Spartacus (Polyg9on Lewis Grassic Gibbon) [Paperback]

Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Author), Ian Campbell (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Polyg9on Lewis Grassic Gibbon | Publication Date: September 30, 2005

The uprising of the slaves against the Romans in 73 BC, led by the gladiator Spartacus, has been an inspiration to generations of people who have stood up against oppression. By the time he was captured by Marcus Licinius Crassus in 71 BC and executed by crucifixion, his army of around 90 000 slaves and dispossessed had defeated several Roman armies and devastated much of the southern part of the Italian peninsula. For Karl Marx, Spartacus was 'the most splendid fellow that all ancient history has to show; great general, noble character, real representative of the ancient proletariat'. For Grassic Gibbon, a lifelong Marxist International and successful historian of early civilisations, Spartacus allowed him to focus on his fiercely held beliefs in the nature of society, the freedom of the individual, and the inevitable collapse of 'civilisation'.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lewis Grassic Gibbon (the pen name of James Leslie Mitchell) was one of the finest writers of the twentieth century. He was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, essays, and science fiction and his writing reflecs his wide interest in religion, archaeology, history, politics and science. The Mearns trilogy, A Scots Quair, is his most renowned work, and has become a landmark in Scottish literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Polygon (September 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904598560
• ISBN-13: 978-1904598565
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #437,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immensely rich, January 23, 2002

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spartacus (Paperback)

Lewis Grassic Gibbon (or James Leslie Mitchell) has written a novel of Spartacus that is as refreshing as it is clearly one of the forerunners of historical fiction. Opening through the eyes of the eunuch Kleon and his mission to find the heroic leader of the Slaves the novel centers more around Spartacus 'inner circle' and his relationship with Elpinice. Book I is told through Kleon and deals with the period up to the defeat after the Battle of the Lake. Books II and III with Spatracus' victories until we move towards the well-known and inexorable end on the Appian way at the hands of Marcus Licinius Crassus at the end of Book VI. The novel ends as it begins, with Kleon, and his crucifixion
The novel is well written, well-paced and pauses sufficiently to voice greater philospohical views than historical novels of the current generation. It is easy to see why this has been heralded as one of the great novels of its genre.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A flawed novel of striking narrative style, May 3, 2008

By 

Anson Cassel Mills (Lake Santeetlah, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spartacus (Polyg9on Lewis Grassic Gibbon) (Paperback)

The strength of this novel is its strong prose style, a style that Ian Campbell has correctly described as "flexible and arresting." (xxvi) The novel's weakness is its limited characterization. For all its fine evocative passages, the characters are flat and fail to develop. Perhaps we can excuse former slaves for being emotionally stunted, but the reader may soon cease to care whether such people live or die.

And die they all do. This is a novel littered with corpses. Even though Mitchell, writing in the 1930s, could not have anticipated the sort of blood lust in which twenty-first-century Hollywood wallows, his numerous unpleasant deaths, coolly observed, are still multiple deaths from which the humanity has been drained.

Finally, mention should be made of what Campbell calls Mitchell's "occasionally injudicious reliance on one effect." (xxix) Some characters have a leitmotif that follows them insistently (and sometimes irritatingly) through the story. The author also has a fascination with Latin, Greek, and obscure English words. Although the reader can usually deduce what the unknown word must mean, occasionally Mitchell goes overboard, as when he writes that "beyond the horreum itself, through a fence of osiers, the steadings of a farm loomed." (56)

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, October 21, 2007

By 

Michael Harmon "Michael Harmon" (NYC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spartacus: a novel (Paperback)

This novel is an amazing masterpiece of prose. I cannot praise this book enough! The opening scene is one of the most memorable and epic works of writing I have ever read.