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    Hadrian the Seventh (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)
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    Hadrian the Seventh (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)
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    Hadrian the Seventh (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)
    Ebook452 pages5 hours

    Hadrian the Seventh (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

    By Frederick Baron Corvo

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Of his many books, Hadrian the Seventh is Baron Corvo’s best known. In this fantastical novel—which includes a flourish of autobiography—a humble British man named George Arthur Rose is elected Pope, taking the name Hadrian VII. He unfolds a grand plan to reform the church and better the world, but can’t help but push his own agenda as well.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarnes & Noble
    Release dateFeb 22, 2011
    ISBN9781411438798
    Unavailable
    Hadrian the Seventh (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

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    Reviews for Hadrian the Seventh (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

    3.5/5

    73 ratings7 reviews

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    • 1/5
      1145 Hadrian the Seventh, by Frederick Baron Corvo (Frederick William Rolfe) (read 31 Dec 1971) Rolfe was born in London on July 22, 1860, and died in Venice on Oct 23, 1913. He, obviously, was a nut. The concept of this book--a rejected seminary student ordained and elected Pope--is silly and the events of his pontificate--of one year's duration--are even sillier. Wish fulfillment dreaming by a neurotic.
    • 2/5
      This book seriously disappointed me. I really should have liked it – it was published by NYRB, one of my favorite publishers, has a bizarre premise – obscure Catholic reject George Arthur Rose is elected pope – and is set in a parallel reality, all of which appealed to me. Unfortunately, all the characters are horribly, horribly flat and the wish-fulfillment aspect becomes extremely grating. I can’t recommend it as a good read – more of a curiosity. Still, it is odd enough that it’s good NYRB published it. That’s how I’ve felt about other books that they published but that I disliked – it’s good that they’re out there but not for me.The book starts out well. George Arthur Rose relates at length his persecution out of the Catholic hierarchy then the choosing of the new pope is described. The author is able to describe all the inanities and labyrinthine process that goes into both. This still might not appeal to other people, but sometimes I like things like that – to land in the middle of a scene with all its jargon. After he becomes pope, there is still some fun to be had – mostly with the new pope Hadrian going rogue. Some of the side stories of his surrounding advisors and cardinals are interesting also. The style throughout is very idiosyncratic, but I generally like that rather than being annoyed by it.After that, the book starts to become irritating. The other cardinals/Catholic officials who oppose Hadrian are obviously jealous and corrupt – there’s really no complexity to those characters – they’re just bad. For some reason, a Socialist group in England opposes him and becomes obsessed with him, instead of not giving a shit about the pope, as one might expect – though in this reality, England apparently cares about Roman Catholics, as opposed to the toleration to prejudice usually seen towards them around that time. Again, the representative they send to bother Hadrian is just a venal, uncultured asshole. To add to that, a slutty woman - who threw herself at Hadrian when he was Rose - goes along with the asshole. Needy, whiny, vain – she’s a whole bunch of stereotypes tossed together. Of course anyone who opposes the pope has horrible motives and is just a jealous toady. Other wish fulfillment parts are seen in the plot – the new pope forgives all his former enemies – so magnanimous! – and helps a seminary student who is obviously supposed to be a younger version of himself – the boy is being picked on by stupid bullies for being aloof and above the petty politics. There are some deeply distasteful plot parts that the author couldn’t have imagined. The pope seems a little too obsessed with the attractive young son of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy in this reality. Also, the pope supports the German ruler in taking over territories in the rest of Europe. Or something like that – wasn’t paying too much attention at that point. The end is also really irritating. Ugh.
    • 5/5
      It has been discussed to the point of nausea just how much this book is a reflection of its author, but most of the time these discussions say vastly more about the reader than about the author. Suffice it to say that I find this book an endlessly moving though eccentric search for love, and for the realization of life's purpose. As I write this, I am re-reading HADRIAN for perhaps the tenth time in half a century, and the initial astonioshment at its greatness remains unchanged. A small matter: I am frankly amazed that I had never before noticed the two typos on pp 92 and 93 of the Penguin edition!
    • 4/5
      Out of the context of the author's life I'm not sure how appealing a proposition Hadrian the VII is as a book. Stand the protagonist shoulder to shoulder with Rolfe, however, and you have an extreme and touchingly pathetic example of wish fufillment. He's dreamed every move he'll make as Hadrian, but when it comes to the first great leap, the matter of his election to the Papacy, Rolfe bitterly struggles for any further justification than the pleasantly vague "deserving it".
    • 4/5
      My favorite self-delusional novel. A young religious is chosen to be pope - an amazing notion. I think that "Frederick Baron" was the author's legal name and he tacked "Corvo" on the end as part of his megalomania. It's good reading. Actually, I have an old Penguin edition which has held up. It's worth somebody's time. Good beach reading since it's not that long.
    • 5/5
      George Arthur Rose is a staunch Catholic and a wannabe-priest, but for twenty years all his efforts to have his vocation made official have been torpedoed either by bad luck, or by bishops disinclined to put up with his difficult character and his erratic behaviour. As a result, Rose, eking out an existence as a freelance writer, has become bitter and easy (and very eager!) to take offence; he takes pride in rubbing his misfortunes in the face of those responsible precisely by ostentatiously not rubbing them in their face. He’s got several magnanimous monologues prepared, for when his tormentors finally see the light and apologize to him. He’s also an inveterate cat person.So far, the story is really that of the author himself: Frederick Rolfe, the self-styled Baron Corvo, who abbreviated his first name Fr. so as to give the impression of being a priest. But then, one day, Rose gets elected pope. He takes it in stride, and sets out to become the best, most memorable, and most innovative pope ever. Also, he mews occasionally.Hadrian the Seventh is a fun romp of a book. It’s Roman-Catholic fanfic, a delightful what-if tale that takes its silly premise and runs with it, emphatically not caring about what anyone may think. Rolfe’s pope, scrupulously exact and sternly megalomaniacal, is what the entire book hangs on, lavishing well-deserved attention on him, letting him shine in all his contradictory glory; as such, he joins my pantheon of memorable characters that transcend their book. And it isn't just the main character -- it’s the entirety of Hadrian the Seventh that so fascinatingly walks that fine line between sincerity and satire. It is written in an elegantly baroque style that is so full of its own aloofness it almost parodies itself; its central character, so impossibly smug, is treated with the utmost gravity; and its attitudes towards women, socialists, non-Catholics and assorted nationalities are ridiculous, yet presented as such self-evidencies and taken so far that it’s hard to take them entirely seriously. I'm not quite sure just how tongue-in-cheek this book is: is it mostly self-aware over-the-top wishful thinking with an honest desire at its core? Or does it aim to create an exaggerated but mostly honest attempt at what-if? Or was the author unaware of how self-aggrandizing the book is? Or perhaps he was and he intended it so. From what I've read, all of these are possible. (Incidentally, I've also purchased Symons' The Quest for Corvo, a biography of Rolfe (which appears to be a fêted classic in its own right), and will certainly read it.)Whatever the case may be, Hadrian the Seventh was enormous fun to read, endlessly entertaining and more whimsical than any other book I read this year.
    • 5/5
      Quite a remarkable book. On one level, it is wishfullfillment for the rather shabby and occasionally sleazy life of Frederick Rolfe --what if a failed priest was suddenly elected pope? But Hadrian VII is a much nobler character than his author, and I often find myself remembering the last line "Pray for his soul. He was so tired." Incidentally, it also plays out a quite remarkable alternate history in which Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Wilhelm II of Germany are the redeemers of Europe from Bolshevism etc.