I, Claudius

This article is about the novel. For other uses, see I, Claudius (disambiguation).

I, Claudius
First edition cover
Author(s)	Robert Graves
Cover artist	John Aldridge
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Historical novel
Publisher	Arthur Barker
Publication date	1934
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	468 pp (paperback ed.)
ISBN	ISBN 0-679-72477-X
OCLC Number	19811474
Dewey Decimal	823/.912 20
LC Classification	PR6013.R35 I2 1989
Followed by	Claudius the God

I, Claudius (1934) is a novel by English writer Robert Graves, written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Accordingly, it includes history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula's assassination in 41 AD.

The 'autobiography' of Claudius continues (from Claudius's accession after Caligula's death, to his own death in 54) in Claudius the God (1935). The sequel also includes a section written as a biography of Herod Agrippa, contemporary of Claudius and future King of the Jews. The two books were adapted by the BBC into an award-winning television serial, I, Claudius.

In 1998 the Modern Library ranked I, Claudius fourteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to present.

The novels

Content

Claudius was the fourth Emperor of Rome (r. 41-54 AD). Historically, Claudius' family kept him out of public life until his sudden coronation at the age of forty nine. This was due to his being perceived as being a dolt due to his stammering, limp and other nervous tics. This made others see him as mentally deficient and also therefore not a threat to his ambitious relatives. This is how he was defined by scholars for most of history, and Graves uses these peculiarities to develop a sympathetic character whose survival in a murderous dynasty depends upon his family's incorrect assumption that he is a harmless idiot.

Graves's interpretation of the story owes much to the histories of Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, Plutarch, and (especially) Suetonius (Lives of the Twelve Caesars). Graves translated Suetonius before writing the novels. Graves claimed that after he read Suetonius, Claudius came to him in a dream one night and demanded that his real story be told. The life of Claudius provided Graves with a way to write about the first four Emperors of Rome (Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius) from an intimate point of view.

In addition, the real Claudius was a trained historian and is known to have written an autobiography (now lost) in eight books that covered the same time period. I, Claudius is a first-person narrative of Roman history from the reigns of Augustus to Caligula; Claudius the God is written as a later addition documenting Claudius' own reign.

Graves provides a theme for the story by having the fictionalized Claudius describe a visit to Cumae, where he receives a prophecy in verse from the Sibyl, and an additional prophecy contained in a book of "Sibylline Curiosities". The latter concerns the fates of the "hairy ones" (i.e. The Caesars - from the Latin word "caesar", meaning "a fine head of hair") who are to rule Rome. The penultimate verse concerns his own reign, and Claudius assumes that he can tell the identity of the last emperor described. From the outset, then, Graves establishes a fatalistic tone that plays out at the end of Claudius the God, as Nero prepares to succeed Claudius.

At Cumae, the Sibyl tells Claudius that he will "speak clear." Claudius believes this means that his secret memoirs will be one day found, and that he, having therein written the truth, will speak clearly, while his contemporaries, who had to distort their histories in order to appease the ruling family, will seem like stammerers. Since he wishes to record his life for posterity, Claudius chooses to write in Greek, since he believes that it will remain "the chief literary language of the world." This allows Graves to explore the etymology of Latin words (like the origins of the names "Livia" and "Caesar") that would otherwise be obvious to native Latin speakers, who Claudius (correctly) believes will not exist in the future.

The novels also focus upon the nature of freedom and security inherent in a republic and a monarchy. As Livia sees it the Republican freedom leads to civil war and Rome must be a monarchy for its own good. While Claudius believes in a Republic he is convinced to remain Emperor, and leads a benevolent reign which he views as worse than being a cruel monarch as it made monarchy acceptable to the Roman people.

Literary significance and criticism

The I, Claudius novels, as they are called collectively, became massively popular when first published in 1934 and gained literary recognition with the award of the 1934 James Tait Black Prize for fiction. They are probably Graves's best known work aside from his myth essay The White Goddess, his English translation of The Golden Ass and his own autobiography Goodbye to All That. Despite their critical and monetary success, Graves later professed a dislike for the books and their popularity^{[citation needed]}. He claimed that they were written only from financial need on a strict deadline. Nonetheless, they are today regarded as pioneering masterpieces of historical fiction.

Adaptations

Film and television

In 1937, abortive attempts were made to adapt the first book into a film by the film director Josef von Sternberg. The producer was Alexander Korda, who was then married to Merle Oberon, who was cast as Claudius' wife Messalina. Emlyn Williams was cast as Caligula, Charles Laughton was cast as Claudius, and Flora Robson was cast as Livia. Filming was abandoned after Oberon was injured in a serious motor car accident.

