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Summary: The end of Athens written in "The Last of the Wine"
Review: An English teacher recommended that I read Mary Renault's excellent book "The King Must Die," and because "The Bull From The Sea" had been checked out of the library when I finished its predecessor, I took another book by Renault. "The Last of the Wine" cemented my admiration for her work, but there's nothing I can say to praise Renault that hasn't already been said."The Last of the Wine" is set in Athens during the Peloponnesian War and is told by a young aristocrat named Alexias. Alexias, an unwanted child, begins his story with the plague that killed his mother and uncle, among others, as well as Pericles the statesman. The famous names appear as people who move in the same circles Alexias expects to move in as an adult; friends to his father Myron, associates, politicians, and--as this is Athens--wooers of Alexias as he becomes an adolescent. But besides himself, Alexias's story concerns two other men: a stonemason turned philosopher named Sokrates, who helps Alexias out of his shy awkwardness, and Lysis, the man with whom Alexias falls in love. According to Athenian tradition, the older of a homosexual pair was supposed to teach the younger how to fight, to hunt, to behave in society, to be a man; Lysis does all this and also imparts to Alexias a desire to exceed his own limitations. If this story was simply about the downfall of Sokrates, it would be tragic, for Sokrates' story is bound up with the fall of Athens and the rise of democracy after the Spartan victory and the tyranny of the Thirty who terrorized the city afterwards. But it is also about the relationship between Lysis, a man whose integrity survives one disappointment after another, and Alexias, who seems destined to lose every dream he has. The two of them overcome jealousy, loss on the battlefield, plague and starvation, and poverty; the one thing they cannot overcome is Lysis's determination to see things as they are, and Alexias's need to see things as he wants them to be. The characters are richly drawn; Renault could make her people live through simple descriptions and dialogue, and the reader will feel as if they've lost friends when they finish the book. Alexias's point of view is set well ahead of the book's place in time; the narrative has a poignance, an air of regret, that makes the moments of happiness seem that much more precious. But there are wonderful scenes as well. Any scene with Phaidon, the courtesan who became a disciple of Sokrates, crackles with tension and energy. Agathon the playwright is shown as charming and flamboyant, and Sokrates is as homey and comfortable as a beloved uncle. As for villains, who needs the Spartans when we have Kritias, a notorious member of the Thirty, a man who attempts to molest Alexias in his boyhood and then later helps to ruin his family? The title comes from the Athenian dinner custom of tossing the dregs of the wine cup into the serving bowl and reading the patterns of the droplets for an omen. The Peloponnesian War came through Athens' dreams of empire, and Sparta's rivalry with her sister city-state. Athens' loss in the war foreshadowed the downfall of its own prestige; never again did the city rise to the power it had held prior to the conflict, nor did it ever produce, in Classical times, men like those who made it great. "The Last of the Wine" is a tragic story, but it is also a farewell to greatness, the glory that was Athens.
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Summary: One of the most incredible books I've ever read!
Review: Classics is my minor in college, so I have read quite a few historical fiction books, but this has definetely been one of the best. As the story develops, you can see Alexias grow and mature as a man, and his relationships with his father, mother, his friends and his beloved Lysis change and mature through the years. This is a highly knowledgeable, well-researched true history of the times politically, as well as being a tender, warm story of love and friendship and a tale of courage, patriotism and the power of freedom. If you have ever wondered about the nature of love, wisdom, friendship, pride, sincerity, faith, courage and life, you must read this book. Mary Renault does an impeccable job.
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Summary: Ambitious but Ultimately Disappointing Tale of Love & War
Review: I freely admit I'm a bit of a historical novel-aholic, and I really, really wanted to love this book...but, I found Renault's tale of male love set against the backdrop of the Athenian/Spartan conflict very uneven. Certain events are riveting (Alexias running and winning the long race, Lysis fighting and losing a wrestling match at the same games), others humdrum (the telling of Alcibiades' restoration to favor after defeating the Oligarchs left me longing for Steven Pressfield's infinitely better "The Tides of War"). I think there are better, more vivid tales out there covering the same ground. Renault's writing feels a bit dated, and the central relationship of the book (Alexias and Lysis are described constantly as "lovers", yet the details of whether or not they actually physically consummate their homosexual relationship are left ludicrously vague) never fully gels. Still, the historical details are rich, and there are brilliant moments peppered throughout.
