Monday, January 18, 2010

Ten of the best poisonings in literature

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best poisonings in literature.

One novel on the list:
I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Top poisoner among many in this fictional memoir of the Roman emperor is Livia, the narrator's grandmother and wife of the emperor Augustus. Augustus will eat only figs he has himself picked from the tree, but he dies mysteriously anyway – the poison probably having been administered while the fruit were on the branch.
Read about another literary poisoning on the list.

I, Claudius also appears among Lindsey Davis' top 10 Roman books.

--Marshal Zeringue