
Media
Paper
ISBNs
8
ASINs
1