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The Nature Of Alexander (1979)

The Nature of Alexander (1979)

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Rating
4.13 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
039473825X (ISBN13: 9780394738253)
Language
English
Publisher
pantheon

About book The Nature Of Alexander (1979)

Alexander has always been a mystery to me. To be honest, I've always been a bit frustrated with his legacy. We tend to picture Alex as the beautiful, idealized conquering hero in a way that we never would with someone like Attila the Hun. For most of my life my theory on why this is has been related to the western world's huge affinity for Hellenistic culture and ideas. As a whole we have a serious boner for Greek stuff and while most of the time I share said boner it can be problematic. Alexander was directly responsible for the awful deaths of a TON of people, most of whom had no interest in taking part in his own personal Iliad. Furthermore, dude was the aggressor in his wars on Persia and India--I don't care what Renault and a billion other historians insist, there is no proof Darius had any involvement in Philip's assassination and the Indian campaign really seems to just exist because it could. Philip had plenty of enemies in Greece that had nothing to do with Persia. So it can be irritating to not ever see Alexander in the same category as historical "villain conquerors" like the aforementioned Attila or Genghis Khan.Mary Renault does set me a little bit straight on this, if not to the point I'd like. This is a psychological portrait of the man. Volumes have been and are probably currently being written on Alexander's military life, but Renault forgoes most of this stuff in favor of examining the kind of mind and personality that produces the myriad decisions he made during his short life. I mean, you literally can't produce a biography of Alexander without talking about his military campaigns, but these are examined shallowly and again, mostly to see what they tell us about the man as a person, not a commander. And the person that emerges from these pages is indeed often likable--often completely skipping the brutal plunder, rape and destruction of the cities and towns of vanquished enemies and mostly going completely without the useful tool of outright murdering one's political enemies. You also have to stand in awe of the fact that here was a dude inspired by one of the world's first epic fantasies (the Iliad) who went on to basically bring his own epic fantasy to life on the world stage. You can't make this shit up!Renault's biography does have some issues, however. There's clearly some fangirlish hero worship going on, and the occasional awkward desperation she resorts to to prove "Alexander was really a great guy! Really, guys!" is embarrassing enough in a fictional setting, even more so in an academic one. She even occasionally resorts to the stale "War and killing were not viewed as inherently bad things at the time, this was not the 20th century" argument. This argument does very little for me. Imagine yourself kneeling next to a mortally wounded man, woman or child after one of Alex's fancy battles/sieges and telling them "Listen...I know this sucks ass, but war isn't viewed by the world as inherently bad thing, so chill out with the whining and crying. Look how awesome Alexander looks on Bucephalus!" Even though the man did occasionally very merciful and honorable things and held himself to an ideal a bit loftier than most other rulers of the era, he was a killer and a conqueror. We cannot forget that, and Renault does her best to make us.I know this seems like I'm being very harsh on the author and her subject. I do hope and think I'm coming from a realistic place rather than a cynical one, however. I'm just as easily seduced as the next person by the Alexander ideal--a beautiful young man raised by a hardass soldier dad and mystical hippie mom that loves his Homer and goes on to conquer the fuck out of the world before dying early, forever young and beautiful, like a legendary dead rockstar of the ancient world--but when we look at history and the people who write it we have to ask if this was reality or indeed just an ideal. All that said, my final verdict on Alexander has indeed improved after reading this despite the odds. I just don't fully buy into the hero-lover-conqueror thing. Complaints aside, the author's writing is eminently readable and this biography zips by within a few sittings. It also utterly crystallized my desire to read her fiction. Her dedication to the subject is clear and I can see it translating into some awesome novel action. A bit of a mixed bag here but one I liked on the whole.

This is one of those books that I read to become an informed person and about which I will later remember only three to five things. In no particular order I predict that those three to five things will be: Bucephalas, Hephaestion, Darius, Roxane, and Olympias. This is, of course not how I will remember: the Horsey, the Boyfriend, the Cowardly Enemy, the Evil!Wife, and the Conniving Clingy Mother. I am being glib because I am not really familiar with this period in history. I honestly will forget most of the other well-detailed historical figures mentioned in this book because they have Greek and Persian names that I can't pronounce as well as similarly incomprehensible characters. I am sort of fine with that, though, because this book isn't really about the supporting cast, it is about the character of Alexander.Alexander, as it turns out, really was sort of great. He had a pathological need for approval and friendship, so was outgoing and generous by default. He was wackily opposed to all sorts of common things like torture, rape, pillaging surrendered cities, and secret murders to consolidate his power. Many of his major historical mistakes stem from trusting his friends too much. His army loved him to the point where discipline was more like dealing with a parent you don't want to disappoint than a Cesar looking to flog or kill one in ever ten soldiers. This is a well written, extremely well cited history of Alexander. The prose is very dense, but entirely worth the effort.

