A great visit to Silchester yesterday, organised for journalists covering The Eagle film … I saw for the first time the Silchester Eagle, in the museum in nearby Reading. It was smaller than I imagined. It was the artefact that, with the mystery of the disappearance of the ninth legion from military records, stimulated Rosemary Sutcliff to imagine her bestselling The Eagle of the Ninth historical novel. Read More »
Category: The Eagle of the Ninth Book
Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth in twenty languages
This is a fully up to date listing of all nineteen languages that Rosemary Sutcliff‘s The Eagle of the Ninth has been published in, in addition to the OUP editions in English. (This listing is from OUP)
English (UK hardback special edition) – Folio Society
English (audiobook – straight reading) – Naxos Audio Books
English (audio – dramatisation) – BBC/AudioGo
English (India) – Penguin India
English (USA) – Square Fish (an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Brazilian Portuguese – Editora Record
Czech – BB Art
Danish – P. Haase & Sons (out of print)
Dutch– Leopold
German – Verlag Freies Geistesleben
Spanish – Plataforma Editorial
French – Gallimard Jeunesse
Greek – Aiora Press
Hungarian – Alexandra Konyveshaz Kft.
Italian – Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
Japanese – Iwanami (out of print)
Korean – Sigongsa
Polish – Wydawnictwo Telbit
Portuguese – Gradiva Publicacoes
Romanian – Editura Litera International
Russian – Azbooka-Atticus
Serbian – Laguna
Swedish – Forlaget Barnstenen (out of print)
Thai – NanMee Books
Turkish – Ithaki Publishing
(I am in the process of tracking down all the websites for the publishers/foreign editions: all help welcome. Post links at comments please!)
‘Vivid and real’ | Rosemary Sutcliff’s writing | Brian Keaney
Of Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novel The Eagle of the Ninth, writer Brian Keaney commented on Goodreads:
First published in 1954, The Eagle Of The Ninth was once to be found in every children’s library in the UK. For the last fifteen or twenty years, however, Rosemary Sutcliff’ has been somewhat forgotten as the solid, carefully written style of her books has given way to fiction that thrusts itself more brazenly upon its readers.
Hearing that there was a film coming out in 2011, I thought I would renew my acquaintance and I am very glad that I did. Based upon the mystery of the fate of the Ninth Legion which marched from its station in what is now York some time around AD 117 and was never seen again, this is the story of a young Roman soldier, the son of a centurion of that ill-fated legion, who sets out some eight years later to discover his father’s fate, it is a terrific read.
Rosemary Sutcliff makes the world of Roman Britain as vivid and real as if it were still standing to this day. Her characters are strongly drawn and her observation of nature is wonderfully well conveyed in tightly-written prose. This is a delight to read and a timeless classic
Oblicza Kultury – Trylogia Orzeł! – Rosemary Sutcliff
Kolumna ludzi wśród gór posuwała się naprzód jak błyszczący, srebrzysty wąż, cętkowany szkarłatnymi płaszczami i grzebieniami oficerów. (…) Mgła ścieliła się naokoło nich i w końcu ich zasłoniła, jakby przeszli do innego świata.
Dziewiąty Legion wyruszył ku mglistym rubieżom północnej Brytanii i więcej go nie widziano. Cztery tysiące żołnierzy przepadło bez wieści, a razem z nimi ich sztandar.
Marek, rzymski centurion, postanawia zgłębić tajemnicę zaginionego legionu, którym przed laty dowodził jego ojciec. Udaje się więc na śmiertelnie niebezpieczną wyprawę w nieznane strony, zamieszkane przez wrogie plemiona. Nikt nie spodziewa się, że kiedykolwiek wróci…
„Dziewiąty Legion” został okrzyknięty jedną z najwspanialszych książek młodzieżowych XX w. i sprzedał się na świecie w nakładzie przeszło miliona egzemplarzy.
Source: Oblicza Kultury – Trylogia Orzeł! – Rosemary Sutcliff już 23 lutego!.
The Eagle is Not Your ‘Average Gone with the Wind’ Film
Goodness knows how it feels actually to make a film like The Eagle and put it out there, for critics and viewers to have their say – an ever more public say, with the internet. I find myself fiercely protective of the film (which I have seen once at a preview – and loved it, not just because I have to!) And of the film-makers, although they need no protection from me. At times they get criticised for what, to me, is actually all part of capturing the essence of Rosemary’s story and feel for it so well. But this concluding sentence of one broadly supportive New York review, with its comment that Rosemary Sutcliff‘s wonderful, beautifully told story was ‘tired’ , definitely got me going about the book, let alone the film!
The film won’t be taking home any big awards but it deserves credit for being enjoyable and for trying to make a tired story be a little more original. (Rating: Three out of five stars).
via The Eagle is Not Your Average Gone with the Wind – Film & Television – AllMediaNY.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 