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The Last Days of Pompeii
В романе «Последние дни Помпеи» описываются события, предшествующие извержению Везувия в I в. н. э., похоронившему под пеплом процветающий курортный древнеримский город. Вулканический пепел сохранил в неприкосновенности дома тех, кто жил за две тысячи лет до нас. Красавица-богачка и слепая рабыня, отважный гладиатор и коварный жрец египетской богини – они были совсем такие же, как мы, так же любили, ненавидели, ревновали, защищали свое достоинство. Землетрясение вмешалось в их жизни в самый драматический момент...
Файл электронной книги подготовлен в Агентстве ФТМ, Лтд., 2013
456 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1834
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About the author
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
4,419 books218 followersEdward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC, was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. Lord Lytton was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the infamous incipit "It was a dark and stormy night."
He was the youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. He had two brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799–1877) and Henry, afterwards Lord Dalling and Bulwer.
Lord Lytton's original surname was Bulwer, the names 'Earle' and 'Lytton' were middle names. On 20 February 1844 he assumed the name and arms of Lytton by royal licence and his surname then became 'Bulwer-Lytton'. His widowed mother had done the same in 1811. His brothers were always simply surnamed 'Bulwer'.
He was the youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. He had two brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799–1877) and Henry, afterwards Lord Dalling and Bulwer.
Lord Lytton's original surname was Bulwer, the names 'Earle' and 'Lytton' were middle names. On 20 February 1844 he assumed the name and arms of Lytton by royal licence and his surname then became 'Bulwer-Lytton'. His widowed mother had done the same in 1811. His brothers were always simply surnamed 'Bulwer'.
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June 17, 2014
A veiled Roman lady walks down the cobble stone street of ancient Pompeii. She smiles when she sees her friend and modestly removes only half her veil to greet her in front of the House of the Tragic Poet, a name that will be conferred upon it seventeen centuries hence.
“O friend! By wise Juno, how are you?”
“Alas and alack, dear friend! This day I am forced to place a one star review on Goodreads!”
“By the gods this is sore news indeed! Why?”
“The melodramatic overacting of the main characters is quite, quite terrible! Everything they say, by thunderous Jove, is exclaimed upon!”
“But-but, by Vulcan’s forge, a volcano ruins their whole world, is that not enough reason to be dramatic?”
“Not when the volcano erupts in only the last ten of 400 pages!”
The women stand and, with nervous hands, twist at the edges of their stola, a garment that was a long, pleated dress, worn over an undergarment called a tunica intima. The stola was generally sleeveless but versions of it did have short or long sleeves. These sleeves could belong to the stola itself or be a part of the tunic. The traditional sleeveless gown was fastened by clasps at the shoulder called fibulae. The stola was typically girt with ribbons, and typically had two belts. The first was worn just below the upper chest creating a great number of folds. The second and wider belt was worn around the waist. Stolas were generally made of fabrics like linen or wool, but a wealthy woman could be seen wearing a stola made of silk.
“Well then, you must at least then get a good day-in-the-life examination of the ancient city!”
“Nay! Tis a horrible Victorian soap opera of halfhearted assassinations and chaste love affairs!”
“O alas! That such a tale is wrecked in the telling!”
“Alas! By Mercury!”
March 14, 2018
A sympathetic book for teenagers from 11 years old. It is difficult to get in the Pompeian world of the year 79 AD. The author describes little clothing, architecture, or daily life of the inhabitants of Pompeii. I guess it must be difficult to immerse yourself in Pompeii of the 1st century if you do not already know History.
To the credit of the author who wrote this book in the 19th century, we now know now a lot more about this period, so he did with the docs he had, I guess. For example, I visited the Coliseum in Rome last year. I learned a lot about gladiators, and that's different from what Mr. Bulwer-Lytton shows.
This said, the story is nice and the characters are good. It’s worth meeting Julia, Glaucus, Ione…
Nydia, the young blind slave is an interesting girl.
The Egyptian priest Arbaces is an awful villain who does not believe in the Gods which he wants people to believe in. He manipulates the people. He says:
« I give to the world wisdom, to myself freedom »
But his tricks in his temple seemed to me like cardboard 50’s Hollywood decor.
A weird thing I noticed…
« The Titan wine-vender seized the hand extended to him, and griped it in so stern a vice that the blood spirted from the fingers' ends over the garments of the bystanders. »
Is this really possible ? I can’t say… unless one of you would like to let me try with his hand ?
… and a beautiful one :
« Like the rainbow, Peace rests upon the earth, but its arch is lost in heaven. Heaven bathes it in hues of ligh t— it springs up amidst tears and clouds — it is a reflection of the Eternal Sun — it is an assurance of calm — it is the sign of a great covenant between Man and God. Such peace, O young man! is the smile of the soul; it is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light. PEACE be with you! »
Finally, I couldn’t get into this story. Maybe I’m too tired, these days, I don’t know.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful Arria Marcella by Théophile Gautier. Nothing can be compared to this, but nothing can be compared to Theophile Gautier, so… ! 😊
To the credit of the author who wrote this book in the 19th century, we now know now a lot more about this period, so he did with the docs he had, I guess. For example, I visited the Coliseum in Rome last year. I learned a lot about gladiators, and that's different from what Mr. Bulwer-Lytton shows.
This said, the story is nice and the characters are good. It’s worth meeting Julia, Glaucus, Ione…
Nydia, the young blind slave is an interesting girl.
The Egyptian priest Arbaces is an awful villain who does not believe in the Gods which he wants people to believe in. He manipulates the people. He says:
« I give to the world wisdom, to myself freedom »
But his tricks in his temple seemed to me like cardboard 50’s Hollywood decor.
A weird thing I noticed…
« The Titan wine-vender seized the hand extended to him, and griped it in so stern a vice that the blood spirted from the fingers' ends over the garments of the bystanders. »
Is this really possible ? I can’t say… unless one of you would like to let me try with his hand ?
… and a beautiful one :
« Like the rainbow, Peace rests upon the earth, but its arch is lost in heaven. Heaven bathes it in hues of ligh t— it springs up amidst tears and clouds — it is a reflection of the Eternal Sun — it is an assurance of calm — it is the sign of a great covenant between Man and God. Such peace, O young man! is the smile of the soul; it is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light. PEACE be with you! »
Finally, I couldn’t get into this story. Maybe I’m too tired, these days, I don’t know.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful Arria Marcella by Théophile Gautier. Nothing can be compared to this, but nothing can be compared to Theophile Gautier, so… ! 😊
October 10, 2020
Most likely few people know the name of Edward Bulwer-Lytton. He authored the famous opening line “It was a dark and stormy night.” Which inspired cartoon dog Snoopy to be an author and an annual contest named for the author (human not canine). Bulwer-Litton was also the author of the famous quote: “The pen is mightier than the sword.” But likely few track attributions too closely. As for his book The Last Days of Pompeii (Kindle Edition) my speculation is that many know the title, have seen one or another of the movies and at most figure they may get around to the book someday. It is a fair read, hardly great literature. Not so much purple pose as over written. Calling it family friendly is oddly not that simple. There is no bad language and no sex and minimal violence. There is more than a hint of sex as entertainment, for hire and the beginnings of sexual predation. The Gladiator fight has a kind of staid stylized violence less bloody than would make a modern audience squirm. So even as this is a book as they used to write ‘em, it is not free of “a glimpse of stocking” or whatever the ancient Roman equivalent.
Speaking of Roman equivalent, The Last Days of Pompeii was inspired by a walking tour EB-L had taken of the recently rediscovered ruins of Pompeii. A rude person might suggest that he had lifted much from his guide book and pasted it directly into his novel. Depending on you pleasure in the latest in 19th century archeology along with your light reads, these can get to be a bit of a drag. If all he is doing is showing off what he learned while on vacation it would be that much more irritating, but much of it is used to infuse romantic images onto the prosaic facts of the remains of an ancient party town.
Last Days is a melodrama, toga costumed version of the “Perils of Pauline” variety. It is more. It is an ensemble drama more like the cast of dozens who are doomed books much later to be made famous. Titanic, Poseidon Adventure, On the Beach and of course the parody, Airplane! come to mind. None of these rates as great literature. Last Days, like the later books can be read on the beach or during the office lunch break without hiding the cover.
We already know that the city is doomed. The title alone is a clue. The problem for the author is to engage us with the characters and their respective plights and plot turns. Overall Bulwer-Lytton achieves this. However, getting to the pyroclastic climax takes a lot of getting there. Allowing that he was writing when a more leisurely pacing of plots was expected, The Last Days of Pompeii has a few too many sub plots and narrative diversions. I suspect that having read The Last Days of Pompeii, you may not feel driven to read his entire shelf, but not so turned off as to avoid other titles.
Speaking of Roman equivalent, The Last Days of Pompeii was inspired by a walking tour EB-L had taken of the recently rediscovered ruins of Pompeii. A rude person might suggest that he had lifted much from his guide book and pasted it directly into his novel. Depending on you pleasure in the latest in 19th century archeology along with your light reads, these can get to be a bit of a drag. If all he is doing is showing off what he learned while on vacation it would be that much more irritating, but much of it is used to infuse romantic images onto the prosaic facts of the remains of an ancient party town.
Last Days is a melodrama, toga costumed version of the “Perils of Pauline” variety. It is more. It is an ensemble drama more like the cast of dozens who are doomed books much later to be made famous. Titanic, Poseidon Adventure, On the Beach and of course the parody, Airplane! come to mind. None of these rates as great literature. Last Days, like the later books can be read on the beach or during the office lunch break without hiding the cover.
We already know that the city is doomed. The title alone is a clue. The problem for the author is to engage us with the characters and their respective plights and plot turns. Overall Bulwer-Lytton achieves this. However, getting to the pyroclastic climax takes a lot of getting there. Allowing that he was writing when a more leisurely pacing of plots was expected, The Last Days of Pompeii has a few too many sub plots and narrative diversions. I suspect that having read The Last Days of Pompeii, you may not feel driven to read his entire shelf, but not so turned off as to avoid other titles.
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October 14, 2020J'ai relu le livre,pas tant pour son contenu historique,mais surtout pour la langue absolument magnifique et les passages littéraires qui le traversent :
" Moi, je crois à deux divinités, la Nature et la Nécessité. Le respect me courbe aux pieds de la dernière, l'étude me fait adorer la première....)"
