pothos.org

I have just finished Mr Manfredi's book of fiction on Alexander and I put in the catagory of some of the comic books I used to read as a kid.
I read because I was interested in the fact that it is supposed to be the basis for the upcoming movie by luzman.
I really do not read much fiction(actually this is my first) on historical people but I gave this book a crack,any input if the rest of the series is worth the time?
I was confused about Alexander of Mossilian and his preoccupation with Italy,I have read quite a bit about Alexander the Great and recall having never seen much he every mentions about that theater of operations.
If I am missing something may someone be kind enough
to point me inthe right direction,please.
thanks Mark

Generally, you have in your hands the beginning of a series of books that are unforgivably bad considering a person with letters after his name wrote them. The translation appears to be pretty poor as well - the guy has them chanting Alexandre! Alexandre!, when in reality it should be the ancient greek Alexandros! Alexandros! because it is a translation . I guess I ask too much. Vol 2 has some of the funniest sex scenes I've ever read and volume 3 which I am currently reading is even worse "and the intense musky fragrance that came from his groin.." Oh pleeezzz...the military science discussed as you might imagine, is not particularly good. Read everything with tongue planted firmly in cheek.All I can say is Mafredi must have known someone at the publishing house to get this one in print!Regards,Tre

Yes, the first book [the only one i managed to read] is awful. But this 'Alexandre' thing... i think it's the vocative of 'Alexandros' [nominative], no? And vocative is used to call out. If i'm not mistaken [forgot the little greek i used to know] this may be the reason for 'Alexandre' [by the way, this is the portuguese form for Alexander.]
susa

Hi Susa,You're very correct! You must understand more than "a few" Greek...
So, in vocative the correct is "Alexandre" (in modern AND in Ancient Greek).
But if they were chanting in nominative then the correct would be Alexandros.regards,
Yiannis

Yanis
I'm honored with yr comments about my greek.... really. :)About the nominative --- is it used to call out too? I thought it was only used to refer to someone, in this case, a person.Many regardssusa

Susa,
I meant every word! Some Greek gramar now:
nominative: o Alexandros
genitive: tou Alexandrou
dative: to Alexandro (not in use in modern Greek)
accusative: ton Alexandro
vocative: AlexandreIn order to call someone you use only vocative. If you're reffering to someone then only nominative. Maybe I wasn't clear in my previous posting. cheers,
Yiannis

Tre,This review should be the one they put in the book reviews section, as it sums it up so well.I must confess that I forced myself to go through all three volumes, until I got to within about 8 pages of the end of the third volume and really, honestly couldn't go any further. Not often that a book defeats me, particularly so close to the end.All the bestMarcus

MarcusAnd it seems *they* want to make a movie out of these books. The director will be that guy behind 'Moulin Rouge'. Gee, can you imagine Alex's death scene? If it's going to be a musical, like 'Moulin Rouge', god, I see Alex singing The Doors'"The End", or some such thing....That's sad....I won't come close to the theatre.... no way.susa

Hi Marcus!So now I'm happy that I didn't bought that book when I saw it in book store. I red few pages and didn't like it.Maciek

I didn't get to the death scene - mercifully. As it was I was so close to building myself a funeral pyre and hopping on it... a truly tortuous trilogy (good alliteration, eh?).I have to say that I enjoyed 'Moulin Rouge' and I love 'Strictly Ballroom'... but I sincerely hope that Luhrman has the ability to diversify his style!All the bestMarcus

You know what? A couple of years ago, when the book had been first launched, i read the first paragraph, i think, of the second book. Something like: Alexander sat at the top of something [a dune, i wonder?] and looked ahead of him.... It was hate at first sight. What a booooore!susa

Yeah, wonderful alliteration.....I knew that, though englishmen are not really gentlemen, they would at least produce nice alliterations. Alliterations run in yr veins, right?:)susa

Susa,If only Gwennie Paltrow would appreciate alliteration more, she might find an Englishman to go out with her.Having said that, maybe the reason she couldn't get a date was because no-one *wanted* to go out with her. But I assure you, *I* am a gentleman really...All the bestMarcus

I have just received the third volume freshly published "To The Ends Of The Earth" and, well, I do agree with you about the way it was written. I read Mary Renault's trilogy, Harold Lamb's Alexander of Macedon, two which were written in a scholarly way, though fiction. However, they are for the most part historically correct except Lanice (Kleitos the Black's sister) was Alexander's wet nurse, not a fictitious character named Apollonia or Appolodora (I don't have the book in front of me at the moment). Also Hephaistion is more or less acting as an "exec" commander/gofer than anything else. This fictitious "Leptine" is rather an unnecessary pesky little girl with a "pothos" (unrequired however) for Alex throughout. I don't know what happens to her yet but am reading on. There is a lot of verbiage used that Alexander may not be actually using. I am curious: when anyone is addressing Alexander in an exalted manner, they speak French and call him in italics Alexandre. Hmmm. But this Manfredi isn't too bad, and remember it was translated into English by a sensational type author. Who knows what it would be like translated by someone else...Strength and Honour.