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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9781573229869
ISBN number: 1573229865
Label: Riverhead Trade
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 416
Printing Date: June 03, 2003
Publishing house: Riverhead Trade
Release Date: June 03, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 102300
Studio: Riverhead Trade
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Product Description:
In The Dream of Scipio, the acclaimed author of An Instance of the Fingerpost intertwines three intellectual mysteries, three love stories-and three of the darkest moments in human history. United by a classical text called 'The Dream of Scipio,' three men struggle to find refuge from the madness that surrounds them...in the final days of the Roman Empire, in the grim years of the Black Death, and in the direst hours of World War II.
Amazon.com Review:
Like his elegant debut, An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears's The Dream of Scipio is an inventive, gloriously detailed historical novel told from multiple viewpoints. But Pears has set himself an additional challenge by spreading his narrators over several centuries: there's the fifth century French nobleman and bishop, Manlius, a civilized man who has embraced the uncouth Christian faith in order to protect what he holds dear; an 11th-century scholar and troubadour named Olivier de Noyen, the famously ill-fated admirer of a married girl; and Julien Barneuve, an early 20th-century scholar of de Noyen who discovers, through him, a magnificent manuscript of Manlius's called 'The Dream of Scipio.' Though all three men come from the same small Provençal town, it is this manuscript, derived from the teachings of a wise woman, that links the three narrative threads of Pears's story. At the heart of The Dream of Scipio and, one suspects, at the heart of its author, is the conflict between a classical ideal of learning and the contemplation of beauty, and the noisy, uncivilized, democratizing impulses of the Christian era. A novel of ideas like its predecessor, The Dream of Scipio is neither chilly nor didactic and doesn't shy away from depicting the costs of its narrators' unpopular devotions. --Regina Marler
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Rated by buyers 
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I read this three years ago on a beach in Jamaica. If you are someone who enjoys historical novels, philosophy, and a book that will leave you thinking about it several years after you have read it, this is the book for you.
Rated by buyers -
This novel is written to appeal to those of an intellectual bent. It examines how three men, in three different eras, but in the same geographical area, deal with the disintegration of society as they know it due to forces beyond their control. Each man is inspired and, to one degree or another, guided by an exceptional woman. Neoplatonic philosophy is an orienting framework for each of them, although each necessarily has a rather different grasp of it.
Manlius Hippomanes lives in 5th century Gaul, Olivier de Noyen in 14th century Provence, and Julien Barneuve in early 20th century Provence. The town of Vaison is the central location for them all, though Avignon is also important. Each man must struggle with the tension between loyalty to friends and the drive to preserve civilization in the face of catastrophe.
Manlius is a disciple of Sophia, a native of Alexandria and the daughter of one of the last disciples of Hyaptia. Olivier is the son of a notary who becomes the secretary of a cardinal in Avignon while the papacy is based there. Julien is a classical scholar who is maneuvered into becoming a reluctant and lenient censor during the Nazi occupation of France. Manlius lives in a time when Roman control of Gaul is no more than nominal and "barbarians" are taking over the reigns of power. Olivier finds himself a pawn in the machinations of his cardinal to return the papacy to Rome, just as the Black Death strikes Avignon. Julien tries to mitigate the dictates of the Nazis and to save his "muse," Julia, a Jewish painter, from the Nazi bloodlust.
Each man finds he must make painful and morally debatable compromises in order to salvage as much as he can of what he finds most valuable. No clear, straight road of absolute moral rectitude is open to any of them. Each choice will bring both good and bad. They are guided in their choices by the wisdom of Sophia, which Manlius recorded in a treatise he entitled "The Dream of Scipio." Olivier found a copy of it 900 years later, and through him it was preserved for Julien another 600 years later.
The reader gains a sense of the aid to be derived from philosophy in the face of shallow religious and ideological mania, and crass political scheming. I have been captivated by Iain Pears' ability to weave both philosophical and personal factors together into three interlocking narratives.
