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Ursula K. Le Guin

Lavinia Kindle Edition

by Ursula K. Le Guin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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3.8 on Goodreads

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"A transporting novel told in the voice of a girl Virgil left in the margins. It is an absorbing, reverent, magnificent story” from the iconic, award-winning Ursula K. Le Guin (Cleveland Plain Dealer).

In The Aeneid, Vergil’s hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills.

Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner—that she will be the cause of a bitter war—and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Vergil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life.

Print length

293 pages
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Language

English
Publisher

Harper Perennial
Publication date

April 21, 2008
Reading age

14 years and up
File size

2828 KB
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Popular Highlights in this book

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But then I think no, it has nothing to do with being dead, it’s not death that allows us to understand one another, but poetry.
Highlighted by 232 Kindle readers
Without war there are no heroes. What harm would that be? Oh, Lavinia, what a woman’s question that is.
Highlighted by 201 Kindle readers
Where man goes, trees die; or, to paraphrase Tacitus, we make a desert and call it progress.
Highlighted by 190 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR URSULA K. LE GUIN

"She never loses touch with her reverence for the immense what is."—Margaret Atwood

"Like all great writers of fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin creates imaginary worlds that restore us, hearts eased, to our own."—Boston Globe

'There is no writer with an imagination as forceful and delicate as Le Guin's."—Grace Paley

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In the Aeneid, the only notable lines Virgil devotes to Aeneas' second wife, Lavinia, concern an omen: the day before Aeneus lands in Latinum, Lavinia's hair is veiled by a ghost fire, presaging war. Le Guin's masterful novel gives a voice to Lavinia, the daughter of King Latinus and Queen Amata, who rule Latinum in the era before the founding of Rome. Amata lost her sons to a childhood sickness and has since become slightly mad. She is fixated on marrying Lavinia to Amata's nephew, Turnus, the king of neighboring Rutuli. It's a good match, and Turnus is handsome, but Lavinia is reluctant. Following the words of an oracle, King Latinus announces that Lavinia will marry Aeneas, a newly landed stranger from Troy; the news provokes Amata, the farmers of Latinum, and Turnus, who starts a civil war. Le Guin is famous for creating alternative worlds (as in Left Hand of Darkness), and she approaches Lavinia's world, from which Western civilization took its course, as unique and strange as any fantasy. It's a novel that deserves to be ranked with Robert Graves's I, Claudius. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Book Description

UNA OBRA MAESTRA DE LA MEJOR ESCRITORA DE FANTASÍA DE TODOS LOS TIEMPOS --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

Praise for LAVINIA"[A] work of immeasurable merit, LAVINIA ranks with Robert Graves' inestimable I, Claudius as a perfect tale of a vastly imperfect time. Brilliant."--Baltimore Sun"The inspired novelist has turned back toward the past…and written one of the finest novels she has ever made."--Chicago Tribune"[LAVINIA] is a poem in the form of a novel, an elegant echo chamber for a canonical work, a reading of an epic poem, and a rewriting of that poem..."--Los Angeles Times --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Ursula K. Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California, in 1929. Among her honors are a National Book Award, five Hugo and five Nebula Awards, the Kafka Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Portland, Oregon. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—This novel takes a minor character from Vergil's Aeneid and creates a thoughtful, moving tale of prophecy, myth, and self-fulfillment. Lavinia is the teen princess of Latium, a small but important kingdom in pre-Roman Italy. As she moves into womanhood, she feels pressure from her parents to choose one of her many suitors as both her husband and the future ruler of the kingdom. But the oracles of the sacred springs say she will marry an unknown foreigner. This stranger is none other than Vergil's Aeneus, proud hero, king without a country, and the man who will lay down the foundations of the Roman Empire. Their marriage sparks a war to control the region; while readers don't see the glorious battles, they do get the surprisingly moving perspective of the home front through Lavinia's eyes. Best known for her works of fantasy, Le Guin takes a more historical approach here by toning down the magical elements; gods and prophecies have a vital role in the protagonist's life, but they are presented as concepts and rituals, not as deities playing petty games with the lives of mortals. This shifts the focus of Vergil's plot from action to character, allowing Le Guin to breathe life into a character who never utters a word in the original story. Lavinia is quite compelling as she transforms from a spirited princess into a queen full of wisdom who makes a profound impact on her people. The author's language and style are complex, making this a title for sophisticated teens.—Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