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I'm just a big fan of Alexander the Great. I've read this book and a lot more about him, but I just can't recall titles and authors except for Renault. I'm reminded of Renault because I read her trilogy of historical fiction on Alexander. She also wrote this book which is more nonfiction or rater a collection of observations and opinions, legends, etc. on Alexander the Great told by the various cultures he touched, and influenced.Who knows what Alexander the Great was truely like, but I've enjoyed reading about the different accounts. Unfortunately, most of the histories of Alexander were told long after his death. I wonder what Pytolomy's library would have revealed of Alexander? Such a loss. :(
—Jennifer

Mosaic, Alexander at the Battle of Isis 333 BC (Wiki)Note: For a far more perceptive review than this one, see Sarah's.This could be a five star book, but I’ve been conservative since it’s so long since I read it. (It’s probably worth a re-read, actually).The Nature of Alexander is a popular, non-academic, very readable biography of Alexander the Great. It is Mary Renault’s only non-fiction book. There’s a very brief Wiki article on the book, in which it is stated that it’s not a “neutral” book, but presents Alexander in a very favorable light. Nevertheless, the book is cited as a source 18 times in the Wiki article on Alexander, which is an indication that although a “popular” work, it is by no means devoid of authority.The book does not use footnotes, another indication of its popular style. But there is a very useful list of Ancient Sources used by Renault in the back, which she prefaces by saying “This book is meant for general readers; and the following list may serve as a guide to those wishing to make their own assessments and explorations.” The list is short enough (perhaps 20 works) to not overwhelm, and does include four modern secondary sources.)Renault organizes these works into five categories. The first has no title, but is simply five works in which considerable information about Alexander has come down to us. These are by Arrian, Quintus Curtius, Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, and Justin. The other categories are Additional biographical details or anecdotes (5, one modern), Works relevant to Alexander’s life and times (5), Works known to Alexander, which certainly or probably influenced his thought (4), and For the legend (3, all modern).From the inside cover: The aim of Mary Renault’s study has been to peel off from this complex and dynamic human being the accumulated layers of wishful thinking, both idealizing and ideological, and show him not in our terms but his: as he saw himself, and was seen by his friends, his enemies, the men he led and the peoples he conquered. Besides the statements of those who knew him in life, of which many fragments have been preserved, she has studied the folk memory, ‘which can be neither enforced nor bought’, handed down in the lands he ruled. The book has a five page index of proper names (very useful). I brought it upstairs recently hoping to find out something about the period of time in Alexander’s youth when he was engaged with Aristotle, and wasn’t disappointed. The index immediately pointed me to a six page section in which the relationship is discussed (as well as numerous other references to Aristotle through the work.)The book is handsomely illustrated in color and black and white. Some of the numerous illustrations are photographs of places (many full page), other are depictions of sculptures, jewelry, tapestries, etc. connected with Alexander, his times, or his legend. There’s a two page section giving details and acknowledgment for all the illustrations. The image above shows a two-page illustration of Alexander's funeral car, by Edward Mottelmans. The inscription in the upper left is from Diodorus. The carriage ... appeared more magnificent when seen than when described. Because of its wide fame it drew together many spectators; for from every city it came to, the people came out to meet it, and followed beside it when it went away, never wearied of their pleasure in the sight. This car was pulled by 64 mules for months across a thousand miles of Asia.For anyone interested in a very readable biography of Alexander, I would highly recommend Renault's book.
—Ted

Focusing a great deal of her attention on Alexander the Great's psychological evolution, Mary Renault here writes a different sort of historical biography. She is clearly well-read in all things Alexander, and even more clear is her absolute bias towards him. She leaves little room for argument, though there are several throughout. She uses much of the histories of Arrian, Ptolemy, Xenophon and others but at times puts her imagination to good use by filling in the blanks. While not a poorly written book, it feels one should take Renault's history with a grain of salt. It is interesting to try and imagine what Alexander the Great was really like as a person, how far his kindnesses as a leader and as a lover would take him, etc.; at the same time, however, it is important to remember that Renault was looking back in history, often with rose-tinted glasses on, and it is impossible even for her to be able to know the complete truth. Even while Alexander was known as one of the greatest military leaders in history, there is a reason he is also known as one of the greatest conquerors in military history also. This is a fact that Renault tended to sort of glaze over as a whole.There seems to be more about Alexander's death here than is found in most histories, and for that I was pleased. Renault does throw out medical options, though she evidently believed primarily in Alexander's murder, as she did with Alexander's (probable) lover, Hephaestion.I mostly enjoyed this history, and Renault's experience as a fiction writer helped spur my interest throughout, even if I cringed at moments that felt a little too imaginary for a historical biography. I wished that there was a map of Alexander's conquest included, though that is mainly me just being lazy on a sick day and being grumpy about having to look it up myself.
—El

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