''Lavinia'' is the

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the p ...

-winning novel by American author

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...

. Published in 2008, it was Le Guin's last novel. It is written in a first-person, self-conscious style that recounts the life of

Lavinia In Roman mythology, Lavinia ( ; ) is the daughter of Latinus and Amata, and the last wife of Aeneas. Creation It has been proposed that the character was in part intended to represent Servilia Isaurica, Emperor Augustus's first fiancée. Sto ...

, a minor character in Virgil's epic poem the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...

''.

Synopsis

Lavinia, daughter of the king of the Latins of

Laurentum Laurentum was an ancient Roman city of Latium situated between Ostia and Lavinium, on the west coast of the Italian Peninsula southwest of Rome. Roman writers regarded it as the original capital of Italy, before Lavinium assumed that role after ...

, is sought after by neighbouring kings, but knows she is destined to marry a stranger. This is

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

from the Trojan War, who arrives with a large body of Trojans. An agreement is made but then breaks down and there is war, which is won by the outnumbered Trojans. They found a new city called

Lavinium Lavinium was a port city of Latium, to the south of Rome, midway between the Tiber river at Ostia and Antium. The coastline then, as now, was a long strip of beach. Lavinium was on a hill at the southernmost edge of the ''Silva Laurentina'', ...

, but Aeneas is killed after three years. Aeneas's elder son

Ascanius Ascanius (; Ancient Greek: Ἀσκάνιος) (said to have reigned 1176-1138 BC) was a legendary king of Alba Longa and is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and Creusa, daughter of Priam. He is a character in Roman mythology, and has a divine ...

founds

Alba Longa Alba Longa (occasionally written Albalonga in Italian sources) was an ancient Latin city in Central Italy, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Rome, in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it wa ...

and marries but fails to produce an heir. Lavinia removes her son Silvius from his control and he eventually becomes king of the Latins.

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

already exists, but as a small settlement that plays no part in events. Lavinia herself retreats from the world and at the end seems to have turned into an owl. She has all along regarded the world she lives in as unreal, a product of Virgil's imagination.

Background

The book is based on the last six books, or the Iliadic half, of the ''

''. It is written in a first-person style, and the character Lavinia is aware that she may only exist in the context of a story which an outside narrator is recounting. Throughout the first part of the novel Lavinia holds conversations with "the poet", the shade of a dying Virgil. In their conversations Virgil explains his role as the author of Lavinia's life, and what he reveals to Lavinia about her life she acknowledges and anticipates as she recounts her story. Lavinia therefore only exists in the context of the poem, and through her conversations she is self-aware of her own textuality. This novel is not meant to be history. Le Guin says that, "The Trojan War was probably fought in the thirteenth century BC; Rome was founded, possibly, in the eighth, though there is no proper history of it for centuries after that. That Priam's nephew Aeneas of Troy had anything at all to do with the founding of Rome is pure legend, a good deal of it invented by Virgil himself". She also explains that her work is a translation of the last six books of the ''Aeneid'' into prose.Interview with Le Guin on ''The Inkwell Review'', on her novel ''Lavinia''.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography

External links

''Lavinia''
at Worlds Without End

* ttp://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2008/2221112.htm Interviewwith

Ramona Koval Ramona Koval (born 1954, Melbourne) is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist. Her parents were Yiddish-speaking survivors of The Holocaust who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1950. Koval is known for her extended and in-depth in ...

on ''

The Book Show Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors a ...

'',

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors a ...

on her novel ''Lavinia''.
Interview about her ''Lavinia'' on National Public Radio's ''All Things Considered'' April 26, 2008
{{Authority control 2008 American novels Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin Historical novels Novels set in ancient Rome 2008 fantasy novels Works based on the Aeneid Novels set in the 12th century BC