Gaius octavius thurinus biography of william

1972 novel by John Edward Williams

For the 1986 novel by Allan Massie, see Augustus (Massie novel).

Augustus is an epistolary, historical fiction by John Williams published by Viking Press in 1972.

It tells the story of Augustus, emperor of Rome, from his youth through old age. The book is divided into two parts, the beginning chronicling his rise to power, the latter describing his rule thereafter, and the familial problems faced choosing a successor.^[1] Williams and Augustus shared the 1973 U.S.

National Book Award for Fiction with John Barth and Chimera, the first time the award was split, and the only one of Williams's four novels to receive significant acclaim within his lifetime.^[2]

After falling out of print the novel was re-issued in 2014 by NYRB Classics as part of their revival of Williams’s work.

Plot

Told through various letters and fragments, Augustus begins when Gaius Octavius Thurinus is 17 and is call