Le Guin makes Lavinia an immortal character, acknowledging the fact that because Vergil never gave her an ending, she cannot die in the same way as Aeneas or other heroes. It illustrates what could have been, what Vergil could have written if he had the chance to continue. The latter half of the book looks at the war and then her marriage to Aeneas and life after. Lavinia speaks her mind to Vergil, to her father, to all those who would try to control her. Le Guin more than makes up for that in this novel. I’d like to think he would have been as remorseful about this as Le Guin made him, how much he regretted not giving Lavinia a voice. Le Guin gives us readers a look at how Vergil might have felt at not completing his story with Lavinia as a non-speaking character. It is here where she learns the future of hers and Aeneas’ story. It also touched on her connection to nature and certain higher powers such as oracles, and more importantly Vergil himself, the half-dead spirit of whom she communes with in sacred spaces of the woods. What I loved about this was that it illustrated the importance of her role in the palace as the virgin daughter of the king (religiously, etc.). The first half of the book talks about Lavinia’s early life in the palace of her father. While Lavinia references the Aeneid and not Vergil’s other works, there are elements of contact with nature, which I will elaborate on below.įor those who don’t know, or have only a vague idea, Lavinia is the daughter of King Latinus, whom Aeneas married when he settled down in Latium, the area of Italy that would one day become Rome. I was first told about this novel by my graduate advisor, with whom I am working on research about Vergil’s pastoral poetry. Perhaps this is because this novel is based on the last six books of my favorite ancient work and author, the Aeneid by Vergil. Of all the ones I have read so far, Lavinia has been the best.

The past few years as a full-time classicist have seen a boom for me in the reading of modern retellings of classical myths and tales.

Lavinia ursula le guin review