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Daniel Mendelsohn on his correspondence with the novelist Mary Renault - The New Yorker

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Mary Renault

Born

in London, England, The United Kingdom

September 04, 1905

Died

December 13, 1983

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction

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Mary Renault was an English writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece. In addition to vivid fictional portrayals of Theseus, Socrates, Plato and Alexander the Great, she wrote a non-fiction biography of Alexander.

Her historical novels are all set in ancient Greece. They include a pair of novels about the mythological hero Theseus and a trilogy about the career of Alexander the Great. In a sense, The Charioteer (1953), the story of two young gay servicemen in the 1940s who try to model their relationship on the ideals expressed in Plato's Phaedrus and Symposium, is a warm-up for Renault's historical novels. By turning away from the 20th century and focusing on stories about male lovers in the warrior societies of anci ...more

Combine Editions
Mary Renault’s books

Average rating: 4.05 · 56,960 ratings · 5,010 reviews · 28 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Persian Boy (Alexander the Great, #2) 4.18 avg rating — 10,483 ratings — published 1972 — 76 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The King Must Die (Theseus, #1) 3.97 avg rating — 9,750 ratings — published 1958 — 135 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fire from Heaven (Alexander the Great, #1) 3.96 avg rating — 9,678 ratings — published 1969 — 60 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Charioteer 4.11 avg rating — 6,179 ratings — published 1953 — 69 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last of the Wine 4.04 avg rating — 6,079 ratings — published 1956 — 68 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bull from the Sea (Theseus, #2) 4.10 avg rating — 4,055 ratings — published 1962 — 98 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Funeral Games (Alexander the Great, #3) 4.04 avg rating — 3,360 ratings — published 1981 — 58 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mask of Apollo 4.06 avg rating — 2,491 ratings — published 1966 — 75 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Praise Singer 3.97 avg rating — 1,562 ratings — published 1978 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Nature of Alexander 4.16 avg rating — 1,427 ratings — published 1975 — 47 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Mary Renault…

Series by Mary Renault

Alexander the Great (3 books)
by

Mary Renault

4.08 avg rating — 24,191 ratings

Theseus (2 books)
by

Mary Renault

4.01 avg rating — 14,100 ratings

Quotes by Mary Renault (?)

“One must live as if it would be forever, and as if one might die each moment. Always both at once.”
― Mary Renault, The Persian Boy

tags: alexander-the-great, mary-renault, the-persian-boy

2255 likes

“True friends share everything, except the past before they met.”
― mary renault, Fire from Heaven

1220 likes

“There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected: the expected for which one has refused to prepare.”
― Mary Renault, The Charioteer

tags: shock, truth, unexpected

114 likes

See all Mary Renault's quotes »

Polls

Which book would you like to read for our Category 1 read for February/March?

Object of Desire by William J. Mann

11 votes, 34.4%

Everything I Have Is Blue: Short Fiction by Working-Class Men About More-or-Less Gay Life by Wendell Ricketts

8 votes, 25.0%

Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever by Joel Derfner

7 votes, 21.9%

The Charioteer by Mary Renault

5 votes, 15.6%

The Persian Boy by Mary Renault

1 vote, 3.1%

32 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: Hi from a voraceous reader...	12	314	Apr 22, 2009 10:44AM
Queereaders: * List of group reads	1	1384	Oct 30, 2009 05:04PM
The History Book ...: HISTORICAL FICTION POLLS	6	346	Jan 21, 2010 12:04AM
Queereaders: February - March nominations	18	33	Jan 28, 2010 02:37PM
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks	2725	2503	May 31, 2010 09:00PM
The Seasonal Read...: 15.4 - Learn Your Numbers	137	384	Aug 19, 2010 10:47PM
The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	2785	1195	Nov 30, 2010 09:03PM
The World's Liter...: Future Readings after Greece	20	80	Nov 30, 2010 09:36PM
Historical Fictio...: Challenge #5: January 1st - February 28th	300	208	Mar 16, 2011 08:15AM

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Mary Renault’s Followers (1,552)

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Mary Renault

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