Rated by buyers -
Like probably nothing else, the breakdown of social order forces us to reach into ourselves, to draw for guidance on our innermost beliefs and moral values; for absent direction by the established rules of society, we only have ourselves to turn to for advice. - Such is the situation in which find themselves this book's three protagonists: Manlius Hippomanes, Olivier de Noyen and Julien Barneuve; and each resolves the resulting conflict in a different fashion, based as much on his personal nature as his deeply-held convictions and values.
Manlius is a 5th century Roman aristocrat, living during the final years of the Roman Empire. Originally a man of letters more than political or religious leader, he is a member of a dying class: educated in Neoplatonism and the classical Roman tradition, cultured, and placing the survival of civilization - as embodied in traditional Roman virtues - above everything else. Yet, as his city, Vaison, and the rest of Provence comes under the dual onslaught of the Visigoths under Euric and the Burgundians under Gundobad, he abandons (if only publicly) his pagan beliefs and seeks appointment as Bishop, realizing that with the secular power of the Roman Republic weakened beyond recovery, only the Catholic church's growing influence provides a sufficient basis for his ultimate goal: to maintain the essence of Roman civilization and culture while formally accepting the weight of the new political forces; by forming an alliance with Roman-educated Gundobad to save at least part of Provence from destruction by the Visigoths, and to ensure the continuance of Roman law and values under Burgundian administration. (As the author implicitly admits, this book's Manlius is loosely based on St. Avitus of Vienne, who lived approximately 50 years later, actually was an advisor to Gundobad, later converted Gundobad's son and successor Sigismund to Christianity, and whose most prominent piece of writing is a five-book-long poem on Original Sin, Expulsion from Paradise, the Deluge and the Crossing of the Red Sea which, 1100 years later, in part probably inspired Milton's "Paradise Lost.")
Strongly influenced by his muse's, Neoplatonian philosopher Sophia's teachings, Manlius lays down his own philosophy in sermons and letters - and in a treatise he entitles "The Dream of Scipio," for the like-named excerpt from Cicero's "Republica" describing - in the voice of Scipio Africanus - the great Roman's vision of the universe and the rewards of immortality awaiting the good statesman. But unlike Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis," Manlius's manuscript doesn't take the form of a dream by Scipio Junior about a conversation with Scipio Africanus but that of a dream about Scipio; or rather, a conversation between Sophia and Manlius about Scipio's comments on the fall of Carthage. And while in Manlius's penmanship the treatise thus contains primarily a discourse on the fall of Rome (and a response to Saint Augustine's "City of God"), this book's two other protagonists, Olivier and Julien, in turn come to appreciate its significance as a treatise on the fall of civilization in general: For Manlius holds that civilization is a purpose in and of itself, to be perpetuated either by action premised on this singular aim, or by teaching.
Olivier and Julien, however, draw different conclusions from Manlius's treatise than did its author for his own time. Olivier, a 14th century poet in the Avignon household of powerful Cardinal Ceccani (but like Manlius originally from Vaison) sees his world fall apart as the plague descends upon the South of France, while Ceccani and his rival Cardinal de Deaux vie for influence in the court of Pope Clement VI. Caught between the lines of political intrigue and the menace of the Black Death are Olivier's Jewish teacher Gersonides and his servant Rebecca. And unlike his master Ceccani, who (similar to Manlius) will sacrifice individuals for a perceived greater aim, Olivier takes the opposite approach, sacrificing himself for an act of humanity and placing the well-being of two individuals - Rebecca and Gersonides - over his master's far-reaching goals. Julien finally, a scholar who has retired to his hometown Vaison to outwait the horrors of the Third Reich and the Vichy Regime, is the most reluctant of all to take action, preferring instead to make his small contribution to the preservation of civilization through teaching. But eventually he is goaded into collaboration with the regime on the grounds that whatever he doesn't consent to do will be done by someone with true national-socialist fervor - only to realize too late, after his lover, Jewish painter Julia Bronsen has been sent to a "labor" camp, that evil actions taken for honorable reasons often constitute the greatest of all evils.
But it is not only "The Dream of Scipio" - written by Manlius, unearthed by Olivier and Julien - and the moral choices they face that unite this novel's ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
Like probably nothing else, the breakdown of social order forces us to reach into ourselves, to draw for guidance on our innermost beliefs and moral values; for absent direction by the established rules of society, we only have ourselves to turn to for advice. - Such is the situation in which find themselves this book's three protagonists: Manlius Hippomanes, Olivier de Noyen and Julien Barneuve; and each resolves the resulting conflict in a different fashion, based as much on his personal nature as his deeply-held convictions and values.
