I, Claudius/2-Audio Cassettes [Audio Cassette]

Robert Graves (Author), Derek Jacobi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1986

2 cassettes, 2 hr playing time

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Newman Communications (July 1986)
• ISBN-10: 0886909945
• ISBN-13: 978-0886909949
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,831,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Books on Cassette > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Graves, Robert

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars DEREK JACOBI RETURNS AS "CLAUDIUS" TO BRING ANCIENT ROME TO LIFE!, September 12, 2005

By 

Anthony Scheinman (Forest Hills, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I, Claudius/2-Audio Cassettes (Audio Cassette)

There are certain people who, after creating a role on television based on a character in literature, make such an impression as that character that the mere mention of that character brings that actor or actress's name and face to mind ... and Sir Derek Jacobi's portrayal of Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus "this-that-and-the-other" in the BBC TV series I, CLAUDIUS based on the two novels I, CLAUDIUS and CLAUDIUS THE GOD by Robert Graves is in the forefront of such portrayals. In 1980, Dove Audio decided to bring the Graves novels to audiobook form, and the absolutely best idea they had for the narrator was to ask Sir Derek to recreate his role as "Claudius", which he does magnificently! Sir Derek has even remembered to include Claudius' stammer as he tells us Claudius' autobiography from his birth during the reign of Augustus Caesar up until the moment when he is elected (against his will) as the fourth Emperor of Rome. Sir Derek's wonderful voice and vocal inflections bring Claudius to life as he recounts all the details of the history of Rome behind the history ... all the things that the official historians either never knew, overlooked or deliberately buried! But Claudius, who managed to cleverly survive THREE reigns before he got stuck with the job, is deliberately writing for US, the people of future posterity, sees no need for secrecy and takes us the reader/listener step by step through the Roman military campaigns, the private lives of the Roman aristocracy, and the various plots and murders of those men (and women too!) trying to claw their way to the Imperial throne AND those who were already there trying to keep themselves there!

The only thing I have to complain about this audio version is that while it is extremely satisfying to listen to, it is an Abridged version, but in the slightly-more-than-two hours that the recording lasts you the listener will never be bored! You may miss the overtly sexual scenes and acts that the TV series showed, but Claudius never glosses over that part in his narrative, and Sir Derek's voice expertly conveys not only the professional historian that Claudius was (in the novels, anyway!) but also a great deal of Claudius' emotion, especially when he speaks of those near and dear to him whose lives end ... well, prematurely. Defintely a MUST for any audiobook collection!