Memoirs of Hadrian

...

Memoirs of Hadrian.

And even just having those two things next to each other, which, you know, so weird that I, like, love them in this really deep way.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, that's really the brilliance of it.

I mean, part of the brilliance of it.

And then you shift to this completely other kind of novel, seemingly antithetical novel, first person, virtuosic Memoirs of Hadrian, which is a very beautiful reading.

And one of the things that it was a gift of your reading is at the end when you shift to talk about the text that Yourcenar adds to the end of the book, the reflections on the composition of, of Memoirs of Hadrian, which I always felt was somehow super important-

Do the best you can.

The emperor says in Marguerite Yosena's beautiful novel Memoirs of Hadrian, do it over again.

then still improve, even if ever so slightly, those retouches.

It's a beautiful irony.