In 1976, BBC Television adapted the book and its sequel into the popular TV serial, also entitled I, Claudius. The production won four BAFTAs in 1977 and three Emmys in 1978.

In 2008, it was reported that Relativity Media had obtained the rights to produce a new film adaptation of I, Claudius. Jim Sheridan was named as director.

In 2011, rights then passed to HBO and BBC2 to film a miniseries adaptation. Jane Tranter and Anne Thomopoulos, who previously worked on HBO/BBC2's miniseries Rome have been named as producers.

Radio

Main article: I, Claudius (radio adaptation)

In November and December 2010, as part of the Classic Serial strand, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a series of six hour-long episodes of a dramatization of both novels, adapted by Robin Brooks and directed by Jonquil Panting. Performers were Derek Jacobi, Tom Goodman Hill and full cast. It won the 2012 Audie Award in the "Audio Dramatization" category.

Theatre

The novel has also been adapted for theatre. The 1972 production I, Claudius was written by John Mortimer and starred David Warner.

Audio

Several audio recordings of the novel have been produced.

Derek Jacobi performed two separate readings of the novel, both as abridged versions, one for Dove Audio (1986) and one for CSA Word (2007).

Nelson Runger performed unabridged readings of both I, Claudius and Claudius the God for Recorded Books, copyright 1987.

In 1988, Jonathan Oliver performed an unabridged reading for ISIS Audio Books.

Frederick Davidson performed an unabridged reading for Blackstone Audiobooks in 2008.

Later references

A. E. van Vogt wrote a novel, Empire of the Atom, which is a wholesale translation of Graves's novel into science fiction.

In the last page of The Areas of My Expertise, John Hodgman includes a table comparing his "future works" with I, Claudius.

The self-referential title has influenced the names of other works of fiction and autobiographies:

• I, Borg, Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
• I, Claud..., autobiography of Claud Cockburn
• I, Claudia, Canadian independent film
• I, Claudia, the first of a series of novels by Marilyn Todd, featuring her heroine Claudia Seferius
• I & Claudius: Travels with My Cat, accounts of travel by Clare de Vries and her Burmese cat Claudius
• I, Clownius, an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• I, Cthulhu, a short story by Neil Gaiman
• I, Davros, four audiodrama plays about Davros, the creater of the Daleks from Doctor Who
• I, Gatto, autobiography of Australian boxer and gangland personality Mick Gatto
• I, Jedi, Star Wars Expanded Universe novel by Michael Stackpole
• I, Libertine, 1956 novel by Theodore Sturgeon
• I, Lovett BBC2 sitcom from 1989, starring Norman Lovett
• I, Lucifer (Glen Duncan), a novel by Glen Duncan
• I, Mengsk, novel in the world of StarCraft, about the three generations of the Mengsk family
• "I, Mudd", Star Trek episode featuring a conman Harry Mudd
• I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan, the 2011 'autobiography' of fictional English TV and radio presenter Alan Partridge
• I, Phoolan Devi, autobigraphy of Indian female bandit Phoolan Devi
• I, Robot, 1939 Adam Link story by Eando Binder (unrelated to the Isaac Asimov story collection)
• I, Robot, 1950 science fiction story collection by Isaac Asimov, subsequently turned into a film
• I, Rowboat, contribution to The Onion, by a row boat
• I, Strahd, a horror-fantasy novel by P. N. Elrod set in Ravenloft
• I, Tintin, documentary film about the author of the fictional adventurer
• Io, Caligola, Italian title of the re-cut infamous motion picture Caligula when re-released in Italy in 1984 (the translated title is "I, Caligula")
• Me, Claudius, a play presented by Sesame Street's Cookie Monster on Monsterpiece Theatre (Cookie Monster frequently confuses personal pronouns)

See also

• Count Belisarius
• Tacitean studies

External links

• GradeSaver study guide on I, Claudius with summary and analysis
• I, Claudius Project (concentrates on the BBC production)
• Encyclopedia of Television
• British Film Institute Screen Online (TV series)
• I, Claudius at BBC Programmes
• I, Claudius at the Internet Movie Database
• Web oficial de 'La Casa de Robert Graves' en Deià, Mallorca. De la Fundación Robert Graves.
• BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial: I, Claudius - Episode One