Memoirs of Hadrian

Marguerite Yourcenar's genre-defining historical novel.

First published to international acclaim in 1951, Memoirs of Hadrian is at once a brilliant character study, a reflection on the meaning of history, and a literary masterwork from one of France's most singular writers. Marguerite Yourcenar takes the perspective of the dying Emperor Hadrian, reimagining his life across the changing Roman Empire. With insight, elegance, and an unprecedented immediacy, Memoirs of Hadrian announced itself as a new kind of historical fiction: one that animates the past with immersive feeling and rings true across the ages.