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Summary: Superb Historical Drama
Review: Mary Renault has always been my favorite author ever since I read "The Persian Boy" as a teenager.However, it was "The Last Of The Wine" that demonstrated to me the sheer magic of Reanault's words, how she effortlessly can weave a few historical tidbits into a full-fledged epic novel.
The Last of the Wine, as are many of Mary Renault's greek novels is a homosexual-themed story of friendship,love and ultimately courage and sacrifice.It traces the story of 2 lovers,the handsome youth Alexias and his older friend Lysis.The story depicts in startlingly vivid images the Athenian siege by the army of Sparta and the plague epidemic that nearly devastated the cultural beacon that was Athens.How Alexias survived the siege is one of Mary Renault's finest moments of historical suspense.
The book has also some extremely explicit allusions to subjects considered taboo in the 1950's from latent Oedipus complex (Alexias and his step-mother) to gay love.
As a gay man, I also found this novel to be Mary Renault's most erotic.Gay sex is never once mentioned overtly but is alluded to many times in a way I found to be very sensual.The eroticism between Alexias and Lysis in a scene taking place on the seashore (where Lysis washed Alexias's feet)remains in my mind one of the most powerful depictions of gay love in any novel.Mary Renault knows more about what triggers a gay man than most gay male authors!
Alexias,the handsome young man and Lysis his heartbreakingly ruggedly masculine and loyal lover remain for me Mary Renault's favorite characters.Throughout the novel,these two men sacrifice for each other in a way that I found romantically ideal.A superb novel all the way
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Summary: Ancient history brought vibrantly to life
Review: Mary Renault wrote several contemporary novels of varying quality ("The Charioteer" being by far the best) before she decided to delve into ancient Athens and found her genius of making history seem so vibrantly alive that we feel we are right there in the middle of it. Renault's first historical novel, "The Last of the Wine", is set during the Peloponnesian War, in an Athens grown too powerful and too complacent for its own good, riding for a calamitous fall. Renault introduces us to Alexias, sixteen years old when this story opens, the surviving son of an aristocratic family, whose conservative father disapproves of his hanging around the agora picking up all kinds of new ideas, and especially the dangerous notions of a philosopher named Sokrates (Renault scrupulously keeps the Greek spelling of proper names throughout the book). His father being called to serve in the disastrous Sicilian expedition leaves Alexias feeling as if a weight had rolled off him; out from under his father's thumb and free to spread his wings, he gravitates closer to Sokrates and a young Athenian nobleman named Lysis who becomes his closest friend and then his lover. Bisexuality was a given in ancient Greece and Renault writes about such relationships as a matter of fact. His father returning from the war beaten, degraded and escaping from the harsh slavery imposed on captured prisoners of war precipitates a crisis in the household; and Alexias and Lysis leave home to join the Athenian navy and find their own independence. The relationship between these two is not just that of lovers but as mentor and pupil; as the older of the two, it is Lysis' responsibility to train his younger friend in the ways of war, honor and manhood; and it's a responsibility he takes seriously. Lacking a benevolent father figure, Lysis becomes all in all to Alexias -- lover, big brother, best friend and confidant. There are inevitable conflicts between them as Alexias grows to maturity and the two begin to grow away from each other to build their own lives as adults; but their relationship grows deeper as it adapts to changing times and needs. Alexias says of Lysis, "It was he who taught me to be a man." "The Last of the Wine" is a story of war and friendship, love and honor, set against the turbulent background of classical Greece. Here you'll meet some familiar figures from history textbooks: Alexias' contemporaries, Plato and Xenophon; Phaedo, the captive Melian boy who grew up to become a philosopher himself; and the fascinating character of the charming double-dealer Alkibiades, the renegade Athenian who played both ends against the middle and perhaps more than any other individual helped bring about Athens' defeat in the war and its subsequent decline. Renault's bringing these real figures into her narrative makes it seem that much more alive and immediate; as we read this excellent book we travel deeper and deeper into 5th-century B.C. Athens, and it's with some regret that we turn the last page and are jolted back into the present.
