It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:24 pm



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: The Fall of Rome
PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 2:53 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:16 pm
Posts: 1
Has anyone read Lafferty's "The Fall of Rome"? It is not listed in his nonfiction works on the webpage. It is a masterpiece; his imaginative account of Alaric the Goth's successful invasion and defeat of Rome in--I think--410 A.D. I say imaginative, but he obviously had done massive amounts of research, and the imagination involved is backed by very convincing evidence.

It's a hard book to find. But it's worth seeking out. I think it was one of the best things he ever wrote (and that's saying a lot!)


Top
 
Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: The Fall of Rome
PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:59 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2003 12:57 am
Posts: 106
Location: Bochum
This work has another name Alaric under which it is (not very elaborately commented) filed on the Novels page. In my opinion it's not really a non-fiction work, but something of a mockumentary or fictionalized history or some combination of those words roots :)

I have to admit I only read it once. I should give it another try.


Top
 
Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: The Fall of Rome
PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:37 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2003 12:40 am
Posts: 20
Location: The Netherlands
I finally got this book this year (fair quality second hand copy for about 40 dollars on Amazon.com) and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a bit like Okla Hannali, in that it is a fictional account interwoven with real historic events. This can make it a bit complicated to untangle whether what your reading is mere fantasy or has some basis in fact. But then Lafferty has always been good at that kind of thing. Nothing is ever what it seems.

_________________
NIL ANXIETAS
http://www.haroldbakker.com/


Top
 
Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: The Fall of Rome
PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 7:24 pm 
Offline

Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:29 pm
Posts: 45
A question about The Fall of Rome: How much is fiction?

Some of it is obvious myth-making, for example the part where the Gulf of Corinth froze at Alaric's command and his army was able to run across and escape Stilicho's army.

Some of the battles are exactly where and when Wikipedia says, but with different different casualty counts and a different report on their importance.

The only bit of obvious fiction I can find it it is the brief paragraph describing how Atrox Fabulinius interrupts his story to relate the history of the world up to that point. Given his comment about the history being Fabulinian in nature - or a fable, perhaps we could translate the name Atrox Fabulinius as "Atrocious Lie" or at least "Atrocious Fable"

He didn't footnote or list his sources, but I suspect that most of this is real, accurate history, with perhaps a unique Laffertian interpretation on the facts he had read.

Either way, it is a very engaging read, and it makes the reader consider how civilized the Goths must have been prior to sacking Rome.


Top
 
Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: The Fall of Rome
PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 6:12 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:33 am
Posts: 3
Here is a copy of a letter by Lafferty in which he discusses the sources for "Fall of Rome" at length.


Attachments:
10517384_836356963048718_7977116586227784098_o.jpg
10517384_836356963048718_7977116586227784098_o.jpg [ 233.82 KiB | Viewed 66013 times ]
10493044_836356796382068_2375884375941156929_o.jpg
10493044_836356796382068_2375884375941156929_o.jpg [ 199.36 KiB | Viewed 66013 times ]
Top
 
Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: The Fall of Rome
PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:44 pm 
Offline

Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:32 pm
Posts: 1
Interesting letter, where did you dig that up?

I'm also intrigued by his mention of the 'full' FoR being published - does anyone know what's with that? Are most editions the full version or do we only have the partial version?


Top
 
Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: The Fall of Rome
PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:40 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:33 am
Posts: 3
It's a scan from a photocopy I made from an original letter I bought on eBay years ago. (I've been collecting Lafferty since around 1981.) Beyond the title, I don't know if there's any difference between the UM and Doubleday versions.


Top
 
Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Theme designed by stylerbb.net & programy © 2008
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
All times are UTC + 1 hour