"Jetez les yeux sur le monde.L' œuvre proclame un créateur. Mais quel est le créateur ? un Dieux, vous écriez-vous ? Arrêtez, pas de confusions, pas de d'applications incertaines : de l'Être qui créa le monde nous ne connaissons,nous ne pouvons connaître que les attributs.Le mélange du bien et du mal, l'existence de la douleur et du crime,ont de tout temps embarrassé les sages.En créant un Dieu, ils le supposent bienveillant: d'où vient donc le mal ? Pourquoi Dieu le peut-il ? bien plus, pourquoi l'avoir inventé, pourquoi le perpétuer ? Quelle est la moralité que ma religion m'enseigne ? Celle-ci : toutes les choses ne sont soumises qu'à des règles générales ; le soleil luit pour la joie du plus grand nombre, mais il peut apporter de la peine à quelqu'un ; la nuit répand le sommeil sur la multitude, mais elle protège le crime aussi bien que le repos (...)
La nature n'agit donc que pour le bien général et non pour le bien universel, et la Nécessité hâte sa course terrible (...)
Je veux étendre la vaste carrière de la civilisation : en cela je sers les masses, j'obéis à la loi générale, je mets en action la grande morale que prêche la Nature : mais pour moi même je réclame l'exception individuelle, je le réclame pour le sage, assuré que mes propres actions ne sont rien dans la grande balance du bien et du mal .."
Un lien épique remarquable,entre désastre, drame et vie ancienne.Je ne peux que faire une analogie entre le "Quo Vadis" de Sienkewicz et ce roman que je considère comme supérior. Les deux décrivent des scènes de la vie provinciale du premièr siècle de l'ère chrétienne.
Dans le petit théâtre de Pompei , on trouve des passions,intrigues, complots,mœurs - placés à la fois dans l'opposition et conflit.Parce que, comme le dit l'auteur, - l'âme humaine est toujours la même, qu'elle soit recouverte d'un tunique grecque,robe romaine ou manteau moderne.
Si jamais je voulais écrire un roman historique,le seul ex.que je suivras serait celui de Bulwer Lytton. Je vois, en plus de Walter Scott, par ex. ,- une capacité innée à relier les sentiments d'une manière authentique, parfaitement intégrée à l'état d'esprit de la période décrite.
" Moi, je crois à deux divinités, la Nature et la Nécessité. Le respect me courbe aux pieds de la dernière, l'étude me fait adorer la première....)"
"Jetez les yeux sur le monde.L' œuvre proclame un créateur. Mais quel est le créateur ? un Dieux, vous écriez-vous ? Arrêtez, pas de confusions, pas de d'applications incertaines : de l'Être qui créa le monde nous ne connaissons,nous ne pouvons connaître que les attributs.Le mélange du bien et du mal, l'existence de la douleur et du crime,ont de tout temps embarrassé les sages.En créant un Dieu, ils le supposent bienveillant: d'où vient donc le mal ? Pourquoi Dieu le peut-il ? bien plus, pourquoi l'avoir inventé, pourquoi le perpétuer ? Quelle est la moralité que ma religion m'enseigne ? Celle-ci : toutes les choses ne sont soumises qu'à des règles générales ; le soleil luit pour la joie du plus grand nombre, mais il peut apporter de la peine à quelqu'un ; la nuit répand le sommeil sur la multitude, mais elle protège le crime aussi bien que le repos (...)
La nature n'agit donc que pour le bien général et non pour le bien universel, et la Nécessité hâte sa course terrible (...)
Je veux étendre la vaste carrière de la civilisation : en cela je sers les masses, j'obéis à la loi générale, je mets en action la grande morale que prêche la Nature : mais pour moi même je réclame l'exception individuelle, je le réclame pour le sage, assuré que mes propres actions ne sont rien dans la grande balance du bien et du mal .."
Un lien épique remarquable,entre désastre, drame et vie ancienne.Je ne peux que faire une analogie entre le "Quo Vadis" de Sienkewicz et ce roman que je considère comme supérior. Les deux décrivent des scènes de la vie provinciale du premièr siècle de l'ère chrétienne.
Dans le petit théâtre de Pompei , on trouve des passions,intrigues, complots,mœurs - placés à la fois dans l'opposition et conflit.Parce que, comme le dit l'auteur, - l'âme humaine est toujours la même, qu'elle soit recouverte d'un tunique grecque,robe romaine ou manteau moderne.
Si jamais je voulais écrire un roman historique,le seul ex.que je suivras serait celui de Bulwer Lytton. Je vois, en plus de Walter Scott, par ex. ,- une capacité innée à relier les sentiments d'une manière authentique, parfaitement intégrée à l'état d'esprit de la période décrite.
August 30, 2018
قصة دارمية لطيفة جداً تدور أحداثها قبل حدوث بركان فيزوف بأيام ، الأيام الأخيرة لمدينة بومبي، المدينة الرومانية الشهيرة التي كانت مشهورة بالفساد والتبذير والثراء الفاحش..
مؤامرات وحب وتضحيات ومدينة تضج بالحياة والكهنة ، أجواء رومانية جميلة رصعها ليتون في روايته..
قرأتها للمرة الثانية بعد سنوات عديدة ولازلت أجد فيها ريح الجمال وعذوبة القصص الباكرة ..
مؤامرات وحب وتضحيات ومدينة تضج بالحياة والكهنة ، أجواء رومانية جميلة رصعها ليتون في روايته..
قرأتها للمرة الثانية بعد سنوات عديدة ولازلت أجد فيها ريح الجمال وعذوبة القصص الباكرة ..
December 19, 2010
I read this perhaps 25 years ago, but just downloaded a copy, not remembering that I'm already familiar with it. The opening lines reminded me. Of course, being so long ago, I don't remember a lot about the reading (good reason to revisit the book,) but it did make quite an impression on me. Since I was a teenager, I've watched many documentaries that reference Pompeii, and have a fascination with volcanoes.
In 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted, the top 1/3 of the mountain disappearing in a moment. I was 9 years old. We were near enough to the mountain to see it, but far enough away to make the catastrophe only a moderate inconvenience. I remember standing on my Aunt's back deck and watching the ash plume drifting east. Over the next several weeks, ash settled on everything, and our neighbors closer to the volcano had to cope with ashy air, ash in and on all of their possessions, unreliable transportation, and property damage. 57 people died - DIED, in spite of massive warnings from scientists watching the mountain's activity. Spirit Lake all but disappeared, poisoned by gas and debris, clogged with ash. It was an incredible thing to witness - especially for a 10 year old.
Sometime thereafter, I found The Last Days of Pompeii at the library, and devoured it. In glancing over it again, I'm not sure how my middle school mind took in the archaic language, but having been raised on a steady diet of daily bible readings, I suspect I was more used to it than I would be now.
I do remember the story being a fascinating look at the day to day lives of a somewhat decadent Greco-Roman city. There were elements of influence from other cultures and religions also, which made the story even more interesting to me as a child, steeped as I was in fundamentalism. It was a rare peek into other philosophies, couched in historical fiction.
Perhaps on re-reading, it wouldn't stand up to my early experience. Still, I think I'll give it a shot.
In 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted, the top 1/3 of the mountain disappearing in a moment. I was 9 years old. We were near enough to the mountain to see it, but far enough away to make the catastrophe only a moderate inconvenience. I remember standing on my Aunt's back deck and watching the ash plume drifting east. Over the next several weeks, ash settled on everything, and our neighbors closer to the volcano had to cope with ashy air, ash in and on all of their possessions, unreliable transportation, and property damage. 57 people died - DIED, in spite of massive warnings from scientists watching the mountain's activity. Spirit Lake all but disappeared, poisoned by gas and debris, clogged with ash. It was an incredible thing to witness - especially for a 10 year old.
Sometime thereafter, I found The Last Days of Pompeii at the library, and devoured it. In glancing over it again, I'm not sure how my middle school mind took in the archaic language, but having been raised on a steady diet of daily bible readings, I suspect I was more used to it than I would be now.
I do remember the story being a fascinating look at the day to day lives of a somewhat decadent Greco-Roman city. There were elements of influence from other cultures and religions also, which made the story even more interesting to me as a child, steeped as I was in fundamentalism. It was a rare peek into other philosophies, couched in historical fiction.
Perhaps on re-reading, it wouldn't stand up to my early experience. Still, I think I'll give it a shot.
March 13, 2020
Ziemlich eindimensionales Lesevergnügen mit scharfen Kontrasten
Zur Entstehungszeit war die romanhafte Gestaltung der archäologischen Funde sicherlich eine absolute Sensation, die Schicksale zu den Opfern des Ausbruchs des Vesuv absolut zu Herzen gehend. Die 1830 hoch gehaltenen Werte sind inzwischen ziemlich in Verruf gekommen, daraus resultierende Negativurteile über gleichgeschlechtliche Dispositionen zu Diskriminierungen geraten. Zudem langweilt mich, wie schon bei Don Quixote, die Tendenz die schönen Menschen bei erster Gelegenheit als Paar vorzustellen, das sich liebt und gegen alle Anschläge von Schurken zusammen oder sich gewogen bleibt, ohne nur einen Wimpernschlag die Alternativen zu erwägen. Die klare Trennung in Gute (Christen oder solche, die es noch werden) und Schurken (allesamt habgierige Scharlatane, die der Vesuv beim Raffen ereilt) macht die letzten Tage von Pompeji zur ziemlich eintönigen Lektüre.
Natürlich lässt sich das Ganze auch als Parabel auf der Untergang der korrupten heidnischen Welt und dem Aufstieg einer besseren christlichen Menschheit lesen, aber gerade die Kapitel mit der Guten Nachricht sind dermaßen für ein frommes Publikum mit der Siegerperspektive geschrieben, dass keinerlei Heilsverheißung überspringt, auch wenn der von Jesus von den Toten erweckte Jüngling als alter Mann von seiner Erfahrung erzählt.
