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94th out of 349 books
—
181 voters
Hadrian the Seventh
One day George Arthur Rose, hack writer and minor priest, discovers that he has been picked to be Pope. He is hardly surprised and not in the least daunted. "The previous English pontiff was Hadrian the Fourth," he declares. "The present English pontiff is Hadrian the Seventh. It pleases Us; and so, by Our own impulse, We command."Hadrian is conceived in the image of his c...more
Paperback, 424 pages
Published
March 31st 2001
by NYRB Classics
(first published 1904)
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January 2011
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
"Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."
Wait, sorry, my mistake. And now:
NYRB: A History of an Addiction (With Book Porn!)
July 2006
Half-Price Books, Madison, Wisconsin
Hello there, aren't you a pretty thing. But what are you doing...more
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
"Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."
Wait, sorry, my mistake. And now:
NYRB: A History of an Addiction (With Book Porn!)
July 2006
Half-Price Books, Madison, Wisconsin
Hello there, aren't you a pretty thing. But what are you doing...more
Un romanzo soprendente sotto moltissimi punti di vista. innanzi tutto trama e personaggi sono estremamente complessi. l'intreccio è logico ma allo stesso tempo poco prevedibile. il personaggio principale è estremamente originale e sfaccettato, ma tutti i personaggi vengono fuoria tutto tondo. bastano poche righe allo scrittore per poter visualizzare sia il punto di vista sugli altri del personaggio principale sia spesso taluni brandelli di verità oggettiva che molto dicono all'interno della stor...more
The self-aggrandizement and self-pity falls heavy at first, never disappears entirely, and reaches it apogee in a four-page monologue near the end, but once George is elected Pope (for reasons never adequately explained), the novel becomes fun - at times, a lot of fun. His idealism enchants and softens, and his righteous anger is terrific. The pontifical chat with the Cardinal of Pimlico (Chapter 6) is ruthlessly charitable. So is the rhetorically violent take-down of the "Prepositor-General" of...more
Years ago a psychologist of my acquaintance asked me to tell him what I thought of this book. I had never heard of it, or the author. As I remember, my impression was that the writer was projecting himself into Hadrian, who had been unaccountably made Pope, and that Rolfe obviously had dreams of grandeur. Later I learned that Rolfe had made himself a Baron -- wonder what significance Baron Crow had. I thought he was either homosexual or at least disliked women, because the handsome young (as I r...more
Frederick Rolfe "visse da povero, camuffato con una parrucca, a volte, e col volto truccato, uscendo soltanto di sera; cercando, insieme a un'occupazione precaria, bizzarri incontri e avventure. Con l'abilità che s'è detta nel farsi dei nemici, gli piaceva vendicarsi con le più complicate invenzioni. Molti lo compativano, considerandolo pazzo. E anche chi lo apprezzava di rado riusciva a vederlo diverso da un lusus naturae eccezionalmente dotato, un essere nel quale la religiosità non escludeva...more
Hadrian the VII ranks as one of the most flowery, self-indulgent, extraordinarily vain books ever written. It's also pretty entertaining, at least in patches.
The plot deals with an overlooked, failed priest who remains true to his beliefs in spite of his many setbacks. Later, his loyalty to the code of religious life impresses a number of his colleagues and he becomes, by a strange series of circumstances, the new Pope. Upon taking this mightiest of religious offices, he quickly sets about rewr...more
The plot deals with an overlooked, failed priest who remains true to his beliefs in spite of his many setbacks. Later, his loyalty to the code of religious life impresses a number of his colleagues and he becomes, by a strange series of circumstances, the new Pope. Upon taking this mightiest of religious offices, he quickly sets about rewr...more
‘Hadrian VII’ should probably be published as an appendix to A. J. A. Symons famous biography of Rolfe, as an example of the author’s curious fin-de-siecle pathology (he was a truly dreadful man), rather than as a book to be read in its own right. Actually, I like to imagine this absurd, clumsy and delusional book as it might be if it was rewritten by Ronald Firbank, in a spirit of high camp excess, with illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley – and then made into a film by Ken Russell. Now that would...more
Not a bad book. For all of the authors obsession for the pomp and ceremony of the paparchy his hero-pope Hadrian is quick to shed the wealth of the Vatican by selling its treasures. He shows humility in the face of the world, winning over her rulers with modesty and sincerity rather than stubbornly entrenching himself in the Vatican like his predecessors. In the end, his death in the "arms of Caesar" show Rolfe's ideal of a Church more willing to humble itself and reach out to the modern world e...more
I'm writing this on an evening when the papal throne has just become vacant. Pope Benedict has retired and a new pope has yet to be chosen. What better time to read "Hadrian the Seventh"? It's a strange book, by a strange author who was one of the great literary scoundrels. Yet...for all the mad fancies and posturing arrogance of Fr. Rolfe ("Baron Corvo") the book is a small gem. It's one of those works that only a certain kind of English eccentric could've written--- someone from the lost world...more
7 likes · like · see review
Mar 27, 2008
James Lundy
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who love eccentric losers with delusions of grandeur
A.J.A. Symons's investigative biography "The Quest for Corvo" will make you think Corvo's "Hadrian VII" is an overlooked masterpiece. Well, when I finally got my hands on a copy, expecting to have my socks knocked off, and started reading it, let's just say I wondered what the devil Symons was smoking. This book is bizarre rant from a (more) bizarre man, thinly veiled in the guize of a story. How's this for bad: our hero is a down and out loafer living in a boarding house and about 5 pages later...more
Excellently done, pseudo fantasy. The edition I read seemed to possess abundant print errors, unless they were intentional or anachronisms. The story itself is absurd and idyllic, with beautifully descriptive for a Victorian era novel. My particular interest was its relation and apparent influence on author/musician Nick Blinko, author of Primal Screamer and focal member of the band Rudimentary Peni, with several tie ins between subjects of this book Hadrian VII, album Pope Adrian XXXVII and so...more
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Ludicrous - the entire plot is utterly absurd, and the prose is monstrously purple. High camp, politically reactionary, self pitying, and full of vicious bitching. I loved every page, and often laughed out loud - and am left with a sad poignancy for the maddeningly impossible tragic genius that was Baron Corvo.
