| The Classical Novels: The Macedonian and Scenes from the Life of Cleopatra (Revised) Revised Edition Contributor(s): Butts, Mary (Author) |
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ISBN: 0929701429 ISBN-13: 9780929701424 Publisher: McPherson OUR PRICE: $14.40 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 1994 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 94009919 |
| Series: Recovered Classics |
| Physical Information: 1.29" H x 5.6" W x 8.49" (1.10 lbs) 385 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Mary Butts had a keen interest in classical history, and an imagination tuned to understanding the personalities of visionary rulers. These two historical novels, published in England in her lifetime to considerable acclaim, are surprisingly well-suited for publication in one volume: the segue from Alexander the Great's death and legacy is readily made to the rise 250 years later of a strong, intelligent, and capable Queen in Alexandria. Each novel is thoroughly researched and richly imagined; Butts' style is fluid, the writing is crisp and colloquial, and the scenes she composes are dramatic. These are historical novels unlike all but a few others; Butts' purpose is to go so far beneath the conventional understanding of Greek and Roman history as to retrieve specific meaning relevant to the contemporary social and political arenas. She realized, for example, how distorted and sexually compromised the figure of Cleopatra had become in the hands of male historians and dramatists (only S |