PRAISE FOR URSULA K. LE GUIN

"She never loses touch with her reverence for the immense what is."—Margaret Atwood

"Like all great writers of fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin creates imaginary worlds that restore us, hearts eased, to our own."—Boston Globe

'There is no writer with an imagination as forceful and delicate as Le Guin's."—Grace Paley

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Booklist

Fantasist and SF writer Le Guin turns her attention and her considerable talent to fleshing out a secondary character mentioned briefly in Virgil’s masterpiece, The Aeneid. Though Aeneas risks inciting a civil war as he fights to win her hand in marriage, despite the fact that she is promised to another, more politically expedient suitor, Lavinia herself remains strangely mute and is given no scope in the epic poem. Here, as Le Guin reworks the story, Lavinia evolves into a true woman of destiny, eventually forging a strong partnership with the legendary founder of Rome. The compulsively readable Le Guin earns kudos for fashioning a winning combination of history and mythology featuring an unlikely heroine imaginatively plucked from literary obscurity. --Margaret Flanagan --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003IEJZTC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; First edition (April 21, 2008)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2008
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2828 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 293 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #100,693 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #53 in Ancient Historical Fiction
- #79 in Ancient History Fiction (Books)
- #141 in Historical Fantasy Fiction

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Ursula K. Le Guin

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Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (US /ˈɜːrsələ ˈkroʊbər ləˈɡwɪn/; born October 21, 1929) is an American author of novels, children's books, and short stories, mainly in the genres of fantasy and science fiction. She has also written poetry and essays. First published in the 1960s, her work has often depicted futuristic or imaginary alternative worlds in politics, the natural environment, gender, religion, sexuality and ethnography.

She influenced such Booker Prize winners and other writers as Salman Rushdie and David Mitchell – and notable science fiction and fantasy writers including Neil Gaiman and Iain Banks. She has won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award, each more than once. In 2014, she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Le Guin has resided in Portland, Oregon since 1959.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

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3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Amity

For a lover of Rome or a lover of Le Guin, 5 stars -- for the rest, perhaps 4

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 16, 2018

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When Ursula Le Guin died, I wanted to mark her passing by reading something unfamiliar. Lavinia caught my eye as one of her more recent novels, and the setting in Ancient Italy sounded perfect. Le Guin's choice to flesh out an undeveloped female character from the Aeneid drew me in, and unlike the otherwordly Earthsea, I could feel myself inside this character and her surroundings. The depth and texture is intoxicating. Ursula Le Guin's prose is both simple and enveloping, and the world seeps into you as you read. I felt the power in Lavinia's religious rituals, the comfort for her of connecting to what came before; I felt the labor of creating cloth, and smelled the meat of animals sacrificed to the gods. Piety was real and substantial for her, as real as the salt she gathers at the salt flats.

You meet Lavinia as a girl of 18, happy in her household, nurturer of the household gods of her father, King Latinus. She is loved by her father, and estranged from her mentally unwell mother, Amata. She is dutiful, but also independent and strong of will. Through Lavinia's eyes, you see the men and women in her life, the hearth gods and the household responsibilities. Her life is on the cusp of change, being married off to one of the many suitors eager for an alliance. Her merits are many, but her role in life is as her father's daughter. Her future will be chosen without her, she is simply fortunate that her father wishes her to be happy and understands she does not want any of the suitors at hand. All this changes when, at a sacred spot, she has a vision of the poet Vergil. He tells her she is his creation, an abstract idea that is befuddling to her but one she takes seriously. More concretely, he tells her that she is destined to marry a foreigner, Aeneas, unsettled since the fall of Troy. For Lavinia and Latinus, prophecy and omen have great power. Lavinia's future is upended, and conflict brews between the suitors from her own land, and the settlers who come from across the sea. Aeneas is destined to win but must succeed in a way that can unify the two peoples.

Reading Lavinia reminded me of Tehanu, the last book of the Earthsea series. That book picks up the life of Tenar some years after her "glamorous" life in earlier novels. She opted to wed a farmer and have two children, and live what seems like an utterly mundane life. At first I was dismayed by the ordinary nature of her life, and disappointed that a heroine chooses to be a farmer's wife. Ursula Le Guin's gift, however, reveals the power in the mundane, the strength that lies in people who seem from the outside, unremarkable. There is something magical in the creation of everyday life, the nurturing of all of us, the unfolding of the world we live and breathe in each moment. The sublime is expressed in the very simple.

