Ask the Author: Jeanne Reames
Answered Questions (1)
Jeanne Reames
Hi, Saimi! First, let me apologize for the slight delay in my reply. I teach full time and I'm also heading overseas shortly, so I've been a tad pressed for time. :-o
Also, before I get started, let me note that I have a website about the novels with a lot of extras--including a couple extra and cut scenes--plus Vlogs, how to pronounce names, etc. It's all here:
https://jeannereames.net/Dancing_with...
In addition, I keep a blog (which I think Goodreads does link to?), but in case not, you can find it here, that might have a number of topics of interest in short entries (usually 1-3 pages, a few longer, and images *grin*):
https://awomanscholar.blogspot.com/
Now... to your question: Why Alexander and how I discovered him? Waaaay back in the middle/late 80s (yes, I'm old) I was getting my masters in Theological Studies, and the professors kept mentioning this guy "Alexander the Great" as if all the students ought to know who he was. Well, I'd *hated* history in school (I blame bad teachers) so got through both high school and college with not a single world history class. Had no IDEA who "Alexander the Great" was. Deciding maybe I ought to learn, given how pivotal he seemed to be, I hiked over to the Emory Univ. library, and checked out two books at random. Fatefully, they were N.G.L. Hammond's Alexander the Great: King, Commander and Statesmen; and Peter Green's, Alexander of Macedon (which I read in that order).
I couldn't have picked two more divergent views if I'd tried! I became fascinated by this guy who loomed so large, but who excited such *differing* views. I started reading, and as I seem incapable of doing anything by halves, I eventually wound up pursuing a PhD in the subject. But prior to that, I had the idea for a novel about his youth. (I was unaware of Mary Renault's Fire from Heaven, at the time.)
So in December of 1988, I opened a file and started a novel about a run-away boy (Hephaistion) who landed in Pella and ran into the prince after getting the better of another page. (The scene between Hephaistion and Kassandros at the opening of chapter 2 is all-but-unchanged aside from correcting some details.) Almost from the beginning, Hephaistion was formed. He sat up in my head and started dictating, and I had to take notes. ;-) Alexander was slower to coalesce. I had to write my way into understanding him. But yes, the novel has always been their story, and Hephaistion has always been as important to it as Alexander. (That I later did my PhD dissertation on Hephaistion is probably not a great surprise.)
As for where you, as a new fan of Alexander (*grin*), might begin, if you read it, in the back of Book 2 (Rise) I have an author's note about my choices, but also, a list of sources, with some of the better known names in Macedonian and Alexander studies (et al.).
But let me offer my textbook list from the undergraduate class I teach on Alexander, here at UNO:
Before Alexander: Constructing Early Macedonia, Eugene N. Borza
Shorter, cheaper intro to Macedonia by the author of In the Shadow of Olympus.
Alexander the Great and His World, Carol Thomas
Similar to the above, but looks at the wider Greek world as well and more aimed at ATG.
Alexander the Great: Legacy of a Conqueror, W. Lindsay Adams
Short, to the point and reflects recent work on Macedonia itself.
Into the Land of Bones, Frank Holt
Adams’ text above doesn’t deal much with Afghanistan; I want to spend a bit more time here.
Secondary Texts: Recommended
Conquest and Empire, A. B. Bosworth (required for grads)
Longer biography with more detail, but 1988, so less on recent Macedonian advances
The Persians, Maria Brosius (required for grads)
A good, brief introduction to Alexander’s chief adversaries and the land he invaded
The Wars of Alexander the Great, Waldemar Heckel (required for grads)
Nice, brief little resource focusing on ATG as military leader with lots of good illustrations.
The Original (Primary) Sources: All of these are available in cheap Penguin or Oxford translations.
