Little Emperors [Paperback]

Alfred Duggan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 1974

Felix, treasurer of Britain, having served at the court of the Imperial court itself, struggles to maintain the same elaborate standards in provincial Britain. And, cut off from Rome by the barbarian invasion of Gaul, and needing every penny to pay the army, he soon finds it impossible. Preoccupied with status and finances, he barely notices that his wily father-in-law Gratianus, with the help of Felix's sadistic wife is engineering a coup - one which embroils Felix dangerously in politics. Forced to flee for his life, Felix finally understands that lax etiquette is the least of Britain's problems...

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alfred Duggan was born in Argentina in 1903. He was educated at Eton College and Oxford. He worked for the British Natural History Museum collecting specimens and travelled extensively pursuing his job for the museum. From 1938-1941, when he was discharged as medically unfit, he served in the London Irish Rifles and saw active service in Norway. His first book was published in 1950. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: New English Library Ltd; New edition edition (September 5, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0450019624
• ISBN-13: 978-0450019623
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best novel about the fall of Rome, March 27, 2007

By 

Jeffrey F. Bell (Honolulu, HI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Little Emperors (Phoenix Press) (Paperback)

Most novels about the Fall of Rome don't interest me, because their authors favor the Empire. I have always rooted for the barbarians, because in my view Rome was a deeply sick society after the "reforms" of Diocletian.

But one can always count on Alfred Duggan for an unusual take on familiar history. There are no barbarian hordes or savage battles in this book. Instead it tells the story of the Roman collapse in Britain from the viewpoint of a fictional senior civilian bureaucrat named C. Sempronius Felix, Praeses of Britannia Prima.

A Preases is a very busy man. In the morning, Felix and his staff fix all prices, ration all food, approve all marriages, punish anyone who attempts to change jobs or marry out of her class, and ruthlessly collect punishing taxes to support a huge incompetent army that never fights. In the afternoon, Felix acts as judge in politically fixed trials. On weekends he orders emigrants burned at the stake.

Felix's Rome is a rigid totalitarian nightmare where citizens have become slaves and slaves have become pieces of furniture. But like a typical Duggan character, Felix is oblivious to reality and thinks he is upholding "civilization" instead of wrecking it. After ten years in London, he hasn't even bothered to find out who the local secret police chief is. He is easily manipulated by his wife and father-in-law into supporting a series of usurpers who predictably turn into megalomaniacs. You want to kick Felix but you can't stop reading.

Evelyn Waugh wrote of Alfred Duggan that "he surveyed contemporary history with nothing but calm despair", and there are usually no detectable commentaries on current events in his writing. But I see this book as a warning to the British ruling class of 1950 who were rapidly heading toward Diocletianism (despite their classical educations). When his proto-Thatcherite wife suggests returning to a free-market economy, Felix responds with all the classic XXth-century arguments for government planning.