Book Review: Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt
STLtoday (Allen Barra)
Cleopatra has generated more fame — in the form of poems, paintings, books, plays and films — per known fact than any woman in history. As Joyce Tyldesley phrases it in her fascinating and irresistible biography, "Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt," "It is clearly never going to be possible to write a conventional biography of Cleopatra."
So Tyldesley has gone ahead and written one.
An archaeologist, author ("Daughters of Isis") and popular consultant for TV shows on ancient history, Tyldesley has chosen to re-create her subject by putting together the puzzle pieces of history that surround Cleopatra's life and legend.
"With an almost complete lack of primary sources," she writes, "we cannot hope to hear Cleopatra's true voice, and we are forced to see her through secondary eyes. … Few of us would wish to be judged this way."
True, but the queen, actually Cleopatra VII, would perhaps not be displeased with the impression she has made more than 2,000 years after her death. Of course, she might have some trouble understanding her story as it has taken us so long to put it into perspective.
See the above page for the full review.
- Review: Schiff's Cleopatra
Voice of America (David Byrd) A new biography by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff tackles the life, death and legacy of Cleopatra. Schiff's work challenges some of the assumptions long held about Egypt's last queen. It has been said...
- Book Review: Cleopatra - A Biography
npr With an exerpt from the book following the review. Cleopatra was a tragic temptress who left a string of broken hearts up and down the Nile -- or at least, that's what her enemies in Rome wanted you to think. Now, a new biography of the Egyptian...
- Book Review: The Last Queen Of Egypt
Indian Express Was Cleopatra only a femme fatale or an ill-fated politician? Cleopatra has always been a player in other people’s dramas: she can be a coquette, a feminist, a martyr or a villain, a goddess or a fallen woman, even blonde or black. Horace...
- Book Review: Cleopatra, Last Queen Of Egypt
JS Online (Allen Barra) Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt. By Joyce Tyldesley. Basic Books. Cleopatra has generated more fame - in the form of poems, paintings, books, plays and films - per known fact than any woman in history. Advertisement As Joyce Tyldesley...
- Why Cleo Is Both Hit And Myth
Manchester Evening News (Helen Tither) Joyce Tyldesley talking about Cleopatra: THE thick kohl eyeliner, the raven black hair, those sultry, seductive eyes - for most of us Elizabeth Taylor is the embodiment of Cleopatra. Oozing sex appeal in her legendary...