Utente:PhiloWords/Idi di Marzo (romanzo di Th. Wilder)

Idi di Marzo
Titolo originale	The Ides of March
File:File:IdesOfMarch.JPG
Autore	Thornton Wilder
1ª ed. originale	1948
1ª ed. italiana	Oscar Mondadori 1951, trad. di Fernanda Pivano
Genere	Romanzo storico epistolare
Lingua originale	inglese

Idi di Marzo è un romanzo epistolare dello scrittore statunitense Thornton Wilder pubblicato nel 1948. Nelle parole dell'autore, è "un racconto fantastico su alcuni eventi e persone degli ultimi giorni della repubblica nella Roma antica [...] La ricostruzione storica non è fra gli scopi principali di questo lavoro". In ogni caso il romanzo tratta dei personaggi e degli eventi che hanno condotto all'assassinio di Giulio Cesare.

Nel 1948 durante l'annuale raduno della American Booksellers Association l'editore americano Bennett Cerf osservò che c'erano stati "solo tre romanzi pubblicati dall'inizio dell'anno che erano degni di essere letti... Piangi, Terra Amata, Idi di Marzo, e Il Nudo e il Morto. Wilder stesso scrisse una volta che il libro era "una specie di cruciverba" che "comincia a parlare solo alla seconda lettura". Edmund Fuller lo definì "un testo così ricco che richiede di essere esplorato, più che letto".

The novel is divided into four books, each of which starts earlier and ends later than the previous book. Catullus' poems and the closing section by Suetonius are the only documents of the book which are not imagined; however, many of the events are historical, such as Cleopatra's visit to Rome.

Though the novel describes events leading up to Caesar's assassination on 15 March 44 BC a number of earlier events are described as if they were contemporary. Thus, the violation of the Bona Dea mysteries by Publius Clodius Pulcher, Caesar's subsequent divorce of his second wife Pompeia, and the circulation of two poems by Catullus suggesting that Caesar and his engineer, Mamurra, were lovers (and Catallus's subsequent apology) are transposed from December 62 BC to December 45 BC. In addition, many of the characters depicted as living in the novel were actually dead by 44 BC, including M. Porcius Cato (in 46 BC), Catullus (in c. 54 BC), Julia (in 69 BC) and Clodius (in 52 BC).

Major characters in the novel

Note that names, relationships, and events are described as they occur in the novel, and are not necessarily historically accurate.

• Julius Caesar, ruler of Rome
• Lucius Mamilius Turrinus, a friend of Caesar's, now living in retirement; various characters write to him but he never replies.
• Clodia Pulcher, an extremely angry, intelligent and fascinating woman; the ridicule of Roman society, she lives a life of scandal.
• Publius Clodius Pulcher, her brigand brother; he plays only a minor role.
• Cicero, an orator, statesman, political theorist, lawyer and philosopher
• Julia Marcia, Caesar's aunt.
• Pompeia, Caesar's second wife.
• Cornelius Nepos, a biographer and historian.
• Catullus, a poet who was in love with Clodia. The poems of Catullus included in the novel are the actual poems, although some are offered in Wilder's own translation.
• Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and mistress of Caesar.
• Cytheris, an actress of common birth, greatly admired by Caesar; she 'remade' Marc Anthony and was his lover for 15 years.
• Marc Antony, initially the lover of Cytheris, he meets and falls in love with Cleopatra over the course of the novel.
• Marcus Porcius Cato, renowned Stoic of famous integrity, leader of opposition to Caesar's dictatorship
• Servilia, former mistress of Caesar, half-sister to Cato, mother of Brutus
• Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar's assassins, nephew of Cato
• Porcia, wife of Brutus, daughter to Cato
• Calpurnia, third wife of Caesar.
• Suetonius was a prominent Roman historian and biographer; his (historical) account of the assassination closes the novel.

External links

• The Ides of March Plot Summary and Critical Analysis; by The Thornton Wilder Society

[[Categoria:Romanzi ambientati nell'antica Roma]]