The poet Robert Graves amazingly earned a living from writing, yet never turned toward a style of "commercial" composition. Graves could tell stories of his life with the same majesty he attached to the Greek myths. He once told an interviewer in 1965, when writing poetry "it was just a few words on the page first. As suddenly as it started - he was done." Even his worst infraction as a soldier in WWI could be cleverly rendered when told from his tongue. Sent to Limerick in Ireland, Graves awoke "with a sudden chill and began to run." Some could see desertion and dereliction of duty to Graves as the first signs of Spanish influenza which he decided he should "have in an English hospital, not an Irish one."
Helped out on three occasions by lifelong friend T.E. Lawrence, his autobiography, 1929's "Goodbye To All That" ended several relationships. In order to pay the bills and nurse his growing success, Graves created Modern Historical Fiction in 1934 with "I, Claudius." There were others before (Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy) who constructed stories around the events of history. However, "I, Claudius" dared to use actual history at its skeleton, allowing Graves and his gift of prose to bring its progenitors back to life. (Graves later said regarding the work "It's readable all right, but it's not history.")
However, Graves may characterize his work later (he was also well-known for revising most of his works right down to his poems.) "I, Claudius" immediately establishes a fascinating framework that almost excuses the author from any historical improprieties. Written as an autobiography by Emperor Claudius about his life, Graves makes certain that the first facts we learn about Claudius are that he never appreciated his own writing and parsed it away to a ghostwriter. Graves continues this separation by providing that even Claudius today can revel in his earlier work but is always puzzled whether it came from his own hand or his liege Polybius.
Furthermore, Graves uses young Claudius' visit to the prophetess Cumaean Sibyl to establish the backbone of the story introducing the lineage of Claudius via a sinister-sounding Punic curse. As Graves rolls along, he dots the history of Claudius with all of those around him in a manner that gives character perspectives on relatives he may have never known. Like a family history from Southern Literature, the small unit incurs some huge complications (many of which must be negotiated behind closed doors.) Nonetheless, as Claudius unfurls the self-declared "golden entanglement," Graves' storytelling is dizzying with several masterful stops for small almost poetic axioms ("Augustus ruled the world, but Livia ruled Augustus") and even borrows from newer saying ("Waste not, want not.") that is before damming his current work to never being published at all because of the influence of his wife Agrippanella preventing it.
The history of Claudius' family is rich, varied, and dangerously intertwined. Livia (the inspiration for the diabolical mother of Tony Soprano) is seen as "one of the three most beautiful women in the world." However, in these days of political marriages and a patriarchal republic, divorce was as easy as "return the dowry, keep the children." So the lines of genetic linkage are as close together as the gene pool from which the modern royals are derived. Whether it happened this way, or it is a Graves creation, the cunning Livia recovers from her divorce by marrying the son Augustus. Seen as both political prowess and a major possession, Livia summons her power to demand that Augustus give up his wife Scribonia. This dastardly deed is done in a most Faulknerian manner as he chooses to do so on the day of the birth of their daughter Julia.
While all of the skullduggery and manipulation is as mouthwatering as a soap opera, Graves (as Claudius the narrator) constantly assures you of their purpose. As the tales unfold, Claudius normally works from the shocking conclusion to the small move or glance that set these events into motion. Occasionally, Claudius will even speak of love (such as Augustus' supposedly never looking at another woman again after his marriage to Livia) before even that flight of the heart exposes an untold truth (Livia would see which women caught Augustus' eye and then arrange for them to appear in secret at Augustus' chamber.)
One large takeaway here is that most of the drama (save Caligula and Nero) is not new, nor it is written as time-tested as a bodice-ripping-cover Romance or pulpy exploitation. Graves instills the material with a love of this forgotten civilization. As they argue with each other, there is a constant sense of modern problems. A generation gap is opening. The children disrespect their parents (perhaps for good reason.) Wars are to be fought elsewhere but only reported to the home. Perspectives change regularly here. One thinks Graves wanted them to because in dealing with so much intra-family conflict, the constant growing implication that one member "hates" another always sends someone into the unknowing "outsider" orbit.
Now the hard part. Graves' book is not an easy read. Like Tolstoy, one really needs to map out the family tree and see where the roots are crossed. Claudius, for all his detail, and Graves for all his devotion stack the stories on top of each other. So, it is no wonder that the 1976 BBC miniseries remains one of the most beloved TV programs ever. Over its twelve riveting episodes (also covering the sequel 1935's "Claudius The God,") the primary story unwinds around its secondary and tertiary plots (a harbinger of the extended series we enjoy today.) However, as good as Derek Jacobi is in the role of Claudius, his narration in the book offers worlds of detail and character shading that the theatre-like staging loses.