This book started really well and the whole idea of a person being unexpectedly elected pope is intriguing, but it lost my attention toward the end.
If I were Pope . . .
This is an interesting book with an interesting premise: a former seminary student now living as failed poverty-stricken journalist is by an unlikely technicality elected Pope and works for world peace, selling off the Vatican treasures in the process. It's cranky, sometimes self-pitying, often mean-spirited, but mighty compelling. This is essentially Corvo spinning out the fantasy of his own Papacy, something I've done myself in idle moments, but never with this kind of shee...more
This is an interesting book with an interesting premise: a former seminary student now living as failed poverty-stricken journalist is by an unlikely technicality elected Pope and works for world peace, selling off the Vatican treasures in the process. It's cranky, sometimes self-pitying, often mean-spirited, but mighty compelling. This is essentially Corvo spinning out the fantasy of his own Papacy, something I've done myself in idle moments, but never with this kind of shee...more
Jul 01, 2012
BoekenTrol
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Recommended to BoekenTrol by:
Korenwolf
Brought to the BC-meeting in Castricum for me :-)
I recently read and was fascinated by The Question of Corvo, which is a book about the author of Hadrian the Seventh (a man named Frederick Rolfe who adopted the name Baron Fr. Corvo to imply that he was both a priest and a nobleman). I'm looking forward to this!
In the middle of this. Tough one. It started off mean and funny and kinda desperate, but now it's getting bogged down in Catholic jargon and the minutiae of Papal authority. Yeesh. hard to read more then three pages at a time. Gonna have to start another one if Hadrian doesn't pick up the pace a little bit...
Apr 17, 2013
Deanne
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
1001bookstoreadbeforeyoudie,
1001-books-2008
Interesting in light of recent events, though the selection process of a new pope seems very complicated.
Rolfe himself converted to the Catholic church but was rejected by the priesthood, he even shortened his first name to Fr. Hadrian the seventh seems like Rolfe's fantasy of the way he wished his life had been.
Rolfe himself converted to the Catholic church but was rejected by the priesthood, he even shortened his first name to Fr. Hadrian the seventh seems like Rolfe's fantasy of the way he wished his life had been.
The Pope dies and somehow your intrinsic greatness is recognized by the Cardinals and wallah, you're Pope. What would you do with all that newfound goodness?
Aug 10, 2007
Mary Tuley
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everybody
This play is overlooked and undervalued, and that's a shame, since it's riveting and quite brilliant. A nobody becomes pope!
Jun 10, 2008
Larry-bob Roberts
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Larry-bob by:
flamboyant eccentrics
What if one day you woke up and discovered you had been named pope? Somewhat of an over-the-top and nutty book.
As far as I know, this is the all-time-best what-if-I-were-elected-Pope novel.
Bizarre fantasy of an english pope. Very curious.
Quite entertaining.
May 22, 2013
Amelia Mangan
marked it as to-read
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English writer, novelist, artist, fantasist and eccentric. Rolfe is also known as Baron Corvo. His best known work is the novel Hadrian the Seventh.
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“Shall I tell you the difference between our Holy Father and ourselves? We see things from a single view-point. He sees things from several. We decide that the thing is as we see it. But He has seen it otherwise, and He presents it as a more or less complete coaction of its qualities. See this sapphire. Well, you see the face of it: underneath, if I take it off my finger, there are a number of facets to be seen and a number more which are hidden by the gold of the setting. Now my meaning is that our Holy Father has seen all the facets as well as the table of the sapphire, or the thing. Consequently He knows a great deal more about the sapphire, or the thing, than we do. You must have noted that in Him. You must have noted how that every now and then, when He deigns to explain, He makes mysteries appear most wonderfully lucid.”
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