In dieser historischen Vorlage steckt sicherlich mehr Potenzial, deshalb haben sich genügend neuere Autoren daran versucht und dabei auch die Vorurteile der eigenen Epoche gestaltet. Da mich Pompeji von Robert Harris seinerzeit auch enttäuscht hat, wollte ich dem Klassiker noch mal eine Chance geben, das ist hiermit geschehen. Nach über sechs Jahren auf Pause war mir der kindle mit seiner Suchfunktion eine wesentliche Hilfe beim Neustart, bzw. dem Ermitteln früherer Auftritte von weniger prominentem Personal.
Zur Entstehungszeit war die romanhafte Gestaltung der archäologischen Funde sicherlich eine absolute Sensation, die Schicksale zu den Opfern des Ausbruchs des Vesuv absolut zu Herzen gehend. Die 1830 hoch gehaltenen Werte sind inzwischen ziemlich in Verruf gekommen, daraus resultierende Negativurteile über gleichgeschlechtliche Dispositionen zu Diskriminierungen geraten. Zudem langweilt mich, wie schon bei Don Quixote, die Tendenz die schönen Menschen bei erster Gelegenheit als Paar vorzustellen, das sich liebt und gegen alle Anschläge von Schurken zusammen oder sich gewogen bleibt, ohne nur einen Wimpernschlag die Alternativen zu erwägen. Die klare Trennung in Gute (Christen oder solche, die es noch werden) und Schurken (allesamt habgierige Scharlatane, die der Vesuv beim Raffen ereilt) macht die letzten Tage von Pompeji zur ziemlich eintönigen Lektüre.
Natürlich lässt sich das Ganze auch als Parabel auf der Untergang der korrupten heidnischen Welt und dem Aufstieg einer besseren christlichen Menschheit lesen, aber gerade die Kapitel mit der Guten Nachricht sind dermaßen für ein frommes Publikum mit der Siegerperspektive geschrieben, dass keinerlei Heilsverheißung überspringt, auch wenn der von Jesus von den Toten erweckte Jüngling als alter Mann von seiner Erfahrung erzählt.
In dieser historischen Vorlage steckt sicherlich mehr Potenzial, deshalb haben sich genügend neuere Autoren daran versucht und dabei auch die Vorurteile der eigenen Epoche gestaltet. Da mich Pompeji von Robert Harris seinerzeit auch enttäuscht hat, wollte ich dem Klassiker noch mal eine Chance geben, das ist hiermit geschehen. Nach über sechs Jahren auf Pause war mir der kindle mit seiner Suchfunktion eine wesentliche Hilfe beim Neustart, bzw. dem Ermitteln früherer Auftritte von weniger prominentem Personal.
February 10, 2017
Mi è sempre piaciuta la storia e soprattutto quella dell’antica Roma. Dopo la bellissima lettura di Quo Vadis? ho cercato altri romanzi ambientati nello stesso periodo storico e mi sono imbattuta in questo libro, il cui titolo avevo già sentito nominare.
Il nome di Pompei è per me sempre sinonimo di fascino e curiosità; non mi potevo tenere lontana dal leggere questo romanzo ambientato nell’antica città greco- romana.
Armata di cartina degli scavi archeologici portatami da mia sorella dopo la sua visita agli scavi, mi sono accinta a leggere questo romanzo narrato dallo scrittore inglese.
Il romanzo è stato scritto nel 1834 durante una visita a Napoli, in cui Bulwer-Lytton rimase colpito e affascinato dagli scavi di questa città rimasta sepolta per 1700 anni. Prendendo spunto dalle scoperte archeologiche e dai resti trovati durante gli scavi, l’autore ci accompagna nella “città dei morti” come se fosse viva davanti ai nostri occhi; grazie alla sua fervida immaginazione ci viene racconta la vita di pompeiani vissuti poco prima della famosa eruzione del 79 d.C.
Il libro ambientato un mese prima dell’eruzione, ruota attorno alla figura di Glauco - giovane ateniese, bello, ricco e che secondo la fantasia dell’autore abita nella cosiddetta “Casa del poeta tragico” tuttora visitabile – e di Jone, una giovane e bella ragazza napoletana d’origine greca.
La giovane fanciulla e suo fratello sono protetti dal loro tutore: un sacerdote egiziano di nome Arbace, d’origini nobili, tanto intelligente quanto depravato.
L’amore tra Glauco e Jone è contrastato dal sacerdote egiziano che malgrado si comporti da tutore in realtà è anche lui innamorato e attratto dalla giovane Jone; per averla a tutti i costi non esita ingannare, tradire e anche ad uccidere…
Altra protagonista del libro è la giovane schiava Nidia; una giovane ragazza tessala, cieca, gelosa di Jone perché segretamente innamorata, non ricambiata, di Glauco. Personaggio molto bello, umana e molto coraggiosa; ma man mano che la storia procede diventerà sempre più negativo, anche se le sue azioni saranno sempre rivolte a fare il bene dell’uomo che ama e rischierà la propria vita per salvare quella di quest’ultimo.
Ci sono un’infinità di personaggi minori: Lidone, giovane gladiatore che combatte in modo da avere il denaro per riscattare la libertà del padre; il ricco mercante Diomede, realmente esistito, proprietario di una magnifica villa alle porte della città; sua figlia Giulia, bella ragazza, viziata che non esita ad allearsi con Arbace per realizzare i suoi scopi; l’edile Pansa, il cui nome possiamo ancora leggerlo nei muri di Pompei; Olinto, cristiano fanatico e ardente; il giovane Apecide, fratello di Jone, giovane e tormentato allievo di Arbace; la cosiddetta strega del Vesuvio, che abita nei campi Flegrei; il ricco Sallustio (anche lui realmente esistito) amico di Glauco; e tanti altri ancora.
Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei narrano una bellissima storia; il tutto è raccontato in maniera realistica poiché l’autore si è documentato su Pompei, ha visitato gli scavi e ha basato la sua narrazione su cronache dell’epoca antica da Plinio a Dione Cassio.
Amore, gelosie, odi, potere, corruzioni, intrighi, passioni cruente, riti magici si snodano tra banchetti e splendori di antiche case riccamente affrescate, feroci combattimenti di gladiatori e primi messaggi di una nuova religione: il cristianesimo. A fare da sfondo a tutto ciò il vero protagonista con la P maiuscola: il Vesuvio che si prepara a seppellire Pompei con la sua forza devastante.
Devo dire che il romanzo mi è piaciuto molto; amo i romanzi storici e questo è narrato in maniera molto realistica. Ho particolarmente apprezzato l’accurata descrizione degli usi e dei costumi dell’impero romano, della vita quotidiana sia dei patrizi sia dei plebei, mi ha colpito anche la descrizione particolareggiata degli ambienti dei nobili patrizi e dei templi con i loro riti.
Un romanzo che forse nelle prime cento pagine è un po’ lento ma nel proseguo la narrazione diventa sempre più incalzante e coinvolgente; è stato molto duro chiudere il libro.
Scritto e costruito molto bene, dal titolo s’intuisce più o meno come possa terminare il libro.
Noi abitanti del 21 secolo ormai sappiamo cosa successe quel giorno ma leggere le parti in cui il Vesuvio erutta e scatena tutta la sua potenza è veramente qualcosa di straordinario e sconvolgente; mi è sembrato di essere lì, tra le urla della folla che scappa in cerca di un rifugio sicuro, anch’io ho scrollato le spalle perché mi sembrava di avere della cenere addosso e di cadere sotto il suo peso...
Questo libro mi ha fatto capire ancora di più come l’uomo può essere indifeso e impotente di fronte alla sconvolgente forza della natura.
[...] più nera, più immensa, più possente si spargeva la nuvola su di loro. La Notte, improvvisa e ancora più paurosa, si stendeva sul regno del Mezzodì!
Il nome di Pompei è per me sempre sinonimo di fascino e curiosità; non mi potevo tenere lontana dal leggere questo romanzo ambientato nell’antica città greco- romana.
Armata di cartina degli scavi archeologici portatami da mia sorella dopo la sua visita agli scavi, mi sono accinta a leggere questo romanzo narrato dallo scrittore inglese.
Il romanzo è stato scritto nel 1834 durante una visita a Napoli, in cui Bulwer-Lytton rimase colpito e affascinato dagli scavi di questa città rimasta sepolta per 1700 anni. Prendendo spunto dalle scoperte archeologiche e dai resti trovati durante gli scavi, l’autore ci accompagna nella “città dei morti” come se fosse viva davanti ai nostri occhi; grazie alla sua fervida immaginazione ci viene racconta la vita di pompeiani vissuti poco prima della famosa eruzione del 79 d.C.
Il libro ambientato un mese prima dell’eruzione, ruota attorno alla figura di Glauco - giovane ateniese, bello, ricco e che secondo la fantasia dell’autore abita nella cosiddetta “Casa del poeta tragico” tuttora visitabile – e di Jone, una giovane e bella ragazza napoletana d’origine greca.
La giovane fanciulla e suo fratello sono protetti dal loro tutore: un sacerdote egiziano di nome Arbace, d’origini nobili, tanto intelligente quanto depravato.
L’amore tra Glauco e Jone è contrastato dal sacerdote egiziano che malgrado si comporti da tutore in realtà è anche lui innamorato e attratto dalla giovane Jone; per averla a tutti i costi non esita ingannare, tradire e anche ad uccidere…
Altra protagonista del libro è la giovane schiava Nidia; una giovane ragazza tessala, cieca, gelosa di Jone perché segretamente innamorata, non ricambiata, di Glauco. Personaggio molto bello, umana e molto coraggiosa; ma man mano che la storia procede diventerà sempre più negativo, anche se le sue azioni saranno sempre rivolte a fare il bene dell’uomo che ama e rischierà la propria vita per salvare quella di quest’ultimo.
Ci sono un’infinità di personaggi minori: Lidone, giovane gladiatore che combatte in modo da avere il denaro per riscattare la libertà del padre; il ricco mercante Diomede, realmente esistito, proprietario di una magnifica villa alle porte della città; sua figlia Giulia, bella ragazza, viziata che non esita ad allearsi con Arbace per realizzare i suoi scopi; l’edile Pansa, il cui nome possiamo ancora leggerlo nei muri di Pompei; Olinto, cristiano fanatico e ardente; il giovane Apecide, fratello di Jone, giovane e tormentato allievo di Arbace; la cosiddetta strega del Vesuvio, che abita nei campi Flegrei; il ricco Sallustio (anche lui realmente esistito) amico di Glauco; e tanti altri ancora.
Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei narrano una bellissima storia; il tutto è raccontato in maniera realistica poiché l’autore si è documentato su Pompei, ha visitato gli scavi e ha basato la sua narrazione su cronache dell’epoca antica da Plinio a Dione Cassio.
Amore, gelosie, odi, potere, corruzioni, intrighi, passioni cruente, riti magici si snodano tra banchetti e splendori di antiche case riccamente affrescate, feroci combattimenti di gladiatori e primi messaggi di una nuova religione: il cristianesimo. A fare da sfondo a tutto ciò il vero protagonista con la P maiuscola: il Vesuvio che si prepara a seppellire Pompei con la sua forza devastante.
Devo dire che il romanzo mi è piaciuto molto; amo i romanzi storici e questo è narrato in maniera molto realistica. Ho particolarmente apprezzato l’accurata descrizione degli usi e dei costumi dell’impero romano, della vita quotidiana sia dei patrizi sia dei plebei, mi ha colpito anche la descrizione particolareggiata degli ambienti dei nobili patrizi e dei templi con i loro riti.
Un romanzo che forse nelle prime cento pagine è un po’ lento ma nel proseguo la narrazione diventa sempre più incalzante e coinvolgente; è stato molto duro chiudere il libro.
Scritto e costruito molto bene, dal titolo s’intuisce più o meno come possa terminare il libro.
Noi abitanti del 21 secolo ormai sappiamo cosa successe quel giorno ma leggere le parti in cui il Vesuvio erutta e scatena tutta la sua potenza è veramente qualcosa di straordinario e sconvolgente; mi è sembrato di essere lì, tra le urla della folla che scappa in cerca di un rifugio sicuro, anch’io ho scrollato le spalle perché mi sembrava di avere della cenere addosso e di cadere sotto il suo peso...
Questo libro mi ha fatto capire ancora di più come l’uomo può essere indifeso e impotente di fronte alla sconvolgente forza della natura.
[...] più nera, più immensa, più possente si spargeva la nuvola su di loro. La Notte, improvvisa e ancora più paurosa, si stendeva sul regno del Mezzodì!
June 1, 2020
للأسف الرواية سطحية والعنوان خادع ، الرواية عن قصة حب في بومبي ولم تطرق إلى كارثة بومبي إلا في الفصل الأخير تقريبا..
شاب يعشق شابة في مجتمع شهواني متفرق بين الديانات و تحكمه المادة وتأتي النهاية ساذجة فقد نجى الحب ومات الشر ..
قرأتها طمعا في رواية تدور أحداثها حول كارثة بومبي وجبل الفيزوف..
استمتعوا ..
دمتم قراء ..❤️❤️❤️
شاب يعشق شابة في مجتمع شهواني متفرق بين الديانات و تحكمه المادة وتأتي النهاية ساذجة فقد نجى الحب ومات الشر ..
قرأتها طمعا في رواية تدور أحداثها حول كارثة بومبي وجبل الفيزوف..
استمتعوا ..
دمتم قراء ..❤️❤️❤️
May 14, 2012
Once wildly popular, Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton is now best know for a couple of his quotes. One is "the pen is mightier than the sword," which is often used; the other is the opening to his novel Paul Clifford: "It was a dark and stormy night," which was later used by Charles Schulz in Peanuts, with Snoopy's attempts at writing a novel always starting with that line.
In 1834 Bulwer-Lytton published The Last Days of Pompeii, a potboiler about the days leading up the August 14, 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. He has a network of characters, heroes and villains, that get into tight spots, but all goes poof when the mountain erupts and the town is buried in ash.
The main characters are Glaucus, an Athenian, who is in love with the beautiful Ione. But she is also loved by the Egyptian Arbaces, who turns out to a mustache-twirling villain: "'Then hear me,' said Arbaces, sinking his voice into a whisper; 'thou shalt go to thy tomb rather than to his arm! What! thinkest thou Arbaces will brook a rival such as this puny Greek? What! thinkest thou that he has watched the fruit ripen, to yield it to another! Pretty fool--no! Thou are mine--all--only mine: and thus--thus I seize and claim thee!'" Other key characters are the blind slave girl, Nydia, who falls in love with Glaucus, who is good to her, but in her jealousy ends up getting him sentenced to the arena to be eaten by a lion. Along with him is Olinthus, the Christian, who is the bright ray of sunshine in this pagan world: "They regarded the Christian as the enemy of mankind; the epithets they lavished upon him, of which 'Atheist' was the most favored and frequent, may serve, perhaps, to warn us, believers of the same creed now triumphant, how we indulge the persecution of opinion Olinthus then underwent, and how we apply to those whose notions differ from our own terms at that day lavished upon the fathers of our faith." Bulwer-Lytton was ahead of his time on religious tolerance.
The novel has a serial quality, with episodes rather than a thorough plot. There is also a lot of purple prose, some of it for pages and pages, that don't seem to have much to do with anything. I slowed down when actual events were taking place, but there is a ton of filler, perhaps to satisfy Bulwer-Lytton's attention to his research.
"Pompeii was the miniature of the civilization of that age. Within the narrow compass of its walls was contained, as it were, a specimen of every gift which luxury offered to power. In its minute but glittering shops, its tiny palaces, its baths, its forum, its theatre, its circus--in the energy yet corruption, in the refinement yet the vice, of its people, you beheld a model of the whole empire." Of course, this is true given that the ruins of Pompeii, which were discovered in the 1700s, was the best chance to see Roman civilization as it was, untouched for two-thousand years.
The last few chapters are a real page turner. Arbaces has framed Glaucus for a murder he himself committed. Glaucus is about to enter the arena to be eaten by a lion. Will Nydia's letter to Glaucus' friend, exonerating him, be read in time? Of course, there's also the impending volcanic eruption, that only we know about. Bulwer-Lytton provides some striking details in the last few pages: "The lion had been kept without food for twenty-four hours, and the animal had, during the whole morning, testified a singular and restless uneasiness, which the keeper had attributed to the pangs of hunger. Yet is bearing seemed rather that of fear than of rage; its roar was painful and distressed; it hung its head--snuffed the air through the bars--then lay down--started again--and again uttered its wild and far-resounding cries." It's a kind of genius to shift the point of view to the lion at that point, but then we learn why--the lion, once released, will ignore exposed Glaucus, an innocent man, leading the mob to cry out for justice.
Then, when the volcano erupts: "The eyes of the crowd followed the gesture of the Egyptian, and beheld, with ineffable dismay, a vast vapor shooting from the summit of Vesuvius, in the form of a gigantic pine-tree; the trunk, blackness--the branches, fire!--a fire that shifted and wavered in its hues with every moment, now fiercely luminous, now of a dull and dying red, that again blazed terrifically forth with intolerable glare!"
Bulwer-Lytton will then go on to the obvious--those engaged in looting and larceny will end up buried in ash, alongside the good--you can't take it with you! A few will escape to the sea. But he sums up the notion of time nicely here: "Nearly Seventeen Centuries had rolled away when the City of Pompeii was disinterred from its silent tomb, all vivid with undimmed hues; its walls fresh as if painted yesterday--not a hue faded on the rich mosaic of its floors--in its forum the half-finished columns as left by the workman's hand--in its gardens the sacrificial tripod--in its halls the chest of treasure--in its baths the strigil--in its theaters the counter of admission--in its saloons the furniture and the lamp--in its triclinia the fragments of the last feast--in its cubicula the perfumes and the rouge of faded beauty--and everywhere the bones and skeletons of those who once moved the the springs of that minute yet gorgeous machine of luxury and of life!"
In 1834 Bulwer-Lytton published The Last Days of Pompeii, a potboiler about the days leading up the August 14, 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. He has a network of characters, heroes and villains, that get into tight spots, but all goes poof when the mountain erupts and the town is buried in ash.
The main characters are Glaucus, an Athenian, who is in love with the beautiful Ione. But she is also loved by the Egyptian Arbaces, who turns out to a mustache-twirling villain: "'Then hear me,' said Arbaces, sinking his voice into a whisper; 'thou shalt go to thy tomb rather than to his arm! What! thinkest thou Arbaces will brook a rival such as this puny Greek? What! thinkest thou that he has watched the fruit ripen, to yield it to another! Pretty fool--no! Thou are mine--all--only mine: and thus--thus I seize and claim thee!'" Other key characters are the blind slave girl, Nydia, who falls in love with Glaucus, who is good to her, but in her jealousy ends up getting him sentenced to the arena to be eaten by a lion. Along with him is Olinthus, the Christian, who is the bright ray of sunshine in this pagan world: "They regarded the Christian as the enemy of mankind; the epithets they lavished upon him, of which 'Atheist' was the most favored and frequent, may serve, perhaps, to warn us, believers of the same creed now triumphant, how we indulge the persecution of opinion Olinthus then underwent, and how we apply to those whose notions differ from our own terms at that day lavished upon the fathers of our faith." Bulwer-Lytton was ahead of his time on religious tolerance.
The novel has a serial quality, with episodes rather than a thorough plot. There is also a lot of purple prose, some of it for pages and pages, that don't seem to have much to do with anything. I slowed down when actual events were taking place, but there is a ton of filler, perhaps to satisfy Bulwer-Lytton's attention to his research.
"Pompeii was the miniature of the civilization of that age. Within the narrow compass of its walls was contained, as it were, a specimen of every gift which luxury offered to power. In its minute but glittering shops, its tiny palaces, its baths, its forum, its theatre, its circus--in the energy yet corruption, in the refinement yet the vice, of its people, you beheld a model of the whole empire." Of course, this is true given that the ruins of Pompeii, which were discovered in the 1700s, was the best chance to see Roman civilization as it was, untouched for two-thousand years.
The last few chapters are a real page turner. Arbaces has framed Glaucus for a murder he himself committed. Glaucus is about to enter the arena to be eaten by a lion. Will Nydia's letter to Glaucus' friend, exonerating him, be read in time? Of course, there's also the impending volcanic eruption, that only we know about. Bulwer-Lytton provides some striking details in the last few pages: "The lion had been kept without food for twenty-four hours, and the animal had, during the whole morning, testified a singular and restless uneasiness, which the keeper had attributed to the pangs of hunger. Yet is bearing seemed rather that of fear than of rage; its roar was painful and distressed; it hung its head--snuffed the air through the bars--then lay down--started again--and again uttered its wild and far-resounding cries." It's a kind of genius to shift the point of view to the lion at that point, but then we learn why--the lion, once released, will ignore exposed Glaucus, an innocent man, leading the mob to cry out for justice.