We may never fully know what parts are true and what parts are manufactured of this work (one of Time's Top 100 Books of 20th Century.) However, as you read and sift through the internecine tales of deceit and drama, it explains exactly why we need so much actual history in our fiction and how the structure of storytelling makes it applicable even 2,000 years later.
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Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
New music this week
THOMAS JACKSON - Cosmic Acoustic Country Blues [EP](self-released/streaming now) • Thomas Jackson is growing into the city's own erstwhile storyteller. If you have had the unique pleasure of seeing him play at the many venues that host our acoustic singer/songwriters, you get the feeling that his songs were written about right where you and yours are seated. Experience is a great teacher and Jackson's old-time Blues finger-picking and slide tangle well on this simple guitar/voice recording. Back in the Twenties (of the 20th Century,) this music ("Dinner Music Blues") was meant to be concise and immediately transferable. So with the aged Blues gods in the rasp of his voice and his fleet fingers, tracks like "Dinner Music Blues" and "Songwriter Blues" are written with that instant connection in mind. Stream this one and don't be surprised if you turn your back for a moment and think Jackson is right there in your kitchen urging everyone else to come on in.
SPRINTS - Letter To Self! [LP/CD](City Slang/Redeye) • With the familiar grit of Brody Dalle of Distillers and a similar Punk-to-Rock attitude, Dublin's Sprints step ahead of the city's trend of manly/speak-sing bands with a visceral debut. "Adore Adore Adore" firmly plants the band in the Nineties Alt.Rock sound. The Hole-ish drumming and grinding chords are meant to arouse the same release of tension all those female-led bands did thirty years ago. "Up and Comer" is somehow even more vicious in its riffage, but the sweetly sardonic vocals help push it along (much like one of 2023's great Irish finds M(h)AOL.) To put it succinctly, they are good for up-and-comers.
REISSUES THIS WEEK
THE DOORS - Alive, She Cried [CLEAR LP](Elektra/ Rhino) • YES - Yes [COLOR LP](Atlantic/Rhino) • An Eighties Rolling Stone cover featured the famous Jim Morrison in a messianic pose embossed with the words, "He's Hot. He's Sexy. He's Dead." Thanks to limping AOR radio bringing Sixties classics to another generation (and a film of performances in rotation on USA's weekend feast "Night Flight,') radio filler became a best seller again. The Doors had a live album at the time (1970's "Absolutely Live",) but let's face it - it was a mess. So longtime producer Paul A. Rothschild was charged with finding just the right combination of 1968-1970 live cuts to make The Doors palatable again. While it’s not necessarily ideal for the longtime Doors fan (there is a suitcase full of Bright Midnight recordings that will keep you happy for at least a month,) "Alive, She Cried" worked wonders with the MTV generation. A blistering "Love Me Two Times" made Heavy Rotation on MTV again in late 1983, and their cover of Them's "Gloria" even charted as a single.
Another Classic Rock band that benefited from MTV was Britain's Prog Rock band Yes. While "Owner of A Lonely Heart" may been heard in tandem with The Doors in 1983, their self-titled debut is the album to understand their continuously evolving sense of direction. Yes did play covers, but they were more like Jazz interpretations. Their 1969 eponymous album sees them playing The Byrds (*I See You") and The Beatles ("Every Little Thing") while figuring themselves out. Early guitarist Peter Banks has some fascinating parts and original keyboardist Tony Kaye contributes that the Hammond B-3 organ sound belongs in their music ("Sweetness,") However, the harmonies and arrangements remain the true attractor after all these years.
PARAMORE - Paramore 10th Anniversary [CLEAR LP](Atlantic/Warner) • To quote Dennis Miller, now I don't want to get off on a rant here. Too many albums are having too many anniversaries. It's becoming like too many workers with too many birthdays in the office. The overwhelming influx of cake is wearing all of us down. Credit to Paramore for having this album as the one where it all comes together. However, ten years removed, while welcome "Paramore" only serves as a reminder that the band (and Williams' writing) has dramatically improved. If anything, this is a "you had to be there" moment that was just put back into print two years ago. Paramore fans (especially the newly-minted ones coming from "Taylor's Version") celebrate - but be warned, not everything is meant to have an anniversary.