Manlius is a 5th century Roman aristocrat, living during the final years of the Roman Empire. Originally a man of letters more than political or religious leader, he is a member of a dying class: educated in Neoplatonism and the classical Roman tradition, cultured, and placing the survival of civilization - as embodied in traditional Roman virtues - above everything else. Yet, as his city, Vaison, and the rest of Provence comes under the dual onslaught of the Visigoths under Euric and the Burgundians under Gundobad, he abandons (if only publicly) his pagan beliefs and seeks appointment as Bishop, realizing that with the secular power of the Roman Republic weakened beyond recovery, only the Catholic church's growing influence provides a sufficient basis for his ultimate goal: to maintain the essence of Roman civilization and culture while formally accepting the weight of the new political forces; by forming an alliance with Roman-educated Gundobad to save at least part of Provence from destruction by the Visigoths, and to ensure the continuance of Roman law and values under Burgundian administration. (As the author implicitly admits, this book's Manlius is loosely based on St. Avitus of Vienne, who lived approximately 50 years later, actually was an advisor to Gundobad, later converted Gundobad's son and successor Sigismund to Christianity, and whose most prominent piece of writing is a five-book-long poem on Original Sin, Expulsion from Paradise, the Deluge and the Crossing of the Red Sea which, 1100 years later, in part probably inspired Milton's "Paradise Lost.")
Strongly influenced by his muse's, Neoplatonian philosopher Sophia's teachings, Manlius lays down his own philosophy in sermons and letters - and in a treatise he entitles "The Dream of Scipio," for the like-named excerpt from Cicero's "Republica" describing - in the voice of Scipio Africanus - the great Roman's vision of the universe and the rewards of immortality awaiting the good statesman. But unlike Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis," Manlius's manuscript doesn't take the form of a dream by Scipio Junior about a conversation with Scipio Africanus but that of a dream about Scipio; or rather, a conversation between Sophia and Manlius about Scipio's comments on the fall of Carthage. And while in Manlius's penmanship the treatise thus contains primarily a discourse on the fall of Rome (and a response to Saint Augustine's "City of God"), this book's two other protagonists, Olivier and Julien, in turn come to appreciate its significance as a treatise on the fall of civilization in general: For Manlius holds that civilization is a purpose in and of itself, to be perpetuated either by action premised on this singular aim, or by teaching.
Olivier and Julien, however, draw different conclusions from Manlius's treatise than did its author for his own time. Olivier, a 14th century poet in the Avignon household of powerful Cardinal Ceccani (but like Manlius originally from Vaison) sees his world fall apart as the plague descends upon the South of France, while Ceccani and his rival Cardinal de Deaux vie for influence in the court of Pope Clement VI. Caught between the lines of political intrigue and the menace of the Black Death are Olivier's Jewish teacher Gersonides and his servant Rebecca. And unlike his master Ceccani, who (similar to Manlius) will sacrifice individuals for a perceived greater aim, Olivier takes the opposite approach, sacrificing himself for an act of humanity and placing the well-being of two individuals - Rebecca and Gersonides - over his master's far-reaching goals. Julien finally, a scholar who has retired to his hometown Vaison to outwait the horrors of the Third Reich and the Vichy Regime, is the most reluctant of all to take action, preferring instead to make his small contribution to the preservation of civilization through teaching. But eventually he is goaded into collaboration with the regime on the grounds that whatever he doesn't consent to do will be done by someone with true national-socialist fervor - only to realize too late, after his lover, Jewish painter Julia Bronsen has been sent to a "labor" camp, that evil actions taken for honorable reasons often constitute the greatest of all evils.
But it is not only "The Dream of Scipio" - written by Manlius, unearthed by Olivier and Julien - and the moral choices they face that unite this novel's ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
Wow. Very dense. Have to pay close attention as it swtiches between three main chaacters. Not easy but rewarding. SEveral different ypes of histories and the interweaving is exemplary.
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