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Probably the most significant literary work to come out of Eastern Europe since WW2.
When this once-communist writer became disillusioned with the Soviet system, his first instinct was to turn away from politics and escape into the rarified world of Latin studies. The result, "Divine Julius"--a picaresque take on the ruthlessness and corruption of Roman politics--launched in 1961 to a great critical and commercial success. But the success was not long: within days, the communist party banned the book, removed it from bookstores, and revoked the literary prize the book had won. Why? Like everyone else, the party espied in the book a coded portrayal of its own ruthlessness and corruption.
This act of banishment launched two unexpected and unlooked-for careers: of Bocheński's books as underground best-sellers, published in underground printshops and passed from hand to hand; and of Bocheński himself as one of the leaders of the Polish Solidarity movement. Interned during the martial law (1981-83), Bocheński is today a decorated national hero.
For all the political interest in the series, his Roman Trilogy is first and foremost a great literary work, informed by a vast reading in the Latin classics, endowed with an inventive structure, and written in gorgeous prose.
It is in my opinion one of the most important literary works to come out of Eastern Europe since World War Two.
The publication of each volume of this trilogy was a great political event in its own right. Written over the period of 50 years, these books were intended as great historical novels pure and simple, but they were read by their contemporaries as an insightful commentary on current affairs--perhaps because they treat of a universal problem: they offer a profound insight into the individual entangled against his will in great politics of tyranny. Their reception made their author into a political figure, something he had never intended, either, and led him to become one of the leading Polish dissidents and coauthors of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
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Jacek Bocheński in Berlin in 1988, soon after his release from communist prison.
Like most young people who experienced World War II under German rather than Russian occupation, Bocheński experienced a moment of youthful enthusiasm for Marxism. But as he watched the practice of communism in Eastern Europe, he became disillusioned and decided to drop out of politics and into innocuous classicism. Little did he know that writing a commentary on Julius Ceasar's Memoirs of the Gallic War would offend his rulers. Yet, to the regime's eyes, Divine Julius showed all too clearly how a dictatorship corrupts and coopts the elites.
The banning of the first book, eventually led to other banning of his subsequent books, and eventually to a blanket ban of any text by Bocheński from any media--or as much as any mention of him at all.
Cornered, Bocheński helped to cofound an underground literary magazine, and, one thing leading to another, in time became one of the leading dissidents in Eastern Europe and--after the fall of Communism--one of the most widely respected and most decorated heroes of the struggle.
"Would you like to become a god? It has been done before, you know. There are techniques."
So starts Bocheński's Roman Trilogy, its first volume, Divine Julius, and his first step--totally innocent and unawares--into civil disobedience. Written in the terse, abbreviated style imitating Caesar's own, Divine Julius is a picaresque tale about a charming cynic overthrowing the Roman Republic. Though it pretends to be a how-to book for aspiring dictators, it is also a story of the gut-wrenching compromises made by the Roman elites who have made the overthrow possible--in exchange for offices, debt-forgiveness, economic opportunities, for friendship, out of personal loyalty, for the peace of mind.
While the political message has long been celebrated as the book's one claim to glory, its writing style is its great literary achievement. This is absolutely world class writing for the thinking man.
eBook $9.99
paperback $15.99
hardcover $23.99
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"Would you like to become a god? It has been done before, you know. There are techniques."
So starts Bocheński's Roman Trilogy, its first volume, Divine Julius, and his first step--totally innocent and unawares--into civil disobedience. Written in the terse, abbreviated style imitating Caesar's own, Divine Julius is a picaresque tale about a charming cynic overthrowing the Roman Republic. Though it pretends to be a how-to book for aspiring dictators, it is also a story of the gut-wrenching compromises made by the Roman elites who have made the overthrow possible--in exchange for offices, debt-forgiveness, economic opportunities, for friendship, out of personal loyalty, for the peace of mind.
While the political message has long been celebrated as the book's one claim to glory, its writing style is its great literary achievement. This is absolutely world class writing for the thinking man.
eBook $9.99
paperback $16.99
hardcover $24.99
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Thirty five years after the picaresque volume 1, Divine Julius (how to overthrow a republic in four easy steps), and the poetic volume 2, Naso the Poet (how, under tyranny, poetry can get you into trouble), came volume three, Tiberius Caesar: a horrifying tale of the second emperor of Rome: the man who normalized political terror. A moral, intellectual, emotional zero whose only skill in life was to seize power and to hang onto it. At any cost.
Tiberius Caesar is a vertigo-inducing look into the great echo chamber of fear, and an insight into the mediocrity who ruled, terrorized, and murdered all his betters because he could and because "they made him do it."
But the book is also a brilliant work of literature, with deeply moving passages of beautiful prose, many of which would stand as independent essays:
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how the police state hires its executioners
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what it is like to read--perhaps better said: to work through--Tacitus in his original Latin
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an evocative (and hilarious) description of a summer night on Capri in 1970
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an imaginary visit to a Roman bordello in AD 16
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a moving and stylistically astonishing scene of Cocceius Nerva reading Cicero's On the Laws
If you enjoy the rich prose of writers like Kazuo Ishiguro or Orhan Pamuk, the style of this book will astonish and delight you.
And if, in your pleasant and secure life in a Western, constitutional democracy you have grown complacent and bored with all the freedoms you take for granted--you should read this as a warning. Because you should be afraid. You should be very afraid. If you lose your republic, this is what you will have.
This is a very beautiful and a very important book. Pick up your copy today.​​​
eBook $9.99
paperback $17.99
hardcover $25.99
The Author
Jacek BocheÅ„ski (b. 1926) expelled from the communist party in 1966, became one of the founders and editor of the underground literary journal "Zapis." Interned by the communist government during Martial law. 1988-1990 member of the (advisory) Civic Committee to Lech WaÅ‚Ä™sa. In 1989, he became one of the founders of the Polish Writers' Association. In the years 1995-1997, he was vice-president, and then in the years 1997–1999, president of the Polish PEN Club.
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