BothTenar and Lavinia are more than they seem. Depth of spirit, strength of character -- these are expressed in a way that resonates with anyone who has toiled to provide for and care for others. The heroism of everyday life here is shaded from a female perspective, but a wise leader, male or female, is ultimately a caretaker. Women's work is not disparaged or sidelined, it is at the heart of the tapestry that is woven each day. It is an expression of life, of worship, of fighting against the entropy at the edge of the world. It is not fighting battles that makes you a hero, fighting for one's own glory -- heroism comes from the courage that goes with a fight, courage tempered by wisdom and insight and respect for life. Battle here is not glorified, it is a necessary evil. Battle means death, and the nursing of wounds and the burial of bodies. It is grief and loss. Aeneas is powerful and respected because his years have taught him what his role as caretaker of his people really means, and that all death is a loss. Heroism is not the ultimate goal for each of us, living a life of courage and compassion and looking beyond one's self -- that is what gives meaning. He has great respect for what seems ordinary on the outside. He has come to Latium world-weary and ready to put down roots. Lavinia is not a footnote, a simple pawn in an alliance, she is his partner, and a match for him. She represents Italy's best, and Le Guin works hard to show how she was shortchanged by a poet who realizes too late, that his creation is much more than he knew.

There were moments the book felt written for me -- a classics major with a deep love for Rome in the time of Augustus, and Roman religion in general. Would someone with less of an interest in history and classics be moved by it, does it resonate with me as a woman who has spent years caring for those around her? I don't know. Le Guin feels universal to me, immersive and warm. I was sorry when I finished the book and compelled to share my impressions so that others might have their curiosity piqued. The journey through the book was quiet but nuanced and deeply satisfying. For anyone who knows the story of Aeneas, there is a thrill in feeling Le Guin's imaginings of his last years, with a beloved wife who was in every way, his equal.

6 people found this helpful

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PS

I didn’t love Le Guin’s portrayal of Aeneas or the way Lavinia finds no fault with him ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 2, 2014

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I enjoyed this the first time I read it. I thought it was a bare bones, and yet still poetic, depiction of life outside of the epic. Lavinia isn’t a particularly epic character despite how important she is to Virgil’s “Aeneid.” He makes her the ancestral mother of Rome, essentially. In Le Guin’s novel, she is brought to life in ways only a novel can do. I appreciated Le Guin’s “Afterword,” in which she claims her story “is an act of gratitude to the poet, a love offering.” This helps the reader understand a lot of the choices she makes, which seem to defy the constraints of fiction, as well as dampen the narrative and action.

There’s much to be said about writers having their characters step out of the bounds of their fictional world, speaking directly to the reader in the present time and evoking a certain mystique about their very existence. It works when done well. I’m not sure that’s the case here. I think in many ways the effort of the writer to show gratitude to the poet of the original work overshadows the plot. It sidesteps the story and forces the narrative into a retelling of history, instead. I’m not even sure Le Guin is consistent in what she intends with Virgil speaking throughout. At one point he mentions Dante and the work of fiction into which he was slung long after his death. The meta-meta work here muddies the waters of fiction and truth and fiction, pulling the savvy reader from the world into with she had happily plunged.

I didn’t love Le Guin’s portrayal of Aeneas or the way Lavinia finds no fault with him. There’s no conflict at all. Lavinia is easily swayed into marrying him. She loves him before she even meets him. I understand this is a choice the writer has made, but it seems the more boring out of all of them. The novel only shines when conflict abounds, whether with Amata or Ascanius. Those moments push the narrative forward, but the rest of the time we dawdle in a history lesson. It seemed important to Le Guin to list and “tell” -- not show -- the reader all about the warring and strife in the region. This didn’t make for exciting reading. It was often boring.

But also the choice of having a woman who’s not engaged in the fighting to recount what she sees in the courtyard (wounded men, etc.) made all of it that much more distant for the reader. We weren’t a part of any of it, and neither was Lavinia. She also seemed completely unsympathetic to her own people, which one of her father’s men points out to her. At times she comes across as petulant and childish, despite being nineteen, and at other times she seems too old for her age. I suppose I felt that way about her because I didn’t really get much sense of her, or any of the characters for that matter. They had names but never really any personalities. I think that’s due to conflict and its either being absent or easily resolved. It never felt like there was any real danger. Perhaps it’s the span of time being addressed. It’s too big to cover in a single novel. For me, Lavinia’s story may have been better told had one or two significant moments been fleshed out instead.