Then, when the volcano erupts: "The eyes of the crowd followed the gesture of the Egyptian, and beheld, with ineffable dismay, a vast vapor shooting from the summit of Vesuvius, in the form of a gigantic pine-tree; the trunk, blackness--the branches, fire!--a fire that shifted and wavered in its hues with every moment, now fiercely luminous, now of a dull and dying red, that again blazed terrifically forth with intolerable glare!"
Bulwer-Lytton will then go on to the obvious--those engaged in looting and larceny will end up buried in ash, alongside the good--you can't take it with you! A few will escape to the sea. But he sums up the notion of time nicely here: "Nearly Seventeen Centuries had rolled away when the City of Pompeii was disinterred from its silent tomb, all vivid with undimmed hues; its walls fresh as if painted yesterday--not a hue faded on the rich mosaic of its floors--in its forum the half-finished columns as left by the workman's hand--in its gardens the sacrificial tripod--in its halls the chest of treasure--in its baths the strigil--in its theaters the counter of admission--in its saloons the furniture and the lamp--in its triclinia the fragments of the last feast--in its cubicula the perfumes and the rouge of faded beauty--and everywhere the bones and skeletons of those who once moved the the springs of that minute yet gorgeous machine of luxury and of life!"
September 8, 2011
There's not a lot of point criticising Bulwer-Lytton's overblown, excessively flowery, never-use-one-word-if-you-can-use-ten style, because that was his shtick - if that's the sort of thing you like, then you'll like this. I didn't, much, I found the characters stock, the descriptions stilted and the historical accuracy too glued on. I did get involved though once the volcano erupted (oops, hope that hasn't given away the plot), and there was one insight into crowd behaviour that is universal and topical: this is the audience for the gladiators:
"Aroused - inflamed by the spectacle of their victims, they forgot the authority of their rulers. It was one of those dread popular convulsions common to crowds wholly ignorant, half free and half servile."
It's a readable novel, but not much more.
"Aroused - inflamed by the spectacle of their victims, they forgot the authority of their rulers. It was one of those dread popular convulsions common to crowds wholly ignorant, half free and half servile."
It's a readable novel, but not much more.
August 26, 2017
When I was in the third grade, I attended St Mary's School, Downers Grove, IL. Every Wednesday, we were summoned from our classroom to have this book read to us.
At least I THINK it was this book. That was 60 years ago, so who can be sure.
It was the pastor of our church, a Catholic priest, who did the reading.
It is a memory seared into my brain.. at least the memory of sitting in an aluminum folding chair in the gym hearing some Vesuvius tale being read to me.
When asked what book I enjoyed being read to me, this is what I remembered.
I will have to read it again someday just to see if this was the one. (Of course, if it turns out to not be the one, I will be devastated).
At least I THINK it was this book. That was 60 years ago, so who can be sure.
It was the pastor of our church, a Catholic priest, who did the reading.
It is a memory seared into my brain.. at least the memory of sitting in an aluminum folding chair in the gym hearing some Vesuvius tale being read to me.
When asked what book I enjoyed being read to me, this is what I remembered.
I will have to read it again someday just to see if this was the one. (Of course, if it turns out to not be the one, I will be devastated).
December 24, 2016
Fascinated me! Revealed how the people of Pompeii lived, what their daily lives were like. As the author describes the volcano erupting, I felt that I was right there and could feel what the people felt. I read this way before there was much information out or any movies made so it was just mind boggling to me! Made me want to visit and see the ruins.
January 28, 2010
This was just an adventure book with a historical setting. I think it had no blatant historical mistakes (I don't know much about Rome or Pompeii), and it was entertaining enough, but it didn't have me hooked, as I expected. I also expected more drama from the Vesubius eruption, but it had just a mild effect on the main characters' lives.
What made me give this book just two stars was:
1. Flat characters. Good ones were really good ones. Bad ones were evil. Good ones win without much effort and just in time and bad ones die because of God's Wrath.
2. I don't agree with Christian views most of the time. And this author introduced too much of them. It felt like being a child scolded for not loving and appreciating Christ enough. And everyone who was good was converted to the true religion (as they said in the book) and pagans were dead.
However, it was still entertaining. I need some fluff books from time to time.
What made me give this book just two stars was:
1. Flat characters. Good ones were really good ones. Bad ones were evil. Good ones win without much effort and just in time and bad ones die because of God's Wrath.
2. I don't agree with Christian views most of the time. And this author introduced too much of them. It felt like being a child scolded for not loving and appreciating Christ enough. And everyone who was good was converted to the true religion (as they said in the book) and pagans were dead.
However, it was still entertaining. I need some fluff books from time to time.
February 4, 2017
رواية رومانسية شيقة من الأدب الكلاسيكي ، كتبت عام 1834م ، جرت أحداثها في مدينة بومبي الإيطالية قبيل ثوران بركان فيزوف المدمر سنة 79 للميلاد ، للرواية قيمة أخلاقية و دينية كذلك ، فهي تسلط الضوء على درجة الفساد و الإنحلال الأخلاقي التي تردى إليها سكان المدينة و أيضا تفشي عبادتهم للآلهة الوثنية المتعددة في ذلك العصر ، وموقفهم السلبي و المناهض للديانة المسيحية التي كانت تخطو خطواتها الأولى نحو الإنتشار، و كل هذه المظاهر كانت السبب في أن تطمر هذه المدينة تحت أطنان من الحمم و الرماد البركاني ، ليتم اكتشافها بعد مئات السنين و يكون فيها عبرة للمتوسمين ،
January 22, 2020
"The Last Days of Pompeii"is a novel written by the baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. It shouldn't surprise you to know that the novel is about the destruction of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, better known as a really, really long time ago. The novel was inspired by the painting The Last Day of Pompeii by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. I'm going to look that up in a few minutes. When I looked up the author I found that his entire name was - Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton. I wonder how long it took him to learn all that when he was little and to remember all that when he was older. I don't have the strength to type all that - or the patience - so I'm just calling him Bulwer-Lytton at best. I also found this:
"In August 1827, against his mother's wishes, he married Rosina Doyle Wheeler, a famous Irish beauty. When they married his mother withdrew his allowance and he was forced to work for a living. They had two children, Lady Emily Elizabeth Bulwer-Lytton (1828–1848), and (Edward) Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (1831–1891) who became Governor-General and Viceroy of British India (1876–1880).
His writing and political work strained their marriage while his infidelity embittered Rosina; in 1833 they separated acrimoniously and in 1836 the separation became legal. Three years later, Rosina published Cheveley, or the Man of Honour (1839), a near-libellous fiction bitterly satirising her husband's alleged hypocrisy.
In June 1858, when her husband was standing as parliamentary candidate for Hertfordshire, she indignantly denounced him at the hustings. He retaliated by threatening her publishers, withholding her allowance, and denying access to the children. Finally he had her committed to a mental asylum. But, after a public outcry she was released a few weeks later. This incident was chronicled in her memoir, A Blighted Life (1880). For years she continued her attacks upon her husband’s character."
I guess he should have listened to his mother. When he wasn't fighting with his wife he was involved in politics spending too many years (in my opinion anyway) in Parliament. He was elected member for St Ives in Cornwall in 1831, after which he was returned for Lincoln in 1832, and sat in Parliament for that city for nine years. Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister at the time, offered him a lordship of the admiralty, but he declined saying it was likely to interfere with his activity as an author. I'm not sure how that would interfere with his writing, but it doesn't really matter because that comment finally gets me to his writing, and he did a lot of writing. He wrote poems and plays, mystery, historical fiction, science fiction, all kinds of things. The book that made him famous was Pelham which I've never read and I'm supposed to be talking about "The Last Days of Pompeii" so I will.
I was wondering if the first line would be as memorable as the first line of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford:
"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents"
So I got to the first page and read this:
'HO, Diomed, well met! Do you sup with Glaucus to-night?' said a young man of small stature, who wore his tunic in those loose and effeminate folds which proved him to be a gentleman and a coxcomb."
Somehow I get the feeling it just isn't quite as well known. I really liked this book, even knowing the ending long before I even opened the book, I still really liked the book. Of course knowing the ending might have helped, I didn't have to worry about being surprised on the last page by having the bad guy kill the hero or some such thing - in this book I already knew where the main character would be at the end of the book. Him and everyone else. But before the big explosion we have lots of people in the story - after all it is a city of about 11,000 people I think, although not all 11,000 get mentioned in the book, except perhaps when they are all in the amphitheatre excited to see people kill each other, those who aren't doing the killing that is.
I had a lot of fun reading this book considering what was about to happen at any minute, it felt like any minute, although it actually took many minutes and many chapters to put an end to Pompeii and everything in it. Not to mention everyone. But there were so many interesting people and so many interesting things they were doing before that last chapter. We have our main character - one of them, who is in love with Ione. Her name drove me crazy, in the book I was reading it was clearly spelled Ione, but on my e-reader it was always spelled with an L at the beginning, not an I. Whatever her name is our main character Glaucus is madly in love with her, and we have Nydia, a slave girl, she's in love with Glaucus, so is Julia, the daughter of Diomed. Oh, he's a wealthy merchant, the one mentioned in that not famous first line.
Ione's brother is Apaecides, he's a priest of Isis, which he hates being (can't say that I blame him seeing how these Isis priests were acting). He manages to get murdered and very quickly the murderer is arrested and thrown in jail waiting to be torn up by a lion at the next gladiatorial games. Now one of the things we get to do is to figure out if they are about to feed the right guy to the lion or do they have the wrong guy?
See, it's become a mystery, a mystery that better get cleared up quickly because they have more to worry about than a lion. Oh, and we have one of the many women in love with Glaucus going to the witch who lives in the mountain - in a cave at the side of it, not actually in it, she gets a potion that will make Glaucus fall in love with her. It really doesn't matter if it works or not considering they are only two days or so away from everyone being dead, but you'll have to read the book to find out. There's also Olinthus, he's a Christian or a Nazarene, which ever you want to call him. No one likes him, they say he's an atheist for not believing in at least one of the about 100 gods they have in this town. He's being fed to the wild animals too, not a lion though, he's only getting a tiger.
