Saint Augustin, by Louis Bertrand

[patrickrandall]

I thought this biography might be an interesting addition to the LV catalogue -- I saw many titles where Augustine is author, but none (so far as I saw) where he is the subject of a biography.

From the Prologue:

What, indeed, is more romantic than this wandering life of rhetorician and student....begun in the pleasures and tumult of great cities, and ending in the penitence, the silence, and recollection of a monastery? And again, what drama is more full of colour and more profitable to consider than that last agony of the Empire, of which Augustin was a spectator, and, with all his heart faithful to Rome, would have prevented if he could? And then, what tragedy more stirring and painful than the crisis of soul and conscience which tore his life?

The translation by Vincent O'Sullivan is pleasant to read. There is some Latin in the chapter headings and elsewhere, but not too much.

Text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9069/pg9069.html

Cheers,
Patrick

[InTheDesert]

Nice find and PG text too! I guess because he has such a famous autobiography, biographies by others have been a bit neglected in the catalogue.

[dronald]

Nice find and PG text too! I guess because he has such a famous autobiography, biographies by others have been a bit neglected in the catalogue.

Do you know if there's an abridged version of his confessions that just covers his life? It's funny because I was having this thought very recently. I would love to hear or read a shortened version of his confessions that only covers his life, without including all of the philosophy and prayers.

[patrickrandall]

Nice find and PG text too! I guess because he has such a famous autobiography, biographies by others have been a bit neglected in the catalogue.

Do you know if there's an abridged version of his confessions that just covers his life? It's funny because I was having this thought very recently. I would love to hear or read a shortened version of his confessions that only covers his life, without including all of the philosophy and prayers.

I don't know of an abridged version like that; what you describe reminds me of the Jefferson Bible, where he edited the Gospel to remove mention of miracles, etc. I guess such an abridged Confessions would need a latter day Jefferson!

Cheers,
Patrick

[dronald]

Nice find and PG text too! I guess because he has such a famous autobiography, biographies by others have been a bit neglected in the catalogue.

Do you know if there's an abridged version of his confessions that just covers his life? It's funny because I was having this thought very recently. I would love to hear or read a shortened version of his confessions that only covers his life, without including all of the philosophy and prayers.

I don't know of an abridged version like that; what you describe reminds me of the Jefferson Bible, where he edited the Gospel to remove mention of miracles, etc. I guess such an abridged Confessions would need a latter day Jefferson!

Cheers,
Patrick

Haha. Well my intentions would be different than his were. I'm simply interested in his life from his own words and I think such a work would be nice!

Anyways, I've been skimming what you've posted and it looks like this translation is easy to read. The word count is approximately 106,000 which is doable for a solo.

I have a couple of projects I need to get through and COVID has set me back a tad bit. After I'm finished what I'm working on, I would like to read two more books by Augustine and then I'll make this biography my main focus.

It could take a while though, so anyone is free to beat me to it! I would love to listen to an Augustine biography.

Thanks for the suggestion.