If like me you learnt Latin when you were young, chances are you probably had to read Virgil's long epic poem The Aeneid, a fictionalised history of the origins of Roman civilisation about the arrival of Aeneas, the Trojan war hero and survivor, whom after many adventures across the Mediterranean and the underworld finally reaches the shore of Latium, one of the many kingdoms in pre-Roman Italy, where he is to build a city and father a powerful dynasty with his wife, Lavinia, princess of Latium. Indeed, Aeneas and Lavinia are the ancestors of the infamous twins, Remus and Romulus, whom, in Roman mythology, are believed to be the founders of the city of Rome (though historians have shown evidence that the city of Rome already existed and had been inhabited by both Etruscans and Latins prior to the "founding" of Rome by Romulus after his fratricide but I digress). In The Aeneid, Virgil did not give much to the character of Lavinia; compared to Creusa and Dido, she had no lines, no defined personality except perhaps that she was an obedient daughter and her father's pride.
“I am not the feminine voice you may have expected. Resentment is not what drives me to write my story. Anger, in part, perhaps. But not easy anger. I long for justice, but I do not know what justice is. It is hard to be betrayed. It is harder to know you made betrayal inevitable.” Le Guin, Ursula K. Lavinia, p.71
In the afterword section, Ursula Le Guin explains what were her motivations to write from Lavinia's point of view in her eponymous novel. As she emphasizes it, her intent is "in no way an attempt to change or complete the story of Aeneas." (Lavinia, afterword section, p.290) but it should rather be taken as a "meditative interpretation suggested by a minor character in his story – the unfolding of a hint." (Lavinia, afterword section, p.290). Le Guin states that her "desire was to follow Vergil, not to improve or reprove him.” (Lavinia, afterword section, p.290) and she succeeds in doing so by infusing the character of Lavinia with intelligence and bravery without ever antagonizing the poet or disrupting the chain of events told in the original Aeneid story.
“I have found my way so far, even though the poet did no tell me the way. I guessed it right, without mistake, from things he said, the clues he gave me. I came to the centre of the maze following him. Now I must find my way back out alone.” Le Guin, Ursula K. Lavinia, p.183
In a way, I see Lavinia as an homage to Virgil whom Ursula K. Le Guin considered one of the "great poets of the world" and, in my opinion, it takes one great poet to recognise another, and Le Guin is a remarkable novelist and poet herself. I say that she is a poet because I have perceived in her writing the beauty of her prose and the poetry exuding from it.
"I was a spinner, not a weaver, but I have learned to weave.” Le Guin, Ursula K. Lavinia, p.170
This novel is incredibly moving and brilliantly structured. Le Guin's tale is constituted of threads that are woven in in such a way that they allow Lavinia and a dying Virgil to converse with one another and to ensure that the poet's vision, almost raised to the position of oracle, of the creation of Rome becomes a reality. Lavinia provides the readers a formidable example of intertextuality.
"We can change our life, our being; no matter what our will is, we are changed. As the moon changes yet is one, so we are virgin, wife, mother, grandmother." Le Guin, Ursula K. Lavinia, p.194
One of the strengths of this novel resides in the fact Ursula K. Le Guin's portrayal of Lavinia in all her intelligence, courage, and duty as well as dignity. Throughout the novel, Lavinia grows up before our very eyes going from being an obedient princess to a resilient and respected queen; the mythical mother of a dynasty of kings. Lavinia has finally found her voice giving us the opportunity to understand her life and her mind but also, seeing through her eyes her apotheosis.
"Once you said it was not complete and should be burned. But then again, at the end, you said it was finished. And I know they didn’t burn it. I would have burned with it." Le Guin, Ursula K. Lavinia, p.183
It is difficult for me to part with Lavinia for the author infused her with so much life that it is almost as hard as saying goodbye to a long-time friend but I take comfort in knowing that I have yet to read all the stories written by this incredible author that is Ursula K. Le Guin.
Le Guin, Ursula K. Lavinia, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2010.