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Summary: ---
Review: Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was full of historical detail and seemed very well-researched, even if the writing was a little hard to get through at times. I did wonder, and none of the other reviewers have mentioned this, so maybe I'm way off target, if the book's treatment of the abuse of democracy towards the end was supposed to be a reflection on the McCarthyism of the 1950s. Especially when you consider that the book was written in 1956...The comparison, which works even if it is not intentional, really struck me at the very end, where Sokrates is referred to as "anti-democratic" and "un-Athenian" for promoting independant thought and free speech.
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Summary: ---
Review: Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was full of historical detail and seemed very well-researched, even if the writing was a little hard to get through at times. I did wonder, and none of the other reviewers have mentioned this, so maybe I'm way off target, if the book's treatment of the abuse of democracy towards the end was supposed to be a reflection on the McCarthyism of the 1950s. Especially when you consider that the book was written in 1956...The comparison, which works even if it is not intentional, really struck me at the very end, where Sokrates is referred to as "anti-democratic" and "un-Athenian" for promoting independant thought and free speech.
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Summary: should we ever forsake friendship, love, & excellence
Review: Should we ever forsake friendship, love, devotion to duty, and excellence.... the spartans just might defeat us sleep tight, and remember your courage roberto
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Summary: Should we forsake the love of excellence...
Review: The second of Mary Renaults books I read, and, in my eyes, the best. She brings back an ancient Greece that almost makes you wish you'd lived 25 centuries earlier. I'm an historian, so I'm well aware it wasn't all honor and love. But this book may well be the truest book I ever read, in what it tries to show us about human life, and what it means to live a life of consequence, not for the greater good of mankind, but for our own sake. Mrs Renault manages to create rich characters without even once sounding melodramatic, or overdoing it. She has that rare gift to say much and make it clear without actually saying it outright. A fine understanding of language. Apart from the achievement to bring ancient Greece back to life better than anyone else, she manages to tell a story about honor, love, devotion, loyalty... I could go on. We see the "invention" of democracy and the beginnings of it's degradation from the pure, wonderful idea, to the ugly thing it will become the closer we get to the end of the classical period (what we're stuck with today, for lack of something better). A true masterpiece, like most of her other works. A word of caution: I found it hard to stay interested when I read it the first time, not being used to her voice. You have to get used to her style of writing, to appreciate it, and understand what is going on. But now, after reading it over and over, I can't find a page I don't treasure.
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Summary: War and life in the 5th century BC!
Review: This is one of the better historical fiction novels I have read. The novel takes place during the Peloponnesian War (c. 430 B.C. - 400 B.C.) a Greek civil war of sorts between Athens and allies and Sparta and allies. There are many famous personages here: Socrates, Pericules and others. However, the main character of the novel is not one of these. Alexias (the main character), is a young man who grows up in a noble Athenian family. He has a full ancient Greek life: participates in war, competes in the Isthmian Games (similar to the Olympics but at Corinth), has a homosexual relationship and then is married to a woman. One of the main problems I had with the novel is the way homosexuality is treated; it is considered part of the status quo, so to speak. It is historically accurate (i.e. the Greeks would act like that) but it is immoral nonetheless. One of the most interesting parts of the book is the effects of the War on Athens. To appreciate this, some background is necessary. Approximately 50 years before the start of this war, Athens led a military alliance that won the Persian Wars (against Persia, the superpower of the day). After the Persian Wars, Athens emerged as the naval and cultural leader of Greece. Athens also had a large military-political empire. Near the end of the novel, the Spartans (and their allies) lay siege to Athens. Inside the City, the Athenians suffer. There is substantial inflation and the nobles (including Alexias) start to suffer and hit the poverty line. In order to earn money, Alexias is forced to pose for statue sculptors and the wife of his best friend almost turns to prostitution. Then, the Spartans have their great revenge. They tear down the Long Walls... These were a great symbol of Athenian military power. A modern analogy might be if North Korea conquered America and then publicly dissembled and then destroyed all US nuclear missiles. The novel was very historically accurate and I found it very fun to walk around in the Agora (briefly defined as the meeting area of the city where business, politics, philosophy etc would happen) in Athens. I could see the places that the characters visited as I wandered around. This novel is a good way to get some feel for the time period and what it might have been like to live then. Historical fiction serves as an interesting complement to more traditional ways of understanding history. I know some other people who have read, "The Mask of Apollo," by the same author and I may just read that as well.
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