#ThrowbackThursday
It’s a throwback to ancient Greece in this classical retelling of Alexander the Great’s life written by Mary Renault in 1972 and republished in 1988.
Andy says: The Persian Boy is the second book in the historical fiction trilogy by Mary Renault that uses the facts (and legends) that surround the brief life and astounding career of Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE). Renault approaches the story of Alexander’s conquering the known world from the perspective of Bagoas, a boy castrated and sold into slavery to Darius, the Persian King. Alexander defeats Darius, and Bagoas becomes Alexander’s lover.
Renault tells the story in a way that is (even for today) extremely sensitive to the idea of a sexual continuum. Alexander’s most important relationship is with his comrade, general, and lover Hephaestion, although he also had several wives. And in the novel, Bagoas becomes closer than anyone else.
Bagoas tells his story—and it doesn’t stint on the cruelty of his maiming, and the physical and psychological aftereffects of his trauma. But he’s also shown as achieving a kind of happiness with Alexander, who is kind and generous as a lover.
The first book “Fire From Heaven” is also excellent, telling the story of Alexender’s childhood and coming of age. The third, “Funeral Games”, is more of an epilogue—what happens after the 33-year-old emperor dies. But for me, The Persian Boy is the book I come back to regularly over the years. It’s deep and interesting, complex and funny, and if—like me—you enjoy trying to put yourself into a completely different time, there is nothing more different, and strange, and beautiful, than this book.