Then there is Arbaces, by far the worst person in the book. This guy never does anything nice for anyone - ever. At one time he has three people locked up, one of them is blind, another is a priest, and he has them locked up in his house because he's just a mean, horrible person. Well, there's a little more to it than that, but not much. Any time the lava wants to cover this guy is alright with me. Here are some of the quotes that I underlined, well I would have if I could bring myself to write in a book:
"Despite the habits of his life, Sallust was not devoid of many estimable qualities. He would have been an active friend, a useful citizen—in short, an excellent man, if he had not taken it into his head to be a philosopher."
"On the upper tier (but apart from the male spectators) sat women, their gay dresses resembling some gaudy flower-bed; it is needless to add that they were the most talkative part of the assembly; and many were the looks directed up to them, especially from the benches appropriated to the young and the unmarried men. On the lower seats round the arena sat the more high-born and wealthy visitors—the magistrates and those of senatorial or equestrian dignity; the passages which, by corridors at the right and left, gave access to these seats, at either end of the oval arena, were also the entrances for the combatants. Strong palings at these passages prevented any unwelcome eccentricity in the movements of the beasts, and confined them to their appointed prey. Around the parapet which was raised above the arena, and from which the seats gradually rose, were gladiatorial inscriptions, and paintings wrought in fresco, typical of the entertainments for which the place was designed. Throughout the whole building wound invisible pipes, from which, as the day advanced, cooling and fragrant showers were to be sprinkled over the spectators."
"Still, it was an awful and imposing spectacle, with which modern times have, happily, nothing to compare—a vast theatre, rising row upon row, and swarming with human beings, from fifteen to eighteen thousand in number, intent upon no fictitious representation—no tragedy of the stage—but the actual victory or defeat, the exultant life or the bloody death, of each and all who entered the arena! "
"Berbix raised his buckler to shield himself, and his quick-eyed antagonist, suddenly lowering his weapon, pierced him through the breast. Berbix reeled and fell.
'Nobilior! Nobilior!' shouted the populace.
'I have lost ten sestertia,' said Clodius, between his teeth.
'Habet!—he has it,' said Pansa, deliberately.
The populace, not yet hardened into cruelty, made the signal of mercy; but as the attendants of the arena approached, they found the kindness came too late—the heart of the Gaul had been pierced, and his eyes were set in death. It was his life's blood that flowed so darkly over the sand and sawdust of the arena.
'It is a pity it was so soon over—there was little enough for one's trouble,' said the widow Fulvia."
And that's it, the rest of the story you should either know, or you can read the book to find out. I wanted more, I wanted to know who ends up with Ione and who ends up with Glaucus, and if Arbaces ever stops doing horrible things to people, for that matter does he ever let the people he has locked up in his house go free? There may be one or two surprises out there, after all, does every single person die or does one or two manage to escape? Does Glaucus die, Ione, Nydia? What about the lion, read the book to find out, I can't remember where the lion ended up anyway. I may have given the book five stars, which takes a lot, but the descriptions of houses and gardens and baths and such got a little long, and people breaking out into song or reciting poetry, not only feeling it necessary to sing or say every single verse, but the author felt the need to write down every single verse, that got a little tiring after awhile. I still liked it. A long, long time after Pompeii was destroyed people got around to digging it up again, the people of Pompeii must have liked painting their walls, here is some of wall art they found:
Happy reading.
"In August 1827, against his mother's wishes, he married Rosina Doyle Wheeler, a famous Irish beauty. When they married his mother withdrew his allowance and he was forced to work for a living. They had two children, Lady Emily Elizabeth Bulwer-Lytton (1828–1848), and (Edward) Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (1831–1891) who became Governor-General and Viceroy of British India (1876–1880).
His writing and political work strained their marriage while his infidelity embittered Rosina; in 1833 they separated acrimoniously and in 1836 the separation became legal. Three years later, Rosina published Cheveley, or the Man of Honour (1839), a near-libellous fiction bitterly satirising her husband's alleged hypocrisy.
In June 1858, when her husband was standing as parliamentary candidate for Hertfordshire, she indignantly denounced him at the hustings. He retaliated by threatening her publishers, withholding her allowance, and denying access to the children. Finally he had her committed to a mental asylum. But, after a public outcry she was released a few weeks later. This incident was chronicled in her memoir, A Blighted Life (1880). For years she continued her attacks upon her husband’s character."
I guess he should have listened to his mother. When he wasn't fighting with his wife he was involved in politics spending too many years (in my opinion anyway) in Parliament. He was elected member for St Ives in Cornwall in 1831, after which he was returned for Lincoln in 1832, and sat in Parliament for that city for nine years. Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister at the time, offered him a lordship of the admiralty, but he declined saying it was likely to interfere with his activity as an author. I'm not sure how that would interfere with his writing, but it doesn't really matter because that comment finally gets me to his writing, and he did a lot of writing. He wrote poems and plays, mystery, historical fiction, science fiction, all kinds of things. The book that made him famous was Pelham which I've never read and I'm supposed to be talking about "The Last Days of Pompeii" so I will.
I was wondering if the first line would be as memorable as the first line of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford:
"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents"
So I got to the first page and read this:
'HO, Diomed, well met! Do you sup with Glaucus to-night?' said a young man of small stature, who wore his tunic in those loose and effeminate folds which proved him to be a gentleman and a coxcomb."
Somehow I get the feeling it just isn't quite as well known. I really liked this book, even knowing the ending long before I even opened the book, I still really liked the book. Of course knowing the ending might have helped, I didn't have to worry about being surprised on the last page by having the bad guy kill the hero or some such thing - in this book I already knew where the main character would be at the end of the book. Him and everyone else. But before the big explosion we have lots of people in the story - after all it is a city of about 11,000 people I think, although not all 11,000 get mentioned in the book, except perhaps when they are all in the amphitheatre excited to see people kill each other, those who aren't doing the killing that is.
I had a lot of fun reading this book considering what was about to happen at any minute, it felt like any minute, although it actually took many minutes and many chapters to put an end to Pompeii and everything in it. Not to mention everyone. But there were so many interesting people and so many interesting things they were doing before that last chapter. We have our main character - one of them, who is in love with Ione. Her name drove me crazy, in the book I was reading it was clearly spelled Ione, but on my e-reader it was always spelled with an L at the beginning, not an I. Whatever her name is our main character Glaucus is madly in love with her, and we have Nydia, a slave girl, she's in love with Glaucus, so is Julia, the daughter of Diomed. Oh, he's a wealthy merchant, the one mentioned in that not famous first line.
Ione's brother is Apaecides, he's a priest of Isis, which he hates being (can't say that I blame him seeing how these Isis priests were acting). He manages to get murdered and very quickly the murderer is arrested and thrown in jail waiting to be torn up by a lion at the next gladiatorial games. Now one of the things we get to do is to figure out if they are about to feed the right guy to the lion or do they have the wrong guy?
See, it's become a mystery, a mystery that better get cleared up quickly because they have more to worry about than a lion. Oh, and we have one of the many women in love with Glaucus going to the witch who lives in the mountain - in a cave at the side of it, not actually in it, she gets a potion that will make Glaucus fall in love with her. It really doesn't matter if it works or not considering they are only two days or so away from everyone being dead, but you'll have to read the book to find out. There's also Olinthus, he's a Christian or a Nazarene, which ever you want to call him. No one likes him, they say he's an atheist for not believing in at least one of the about 100 gods they have in this town. He's being fed to the wild animals too, not a lion though, he's only getting a tiger.
Then there is Arbaces, by far the worst person in the book. This guy never does anything nice for anyone - ever. At one time he has three people locked up, one of them is blind, another is a priest, and he has them locked up in his house because he's just a mean, horrible person. Well, there's a little more to it than that, but not much. Any time the lava wants to cover this guy is alright with me. Here are some of the quotes that I underlined, well I would have if I could bring myself to write in a book:
"Despite the habits of his life, Sallust was not devoid of many estimable qualities. He would have been an active friend, a useful citizen—in short, an excellent man, if he had not taken it into his head to be a philosopher."
"On the upper tier (but apart from the male spectators) sat women, their gay dresses resembling some gaudy flower-bed; it is needless to add that they were the most talkative part of the assembly; and many were the looks directed up to them, especially from the benches appropriated to the young and the unmarried men. On the lower seats round the arena sat the more high-born and wealthy visitors—the magistrates and those of senatorial or equestrian dignity; the passages which, by corridors at the right and left, gave access to these seats, at either end of the oval arena, were also the entrances for the combatants. Strong palings at these passages prevented any unwelcome eccentricity in the movements of the beasts, and confined them to their appointed prey. Around the parapet which was raised above the arena, and from which the seats gradually rose, were gladiatorial inscriptions, and paintings wrought in fresco, typical of the entertainments for which the place was designed. Throughout the whole building wound invisible pipes, from which, as the day advanced, cooling and fragrant showers were to be sprinkled over the spectators."
"Still, it was an awful and imposing spectacle, with which modern times have, happily, nothing to compare—a vast theatre, rising row upon row, and swarming with human beings, from fifteen to eighteen thousand in number, intent upon no fictitious representation—no tragedy of the stage—but the actual victory or defeat, the exultant life or the bloody death, of each and all who entered the arena! "
"Berbix raised his buckler to shield himself, and his quick-eyed antagonist, suddenly lowering his weapon, pierced him through the breast. Berbix reeled and fell.
'Nobilior! Nobilior!' shouted the populace.
'I have lost ten sestertia,' said Clodius, between his teeth.
'Habet!—he has it,' said Pansa, deliberately.
The populace, not yet hardened into cruelty, made the signal of mercy; but as the attendants of the arena approached, they found the kindness came too late—the heart of the Gaul had been pierced, and his eyes were set in death. It was his life's blood that flowed so darkly over the sand and sawdust of the arena.
'It is a pity it was so soon over—there was little enough for one's trouble,' said the widow Fulvia."
