In the Shadow of Vesuvius
A Life of Pliny
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In the Shadow of Vesuvius
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Narrated by:
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Mike Grady
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By:
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Daisy Dunn
About this listen
‘Never less than compelling … She consistently succeeds in bringing what might otherwise seem dusty and remote to vivid life’ Tom Holland, Literary Review
‘Starts with an erupting volcano – and then gets more exciting … Wonderfully rich, witty, insightful and wide-ranging’ Sarah Bakewell
In a dazzling new literary biography, Daisy Dunn introduces Pliny the Younger, the survivor who became a Roman lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and representative of the Emperor. He was confidant and friend to the great and good, an unparalleled chronicler of the Vesuvius catastrophe, and eyewitness to the terror of Emperor Domitian.
The younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle, admiral of the fleet and author of the Natural History, an extraordinary compendium of knowledge and the world’s first full-length encyclopaedia. The younger Pliny inherited his uncle’s notebooks and carried their pearls of wisdom with him down the years.
Daisy Dunn breathes vivid life back into the Plinys. Reading from the Natural History and the Younger Pliny’s Letters, she resurrects the relationship between the two men to expose their beliefs on life, death and the natural world in the first century. Interweaving their work, and positioning the Plinys in relation to the devastating eruption, Dunn’s biography is a celebration of two outstanding minds of the Roman Empire, and their lasting influence on the world thereafter.
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What listeners say about In the Shadow of Vesuvius
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- L. Alexander
- 22-08-21
Wonderful insight and reading
Only came here for Mike Grady’s incredible narration! What a wonderful voice, so calming, engaging and manages to do what very little English folk can do - pronounce all foreign words with grace and confidence.
A wonderful insight into the life of Pliny and the Roman Empire, it’s fanciful and floating somehow, but really gives you a taste of the wide and wonderful world at the time. Feel buoyant and uplifted following the listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brian Keaney
- 15-06-19
Entertaining and Informative
Daisy Dunn's account of the life of Pliny the Younger is arranged thematically rather than chronologically, allowing her scope to explore the concentric circles that made up his world. We see Pliny the lawyer, Pliny the landlord, Pliny the emperor's fixer, Pliny the husband, Pliny the nephew, and Pliny the philanthropist.
The picture that emerges is of a man who sometimes lacked confidence but was always determined to achieve. Bullied by the sadistic emperor Domitian, infuriated by his ruthless legal colleague, Regulus, overshadowed by his friend Tacitus, devoted to his wife Calpurnia, Pliny does not always appear in as admirable a light as he would wish but he is always sympathetic.
I particularly enjoyed the sense that we get of Pliny the Elder always there in the background. The author of the first real encyclopaedia and a man who believed in never wasting a moment that could be spent working, Pliny the Elder was a hard act to follow; and perhaps his nephew never quite lived up to the status of the great man. What Daisy Dunn has managed to achieve, however, is to convey his humanity and, in doing so, she effortlessly bridges the gap between our modern age and antiquity.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paul
- 29-01-21
Wonderful
Extremely engaging beautifully composed and well read. Would highly recommend to those interested in classical history and literature
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Steph W
- 11-08-22
Soporific voice means I need to listen again
The narrator's voice washed over me a bit meaning I missed bits. but having just listened to 'how to survive the Roman empire by Pliny and Me' I enjoyed listening to the details behind the radio show.
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