7 people found this helpful

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Constant Reader

Smart, Engaging, Creative

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 5, 2021

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When Ursula LeGuin has written a book, that is usually enough reason to read it. In this case, it was the only reason why I bought this book on a Kindle daily deal. The book tells the story of a woman who is named in Virgil’s Aeneid. There are no details in the classic poem about her or her life except that she married Virgil’s hero Aeneas in alignment with a prophecy. Since I barely remember anything from the little that I was taught about the classics I was not particularly drawn to the subject of the story. No worries. There is a tiny bit of a slow start but as soon as the poet appears in her visions everything gets interesting. The story is rich in details of the life in ancient Italy and enhanced with snippets from Troy, Dido’s Carthage, and foreshadowing of the founding of Rome. There is nothing dull or academic in tone. The writing is talented, and the pages turn quickly. The prophecies, politics, personalities, religion, and “tribal” allegiances are seamlessly integrated into the story. The relationship between the poem and reality are blurred in a remarkably interesting way. I assure you that you will not be lost or confused even if you know nothing about the Aeneid. To me, it was easier to relate to Lavinia than it was to Madeline Miller’s Circe.

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Top reviews from other countries

Morgain

Superb visioning of an archaic spirituality, complex women and men

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 28, 2019

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Anyone who knows what it means to live in the Pagan world view (Western Paganism, shamanism, Zen, Buddhism etc) will delight in this mature exploration of it both good and bad. The personal relationships are at times truly poignant. I found no fault in the historical accuracy, as far as our knowledge goes. The creative interpretations of Homer and other legendary material is given with a sure touch.
It would be so easy to make the priestess queen and her kindred over idealised as Pagan devotees of mother earth, ancestral values. Many sentimental stories, novels do that. It is avoided here because it is made clear how the tenderness of a conserving, earth centred code is also rigid with hierarchy and elaborate, endless ceremonials. The class that performs them is not critiqued for its theft of produce (wealth) from the people, which is the only weakness of the book, but it is implicitly there if you already know that analysis.
Women and men are balanced in a thoughtful way, without silly stereotypes either conservative or debased feminist. This is grown up gender.
The language is exquisitely well crafted, betraying the writer's many, many edits to sweat out the poetic gift of flow we receive, and the emotional process that bridges that different world and ours.
If you love to lose yourself in another kind of society, an old one, with its own truths, set in a world we only half know (no, one tenth know) then join this dream and enjoy it.

6 people found this helpful

Misskin

Clever twist

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 15, 2019

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I loved this reworking (and reimagining) of the final books of Virgil's Aeneid, to give us, centre-stage, the fleeting Lavinia who is overshadowed in the original by the all-important men. Le Guin's prose is beautiful and sweeps the reader along, bringing the classical world to life with apparent ease. Particularly fascinating is the way Lavinia speaks to the poet who imagined her, turning to her creator for advice, help and understanding, which often don't come. But this reminds us, on a regular basis, that we are dealing with the fictionalisation of fiction, a modern myth that's been woven onto a classical one. The short time Lavinia and Aeneas have together before his death is treated with great poignancy and the ending is very moving. And at no stage did I feel unnecessarily beaten about the head by a feminist agenda, which is one of the dangers inherent in this current rush to rewrite the classics.

4 people found this helpful

Ash Pyne

A Welcome Non Epic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 16, 2020

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A great story that focuses close to the people rather than the epic. Ursula Le Guin is a fine writer.

4 people found this helpful

Sadie T

A pleasant meandering tale if somewhat confusing at times

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 26, 2019

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I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book and was in turn spirited away to ancient lands on one page and then bombarded by a multitude of names and places on the next that felt more like a history text book than a novel. But I like it all the same. A rich tapestry and refreshing female perspective on this intriguing time.

One person found this helpful

Shereader

I particularly enjoyed the involvement of 'the poet' which was dealt with ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 8, 2016

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This held my attention throughout, a comprehensive acknowledgment of the importance of Lavinia in story of Aeneas. I particularly enjoyed the involvement of 'the poet' which was dealt with in a novel and engaging way, it's not often a character speaks directly to its creator, to gain insight and guidance. The writing is brilliantly evocative of the time (it stands alone as a story and is not a history lesson) and a thoroughly good read.

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