And that's it, the rest of the story you should either know, or you can read the book to find out. I wanted more, I wanted to know who ends up with Ione and who ends up with Glaucus, and if Arbaces ever stops doing horrible things to people, for that matter does he ever let the people he has locked up in his house go free? There may be one or two surprises out there, after all, does every single person die or does one or two manage to escape? Does Glaucus die, Ione, Nydia? What about the lion, read the book to find out, I can't remember where the lion ended up anyway. I may have given the book five stars, which takes a lot, but the descriptions of houses and gardens and baths and such got a little long, and people breaking out into song or reciting poetry, not only feeling it necessary to sing or say every single verse, but the author felt the need to write down every single verse, that got a little tiring after awhile. I still liked it. A long, long time after Pompeii was destroyed people got around to digging it up again, the people of Pompeii must have liked painting their walls, here is some of wall art they found:
Happy reading.
December 2, 2022
Pompeya, una ciudad que ofrece diversión y múltiples placeres; una vida que parece la cima de la civilización del Imperio. Allí el joven ateniense Glauco vive una vida entre la opulencia y la tranquilidad.
La ciudad es testigo del amor que hay entre dos de sus jóvenes, Glauco e Ione. Ione una napolitana hermosa por la cual suspiran muchos y otros se obsesionan.
Y como telón de fondo el Vesubio, silencioso pero siempre presente.
El 24 de octubre del año 79 d.c. el Vesubio y que los pompeyanos desconocían que era un volcán, hace erupción.
Una clásica novela histórica, con una historia romántica.
La ciudad es testigo del amor que hay entre dos de sus jóvenes, Glauco e Ione. Ione una napolitana hermosa por la cual suspiran muchos y otros se obsesionan.
Y como telón de fondo el Vesubio, silencioso pero siempre presente.
El 24 de octubre del año 79 d.c. el Vesubio y que los pompeyanos desconocían que era un volcán, hace erupción.
Una clásica novela histórica, con una historia romántica.
October 17, 2016
This is an interesting read that shows what life was like for a number of the inhabitants of Pompeii in the days leading up to the eruption that made the city so infamous. Lytton uses his characters to cover all the main cultures and peoples that make up this colourful city, from the Greeks (represented by Glaucus) and the Egyptians (represented by Arbaces) to the new religion of Christianity (represented by Olinthus) and the older religions and belief in the occult (represented by the Witch). The only people not well represented are the Italians themselves but then again Pompeii is very much a Greek stronghold thanks to its coastal location and fertile lands. The vibrancy of the people and the city is portrayed well and even though you know how it all ends there is still a sense of hope as well as a sense of dread that keeps things moving well. Personally I would've liked more about the eruption itself and how each of the main characters faired and where they ended up afterwards but this may have taken away from the feeling of finality that the book ends with so maybe its for the best.
November 4, 2020
I read this thing while taking Latin and belonging to the Latin Club at Maine Township High School South in Park Ridge, Illinois. Although not highly regarded as literature, I, as an early teen, liked it quite a lot except for what, even then, I felt to be a rather saccharine Christianity.
February 17, 2008
Really beautiful. If you can handle the iambic pentameter, it was a classic epic of hero versus man and nature. Really liked it!!!
Makes me want to go to Pompeii!
Makes me want to go to Pompeii!
July 25, 2025
Cześć 14 przeglądania książek w pokoju (13 była off screen bo nie ma jej tutaj)
10:4 ta zostaje bo
1. to prezent
2. podobała mi się bardziej niż te czytane do tej pory
Zachęcił mnie do niej tiktok w którym dziewczyna mówiła o książkach które mogłyby być lekturami szkolnymi to mówię czemu nie sprawdzę. I wsm ucieszył bym się jakbyśmy czytali to zamiast quo vadis. No bo mamy cesarstwo rzymskie, motyw miłości, zdrady i paru innych nieuniknionych dla ludzi rzeczy, prześladowania chrześcijan, walki na stadionach. Tylko jest przyjemniejsza w odbiorze.
Ale nie porwała mnie jakoś szczególnie. Prosta historia z przewidywalnym zakończeniem nie licząc twista z napojem miłosnym.
Wkurzało mnie czasami to jak narrator odnosi się do Nidii i jak za każdym razem nam podkreślano że ona na pewno nic nie widzi.
Miło byłoby też dostać motywy Arbacesa bo ja nie wiem po co on to wszystko robił. Wiem że nienawidził Glaukusa bo mu zabrał Jonę ale to dalej nie wyjaśnia kilku rzeczy.
Język był na początku STRASZNIE przerysowany ale da się przyzwyczaić z cazsem.
10:4 ta zostaje bo
1. to prezent
2. podobała mi się bardziej niż te czytane do tej pory
Zachęcił mnie do niej tiktok w którym dziewczyna mówiła o książkach które mogłyby być lekturami szkolnymi to mówię czemu nie sprawdzę. I wsm ucieszył bym się jakbyśmy czytali to zamiast quo vadis. No bo mamy cesarstwo rzymskie, motyw miłości, zdrady i paru innych nieuniknionych dla ludzi rzeczy, prześladowania chrześcijan, walki na stadionach. Tylko jest przyjemniejsza w odbiorze.
Ale nie porwała mnie jakoś szczególnie. Prosta historia z przewidywalnym zakończeniem nie licząc twista z napojem miłosnym.
Wkurzało mnie czasami to jak narrator odnosi się do Nidii i jak za każdym razem nam podkreślano że ona na pewno nic nie widzi.
Miło byłoby też dostać motywy Arbacesa bo ja nie wiem po co on to wszystko robił. Wiem że nienawidził Glaukusa bo mu zabrał Jonę ale to dalej nie wyjaśnia kilku rzeczy.
Język był na początku STRASZNIE przerysowany ale da się przyzwyczaić z cazsem.
April 10, 2023
C’est pas super bien écrit. Plein de tournure de phrase fait trop compliqué pour se donner un genre intellectuel hihi regardez je suis trop fan de la rome et la grève antique je suis trop intelligeeent. L’histoire en elle-même est bien mais l’écriture voilà.
October 12, 2022
Edward Bulwer-Lytton visitó Pompeya en 1834 y tanto le impresionó la ciudad, que fue arrasada por un volcán diecisiete siglos antes y que conserva intactos los cuerpos de sus desdichados habitantes, que le dedicó una preciosa y entrañable novela.
El escritor imaginó una historia para cada uno de los vecinos de Pompeya y recreó sus vidas en la bulliciosa ciudad del siglo I d.C. días antes de la erupción del Vesubio : unos jóvenes extranjeros que se encuentran y se enamoran, un pérfido sacerdote del culto egipcio que pretende a la joven, unos cristianos que son temidos y rechazados por sus creencias, una bruja que presiente las tinieblas que acechan, una esclava ciega enamorada de su amo... Sus vidas se entrelazan en una trama perfectamente construida.
La visión que Bulwer-Lytton imprime a su imaginada Pompeya es romántica y moralista pero no por ello menos dotada de fuerza, valor histórico e innegable encanto.
El escritor imaginó una historia para cada uno de los vecinos de Pompeya y recreó sus vidas en la bulliciosa ciudad del siglo I d.C. días antes de la erupción del Vesubio : unos jóvenes extranjeros que se encuentran y se enamoran, un pérfido sacerdote del culto egipcio que pretende a la joven, unos cristianos que son temidos y rechazados por sus creencias, una bruja que presiente las tinieblas que acechan, una esclava ciega enamorada de su amo... Sus vidas se entrelazan en una trama perfectamente construida.
La visión que Bulwer-Lytton imprime a su imaginada Pompeya es romántica y moralista pero no por ello menos dotada de fuerza, valor histórico e innegable encanto.
August 9, 2016
Ich kann mich gar nicht erinnern, dass das Buch streckenweise so langatmig war. Ich habe es zugegebenermaßen das erste Mal aus Übersetzung aus den 1920er Jahren gelesen und da hat man möglicherweise die langatmigen Stellen gestrafft.
Erstaunlich wie wenig Handlung man in so viel Text unterbringen kann.
Ein klassischer Fall von educative Literature. Genau wie in Hugos "Glöckner von Notre Dame" ist die Handlung eigentlich nur ein Mittel zum Zweck, die neusten Archeologischen Ausgrabungen und Entdeckungen in Pompeij zu vermarkten. Teilweise wird sogar gesagt, wo man die Gegenstände besichtigen kann, die die Protagonisten gerade geschenkt bekommen oder benutzen.
Zum Schluss hin ist das aber sehr effektvoll. Der Roman beschreibt, wie die Toten da hin kommen, wo die Archeologen sie gefunden haben. Aus namenlosen, archeologischen Funden werden so plötzlich Personen mit einer Geschichte, auch wenn diese Erfunden ist. Sie ist immerhin gut erfunden.
Klar, frühes Christentum musste zu der Zeit auch sein, das wollten die Leser. Starke, muskulöse Frühkristen war ein gängiges Motiv, dessen ableben von einigen vitkorianischen Lesern sehr betrauert wurde.
Man fragt sich aber schon streckenweise, ob die Darstellung der Frühchristen wirklich ironisch gemeint war, oder das heutzutage nur so rüberkommt.
Insgesamt ein frühes Werk des Infotainment. Die Fakten aus der romischen Literatur und damals neueste Ausgrabungsergebnisse werden zu einer spannenden Geschichte verwoben.
Hat schon seinen Grund, warum die Geschichte auch heute noch gedruckt wird und ein Klassiker geworden ist. Pompeij fasziniert bis heute.
Erstaunlich wie wenig Handlung man in so viel Text unterbringen kann.
Ein klassischer Fall von educative Literature. Genau wie in Hugos "Glöckner von Notre Dame" ist die Handlung eigentlich nur ein Mittel zum Zweck, die neusten Archeologischen Ausgrabungen und Entdeckungen in Pompeij zu vermarkten. Teilweise wird sogar gesagt, wo man die Gegenstände besichtigen kann, die die Protagonisten gerade geschenkt bekommen oder benutzen.
Zum Schluss hin ist das aber sehr effektvoll. Der Roman beschreibt, wie die Toten da hin kommen, wo die Archeologen sie gefunden haben. Aus namenlosen, archeologischen Funden werden so plötzlich Personen mit einer Geschichte, auch wenn diese Erfunden ist. Sie ist immerhin gut erfunden.
