Julius Caesar's Self-Created Image and Its Dramatic Afterlife [Hardcover]

The book explores the extent to which aspects of Julius Caesar's self-representation in his commentaries, constituent themes and characterization have been appropriated or contested across the English dramatic canon from the late 1500s until the end of the 19th century.

Caesar, in his own words, constructs his image as a supreme commander characterised by exceptional celerity and mercifulness; he is also defined by the heightened sense of self-dramatization achieved by the self-referential use of the third person and emerges as a quasi-divine hero inhabiting a literary-historical reality. Channelled through Lucan's epicBellum Civileand ancient historiography, these Caesarean qualities reach drama and take the shape of ambivalent hubris, political role-playing, self-institutionalization, and an exceptional relationship with temporality.

Focusing on major dramatic texts with rich performance history, such as Shakespeare'sJulius Caesar, Handel's operaGiulio Cesare in Egittoand Bernard Shaw'sCaesar and Cleopatrabut also a number of lesser known early modern plays, the book encompasses different levels of drama's active engagement with the process of reception of Caesar's iconic and controversial personality.

Miryana Dimitrovais an independent researcher with a PhD in the reception of classical literature from King's College, London, UK.The strengths of this book lie especially in the authors impressive familiarity with her large number of texts, both from antiquity and later periods, and in her close readings & Dimitrova is a skilled reader who presents an impressive insight into both the scholarly literature on the subjects treated as well as a high degree of familiarity with both her ancient sources and the nine dramas. -Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Caesar is Dead. Long Live Caesar!
1. 'I am he': Aspects of Caesar's Self-Representation in the Commentaries
2. EfficilãÂ