Count Belisarius
by Robert Graves
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert GravesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1982-10-01
ISBN: 0374517398
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Book Reviews of Count Belisarius
Book Review: A tad boring at times, but a vivid account of real history.
Summary: 3 Stars
I've read through quite a few reviews here and can't wholeheartedly disagree with most of them. It is true that the plot of this novel can get a bit tedious, and I also agree that the character development is a bit lacking, especially when compared to "I, Claudius" or "Claudius The God . . . " For what it is though, a history of the life and times of the Byzantine Empire's most able general, it is quite good.
This novel is certainly not a good place to start for those new to Robert Graves. New readers would likely decide that Graves' writing style is a bit dry and cumbersome. No, this is really a novel for the seasoned Graves scholar---and honestly, only for those who have a genuine interest in the Eastern Roman Empire.
For those who do, however, this is an absolute treasurebook. In fact, a script of this novel would be suitable material for a History Channel documentary while his others were obviously suitable for the BBC.
It would probably be unfair to compare "Count Belisarius" to the likes of the two Claudian novels, but comparisons are made nonetheless. For the character of Claudius, Graves obviously had to "fill in some blanks." In doing so, he truly brings the character to life. This is not to say, however, that Graves took too many poetic liberties in developing the character---quite the contrary. Graves was, for all practical purposes, an historian. In other words, he always did his homework and when he does have to fill in bits of missing information, he does so in a way that one might logically expect that character to behave/react/decide etc. The same can be said for Belasarius. With Belisarius, however, Graves did not have to be nearly as "creative" as with Claudius, since the details of Belasarius' life are more concrete. Perhaps this attributes to the novel being a bit dry---more factual perhaps, but without the drama.
For the most part, I see in Belisarius a character whose fate was not too different than that of Claudius, or at least his brother Germanicus. Justinian could have easily sufficed for a Caligula, while Theodora reminds one at times of Claudius' grandmother, Livia. This is not necessarily an invention of Graves, but rather my own subtle comparison between several characters with similar attitudes and fates.
Again, this novel should almost be placed in non-fiction since it holds to historical fact almost flawlessly---not exactly, but almost. For this reason, it's a bit tedious as a novel but makes an excellent read for the historian.
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