Marguerite Yourcenar
French-Belgian author and the first woman elected to the Academie Francaise. Her historical novels, particularly Memoirs of Hadrian, reconstruct ancient consciousness with extraordinary imaginative empathy and scholarly rigor.
Works
- Memoirs of HadrianNovel in letters narrating the reflections of aging Roman Emperor Hadrian
- The AbyssNovel of Renaissance alchemists' quest for hidden knowledge and spiritual truth
- FiresAutobiographical essays on passion, desire, and women Yourcenar has known
- A Coin in Nine HandsNovel set in Fascist Italy where multiple lives converge around a coin
- Oriental TalesCollection of stories and legends from Near Eastern and Asian cultures