Arrian's Anabasis and Indica (Alexander the Great)
Curtius Rufus' A History of Alexander
Plutarch's Life of Alexander (The Age of Alexander)
Diodorus Siculus' World History, Loeb book 17 (Philip and ATG)
Justin on Alexander (Yardley's translation)
Also, before I get started, let me note that I have a website about the novels with a lot of extras--including a couple extra and cut scenes--plus Vlogs, how to pronounce names, etc. It's all here:
https://jeannereames.net/Dancing_with...
In addition, I keep a blog (which I think Goodreads does link to?), but in case not, you can find it here, that might have a number of topics of interest in short entries (usually 1-3 pages, a few longer, and images *grin*):
https://awomanscholar.blogspot.com/
Now... to your question: Why Alexander and how I discovered him? Waaaay back in the middle/late 80s (yes, I'm old) I was getting my masters in Theological Studies, and the professors kept mentioning this guy "Alexander the Great" as if all the students ought to know who he was. Well, I'd *hated* history in school (I blame bad teachers) so got through both high school and college with not a single world history class. Had no IDEA who "Alexander the Great" was. Deciding maybe I ought to learn, given how pivotal he seemed to be, I hiked over to the Emory Univ. library, and checked out two books at random. Fatefully, they were N.G.L. Hammond's Alexander the Great: King, Commander and Statesmen; and Peter Green's, Alexander of Macedon (which I read in that order).
I couldn't have picked two more divergent views if I'd tried! I became fascinated by this guy who loomed so large, but who excited such *differing* views. I started reading, and as I seem incapable of doing anything by halves, I eventually wound up pursuing a PhD in the subject. But prior to that, I had the idea for a novel about his youth. (I was unaware of Mary Renault's Fire from Heaven, at the time.)
So in December of 1988, I opened a file and started a novel about a run-away boy (Hephaistion) who landed in Pella and ran into the prince after getting the better of another page. (The scene between Hephaistion and Kassandros at the opening of chapter 2 is all-but-unchanged aside from correcting some details.) Almost from the beginning, Hephaistion was formed. He sat up in my head and started dictating, and I had to take notes. ;-) Alexander was slower to coalesce. I had to write my way into understanding him. But yes, the novel has always been their story, and Hephaistion has always been as important to it as Alexander. (That I later did my PhD dissertation on Hephaistion is probably not a great surprise.)
As for where you, as a new fan of Alexander (*grin*), might begin, if you read it, in the back of Book 2 (Rise) I have an author's note about my choices, but also, a list of sources, with some of the better known names in Macedonian and Alexander studies (et al.).
But let me offer my textbook list from the undergraduate class I teach on Alexander, here at UNO:
Before Alexander: Constructing Early Macedonia, Eugene N. Borza
Shorter, cheaper intro to Macedonia by the author of In the Shadow of Olympus.
Alexander the Great and His World, Carol Thomas
Similar to the above, but looks at the wider Greek world as well and more aimed at ATG.
Alexander the Great: Legacy of a Conqueror, W. Lindsay Adams
Short, to the point and reflects recent work on Macedonia itself.
Into the Land of Bones, Frank Holt
Adams’ text above doesn’t deal much with Afghanistan; I want to spend a bit more time here.
Secondary Texts: Recommended
Conquest and Empire, A. B. Bosworth (required for grads)
Longer biography with more detail, but 1988, so less on recent Macedonian advances
The Persians, Maria Brosius (required for grads)
A good, brief introduction to Alexander’s chief adversaries and the land he invaded
The Wars of Alexander the Great, Waldemar Heckel (required for grads)
Nice, brief little resource focusing on ATG as military leader with lots of good illustrations.
The Original (Primary) Sources: All of these are available in cheap Penguin or Oxford translations.
Arrian's Anabasis and Indica (Alexander the Great)
Curtius Rufus' A History of Alexander
Plutarch's Life of Alexander (The Age of Alexander)
Diodorus Siculus' World History, Loeb book 17 (Philip and ATG)
Justin on Alexander (Yardley's translation)
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