Clubs

Stonewall Book Club

Next Meeting:
Monday, Dec. 8th | 6:30 – 8:00 PM
(via Zoom)

Book Selection: MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN by Marguérite Yourcenar.

Both an exploration of character and a reflection on the meaning of history, Memoirs of Hadrian has received international acclaim since its first publication in France in 1951. In it, Marguerite Yourcenar reimagines the Emperor Hadrian’s arduous boyhood, his triumphs and reversals, and finally, as emperor, his gradual reordering of a war-torn world, writing with the imaginative insight of a great writer of the twentieth century while crafting a prose style as elegant and precise as those of the Latin stylists of Hadrian’s own era.

About the Author:

Marguerite Yourcenar was a pioneering French writer and the first woman elected to the Académie Française.

Born in Brussels on June 8, 1903, Marguerite Yourcenar (née Marguerite Cleenewerck de Crayencour) was a novelist, essayist, and poet whose work explored history, identity, and the human condition. She gained international acclaim for *Memoirs of Hadrian* (1951), a fictionalized account of the Roman emperor, and *The Abyss* (1968), both celebrated for their philosophical depth and literary elegance.

Yourcenar spent much of her life in the United States, where she lived with her partner Grace Frick and became a U.S. citizen in 1947. In 1980, she broke a centuries-old barrier by becoming the first woman inducted into the prestigious Académie Française. Her legacy endures as one of intellectual rigor, stylistic mastery, and fearless exploration of complex themes. She died in Maine in 1987 at the age of 84.

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