French novelist, poet, essayist, dramatist, world traveller, and translator Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987) was the first woman elected to the French Academy. Marguerite Yourcenar was born on June 8, 1903, and baptized Marguerite Antoinette Ghislaine. H...

Marguerite Yourcenar was the first woman elected to the prestigious Académie Française. A self-taught scholar, novelist, poet, dramatist, essayist, and translator, widely traveled and well read, Yourcenar brought a broadly based sensibility...

VENICE Italy's Rai Cinema is seeking U.S. partners to hoard an English-language adaptation of Marguerite Yourcenar's "Memoirs of Hadrian." Pubcaster Rai Cinema's film arm and Rome producer Enzo Peri are developing the project based on the French author's best-selling portrayal of the...

His attempt to fortify the Roman Empire is well known. But an exhibition focuses on another side of the man. The bust is classically Roman, the face imperious. But this is no ordinary emperor. As a major new exhibition at the British Museum...

Howard is an American critic and educator who has done extensive research into Yourcenar's life and works. In the following essay, she examines the narrative structure of Memoirs of Hadrian and the life of its narrator and main character.

Cowart is an American critic and educator who has written extensively on modern literature. In the following excerpt, he provides a detailed discussion of the main themes in Memoirs of Hadrian, analyzing in particular Yourcenar's re-creation of the classical world and ancient "Rome's mental life."

Birkerts is an American critic and educator who has won numerous awards and grants for his essays on literature. In the following essay, which was originally published in 1984, he addresses the theme of male homosexuality in Alexis and Memoirs of Hadrian.