Klar, frühes Christentum musste zu der Zeit auch sein, das wollten die Leser. Starke, muskulöse Frühkristen war ein gängiges Motiv, dessen ableben von einigen vitkorianischen Lesern sehr betrauert wurde.
Man fragt sich aber schon streckenweise, ob die Darstellung der Frühchristen wirklich ironisch gemeint war, oder das heutzutage nur so rüberkommt.
Insgesamt ein frühes Werk des Infotainment. Die Fakten aus der romischen Literatur und damals neueste Ausgrabungsergebnisse werden zu einer spannenden Geschichte verwoben.
Hat schon seinen Grund, warum die Geschichte auch heute noch gedruckt wird und ein Klassiker geworden ist. Pompeij fasziniert bis heute.
October 15, 2014
بالرغم من كرهي للرومانسية لكنني لم أستطع منع نفسي من الإعجاب بهذه الرواية. ما السبب؟ لا أعرف! أنا فقط أحببتها!
القصة كما يظهر من عنوانها تدور أحداثها في الأيام الاخيرة قبل فوران بركان فيزوف ليردم مدينة بومبي تحت الحمم اللافحة..
في هذه الأيام يرسم الكاتب صورة لحياة الانحلال التي سادت في تلك الفترة.. يقدم العديد من النماذج التي تراها صالحة في كل وقت و في كل مكان..
النخبة الثرية التي تغرق إلى أذنيها في الملذات..
طبقة العبيد التي تقوم بعمل كل شيء ولا تلقى إلا الفتات.. بل و أحيانا يقومون بدور مهرج السيرك في التسلية عن الطبقة الغنية عن طريق إلقائهم في حلبة مصارعة الأسود ليلقوا حتفهم وسط تهليل و تشجيع من أصحاب البطون الكبيرة..
بائعو الدين الذين يستخدمون الدين كتجارة للوصول إلى تلبية رغباتهم..
المتدينون الذين يصلون دائما للإله حتى ينقذهم من فساد البشر.. و لكنهم فعليا لا يقومون بعمل أي شيء لتغيير الحياة سوى الصلاة و التضرع..
إنها نماذج متعددة موجودة حتى الآن في أي مكان و زمان.. و أعتقد ان هذا ما أعجبني.. أنني شعرت بها "واقعية" بالفعل...
حتى علاقات الحب و التي كانت تحتل موقع الصدارة في أحداث الرواية فلا تشعر بها "فجة" و "مبتذلة" من عينة "هيبتا" و "أحببتك كما لا ينبغي" وأمثالهما من حب المراهقين.. بل هي علاقة حب عادية قد يمر بها أي شخص..
تعاطفت مع العديد من الشخصيات و كرهت العديد من الشخصيات...
تمنيت ان ينتصر الخير.. و كنت أشجعه بعواطفي..
حزنت للنهاية... ضايقتني قليلا.. كانت الحدث الوحيد غير الواقعي طوال أحداث الرواية.. أو قد يكون أنني كنت اتمنى نهاية أخرى.. لا أعرف..
و أخيرا.. كان هناك فيلما بنفس الاسم منذ وقت قريب .. كنت أظن انه اقتباس للرواية .. لكن لا.. إنهما قصتان مختلفتان.. لكن الرواية مع ذلك قد حولت إلى عدة أفلام سابقة..
القصة كما يظهر من عنوانها تدور أحداثها في الأيام الاخيرة قبل فوران بركان فيزوف ليردم مدينة بومبي تحت الحمم اللافحة..
في هذه الأيام يرسم الكاتب صورة لحياة الانحلال التي سادت في تلك الفترة.. يقدم العديد من النماذج التي تراها صالحة في كل وقت و في كل مكان..
النخبة الثرية التي تغرق إلى أذنيها في الملذات..
طبقة العبيد التي تقوم بعمل كل شيء ولا تلقى إلا الفتات.. بل و أحيانا يقومون بدور مهرج السيرك في التسلية عن الطبقة الغنية عن طريق إلقائهم في حلبة مصارعة الأسود ليلقوا حتفهم وسط تهليل و تشجيع من أصحاب البطون الكبيرة..
بائعو الدين الذين يستخدمون الدين كتجارة للوصول إلى تلبية رغباتهم..
المتدينون الذين يصلون دائما للإله حتى ينقذهم من فساد البشر.. و لكنهم فعليا لا يقومون بعمل أي شيء لتغيير الحياة سوى الصلاة و التضرع..
إنها نماذج متعددة موجودة حتى الآن في أي مكان و زمان.. و أعتقد ان هذا ما أعجبني.. أنني شعرت بها "واقعية" بالفعل...
حتى علاقات الحب و التي كانت تحتل موقع الصدارة في أحداث الرواية فلا تشعر بها "فجة" و "مبتذلة" من عينة "هيبتا" و "أحببتك كما لا ينبغي" وأمثالهما من حب المراهقين.. بل هي علاقة حب عادية قد يمر بها أي شخص..
تعاطفت مع العديد من الشخصيات و كرهت العديد من الشخصيات...
تمنيت ان ينتصر الخير.. و كنت أشجعه بعواطفي..
حزنت للنهاية... ضايقتني قليلا.. كانت الحدث الوحيد غير الواقعي طوال أحداث الرواية.. أو قد يكون أنني كنت اتمنى نهاية أخرى.. لا أعرف..
و أخيرا.. كان هناك فيلما بنفس الاسم منذ وقت قريب .. كنت أظن انه اقتباس للرواية .. لكن لا.. إنهما قصتان مختلفتان.. لكن الرواية مع ذلك قد حولت إلى عدة أفلام سابقة..
July 30, 2016
One of my favorite novels is Zanoni, by this same author; it was mentioned by Rudolf Steiner as an example of a Rosicrucian tale. That made me interested in reading more of his work.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton hasn't aged well; in his day he was apparently more popular than Dickens or Austin but he's largely unknown today. He lived large financing a lavish lifestyle from his extraordinary volume of novels, plays and poems. Lytton also influenced popular culture, including mens formal wear. He was so widely read in the early 19th century that his words became well-known phrases including "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the plot thickens", "unwashed masses" etc. He's also mockingly known as the author who opened a novel with "It was a dark and stormy night...". There's no question his style is more suited to the florid literary tastes of his day.
The Last Days of Pompeii is one of his more famous novels; it's been made into at least 4 movies, for example, and was widely read in its day. It's historical fiction, a commentary on the collision of Roman, Greek and Egyptian cultures in the first century, a romance, and an exploration of religion and mysticism. Great stuff, pretty meaty and sometimes an effort to read but very rewarding.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton hasn't aged well; in his day he was apparently more popular than Dickens or Austin but he's largely unknown today. He lived large financing a lavish lifestyle from his extraordinary volume of novels, plays and poems. Lytton also influenced popular culture, including mens formal wear. He was so widely read in the early 19th century that his words became well-known phrases including "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the plot thickens", "unwashed masses" etc. He's also mockingly known as the author who opened a novel with "It was a dark and stormy night...". There's no question his style is more suited to the florid literary tastes of his day.
The Last Days of Pompeii is one of his more famous novels; it's been made into at least 4 movies, for example, and was widely read in its day. It's historical fiction, a commentary on the collision of Roman, Greek and Egyptian cultures in the first century, a romance, and an exploration of religion and mysticism. Great stuff, pretty meaty and sometimes an effort to read but very rewarding.
May 18, 2008
I loved this book! It's fun to read about history in story form. It takes a bit of effort to get into the story at first, but half way through the book, it's hard to put it down. I was too tired to finish reading it last night, but woke up early (5:30AM) and finished it before doing anything else. It's a fascinating account of the unknown but one true God pursuing and rescuing some who were deeply immersed in the gods of their current culture and times. And also of the tragedy of the volcanic explosion and destruction of Pompeii.
I thought the following scene of a brother trying to explain his new found devotion to the true God was worth quoting:
"Thou art to be married to Glaucus - dost thou love him? Dost thou feel that for his sake, thou couldst renounce pride, brave dishonour, and incur death? I have heard that when women really love, it is to that excess."
"My brother, all this I could do for Glaucus, and feel that it were not a sacrifice. There is no sacrifice to those who love, in what is borne for the one we love."
"Enough! Shall woman feel thus for man, and man feel less devotion to his God?" p.233-4
I thought the following scene of a brother trying to explain his new found devotion to the true God was worth quoting:
"Thou art to be married to Glaucus - dost thou love him? Dost thou feel that for his sake, thou couldst renounce pride, brave dishonour, and incur death? I have heard that when women really love, it is to that excess."
"My brother, all this I could do for Glaucus, and feel that it were not a sacrifice. There is no sacrifice to those who love, in what is borne for the one we love."
"Enough! Shall woman feel thus for man, and man feel less devotion to his God?" p.233-4
September 1, 2013
توجد هذه الرواية في مكتبتي منذ زمن لكني لم اقرأها من قبل ، وهي عبارة عن رواية عالمية من ترجمة المكتبة العالمية للفتيان والفتيات ، تتحدث بشكل شيق ومثير عن آخر أيام بومباي وهي مدينة إيطالية تعرضت للتدمير بشكل كامل بفعل الحمم البركانية في صيف عام 79 للميلاد.
أسلوب المترجم والملخص " أكرم الرافعي " بسيط وسلس ، ويشرح بعض الكلمات غير المعروفة أو الدارجة.
وطبعًا هذه الرواية مبسطة وموجهة للقراء الصغار " للفتية " ولكني استمتعت بقراءتها جداً ، وإذا وقعت بين يدي ترجمة " للكبار " فأكيد سوف أكرر التجربة واقرأها مرة أخرى.
ملاحظة :
الطبعة التي بحوزتي هي الطبعة الخامسة وقد صدرت عام 1978م ، يعني طبعة أثرية.
:)
April 24, 2015
Honestly, a disappointment. It's not badly written, but it wasn't really about what I thought it would be about. I liked the beginning and the ending was a improvement over the middle, but the middle drags on about love triangles that left me wondering when the hell the volcano would erupt. It might have been my own fault for walking into this book so cold, but there nothing here that warmed me up to it. Not even the fires that burnt down Pompeii.
July 30, 2008
A depiction of the events leading up to Pompeii's last moments
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