American - Author | October 26, 1961 -
I wouldn't dare to speculate as to Cleopatra's falling in love. Her relationships are too convenient for that.
Stacy Schiff
LoveFalling In LoveRelationships
How does a woman in authority convey that authority? Is it possible for a woman to rule without sounding shrill? Is it possible for a woman to manage without manipulating? All of these things seem to me to be very much at the fore today, and were no less the case 2,000 years ago.
TodayWomanMeAuthorityPossible
From every ancient source, we have testimony to Cleopatra's irresistible charm, as Plutarch has it, to her ability to speak many languages including, as he puts it, the language of flattery and essentially, to be able to turn people to her will - really a great political genius, in that respect.
RespectGreatPeopleSpeakLanguage
What we know about Cleopatra's looks is based purely on her coin portraits. Engraving was imperfect, and that when you are a ruler and you ask for a coin to be engraved with your likeness on it, you are probably trying to project a certain air of authority.
TryingYouLooksKnowAuthorityAsk
No one sits on the stoop when she's a kid and thinks, 'I want to be a biographer when I grow up.'
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Insofar as there is an anxiety of influence for a biographer, it may be that each new book is undertaken in reaction to the previous book.
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I checked to see if there'd been a really good book published in the last few decades. Then I started with what Cleopatra would have read, asking myself, 'What can we know about her education?' It turns out to be a very great deal, and bizarrely, no one had written about that before.
EducationGoodGreatMyselfBook
I once interviewed David Herbert Donald, the Lincoln historian, and we talked about how one deals with the secondary sources and the previous biographies. He said something which kept coming back to me as I worked on Cleopatra, which was: 'There's no further new material; there are only new questions.'
MeQuestionsBackNewSaidComing
Here you have an incredibly ambitious, accomplished woman who comes up against some of the same problems that women in power come up against today. Cleopatra plays an oddly pivotal role in world history as well; in her lifetime, Alexandria is the center of the universe, Rome is still a backwater.
WomenTodayPowerHistoryWomanYou
In an ideal world, the perfect biographical subject would have been the star of his penmanship class at grade school - and would thereafter write an English that positively sings.
SchoolWorldPerfectClassWrite
My next book is on the Salem witch trials. As a small-town Massachusetts girl, this makes me very happy. So does the reunion with documents!
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I think with every book you realize you are partway through and there is something really elementary that you should have researched.
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