Shop Indie Bookstores
The King Must Die, Mary Renault, Random House, 1958, 338 pp
I am always excited to find a new author to admire. Of course, Mary Renault is not new to the world. She was born in London in 1905 and died in 1983, having built for herself a reputation for vivid historical novels, many of them set in Ancient Greece. She was named by J F Kennedy as his favorite author. I have meant to read her for years and am so pleased to have found a wonderful writer with a great deal of scholarship and intelligence backing up her fiction.
The King Must Die is the first of two novels covering the life of Theseus, a legendary hero of ancient Athens. Mary Renault takes quite some literary license with the legend, the major one being that Theseus was not of heroic size but was of short stature. She explains the archeological evidence for this in her Author's Note, painting him as "a light-weight; brave and aggressive, physically tough and quick; highly sexed and rather promiscuous, touchily proud, but with a feeling for the underdog; resembling Alexander in his precocious competence, gift of leadership, and romantic sense of destiny."
Theseus tells his own story and it is as wild and full of adventure as you would expect from a man who may have had Poseidon for a father and who killed the famous Minotaur, that half bull/half man who fed on human flesh. She makes this complex character come to life, carefully depicting the ways he learned to use his mind as well as his courage and strength to overcome enemies and obstacles.
A few years ago I managed to get through Will Durant's The Life of Greece. I loved having Theseus fleshed out as it were and the daily world of ancient Athens and Crete made real. I already have the second volume, The Bull From the Sea, on my shelf. I look forward to reading her other novels about Plato, Alexander and more.
I want to thank Helen and her She Reads Novels blog for having a part in leading me to finally reading Mary Renault.
I have her trilogy of Alexander on my TBR.
ReplyDeleteI am so looking forward to those books too.
DeleteI read and enjoyed this book earlier this year and I hope to get along to the other Theseus novel in the coming year. Renault truly was a gifted writer, able to bring ancient history and mythology to life.
ReplyDeleteI don't read a lot of historical fiction because sometimes the writing is lame. Renault sets a standard doesn't she?
DeleteGood morning after Christmas! Hahaha. Yes, here it's 8 hours and something.
ReplyDeleteGreat book review. I never heard of this book before!!
If you like Greek mythology you would love it!
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this, Judy! It's still the only Mary Renault book I've read, but I'm hoping to read The Bull from the Sea in 2017.
ReplyDeleteYes, me too. I will read it quite soon as I am almost to the end of my 1962 list and it was published in that year.
DeleteNice Judy, the daily world of Ancient Greece would be fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIt is! And it was a rough and violent time.
Delete