Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth

Graeme Davis (University of Buckingham)

Ed. by Dimitra Fimi, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1954 - 1954

Places

United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Children's Literature
Historical

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Recommended Reading

The Eagle of the Ninth

(1954) has been a best seller and an integral part of the canon of literature for a generation of children. The book is the one which made the name of Rosemary Sutcliff and remains her best known. It is the first of a thematic trilogy of Roman novels (followed by

The Silver Brooch

, 1957 and

The Lantern Bearers

1959) sometimes published together in a single volume (

Three Legions

, 1980;

The Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles

, 2010;

The Eagle of the Ninth Collection

, 2012). The three novels have in common that they are set in the Roman Empire, yet they differ in protagonists and locations, presenting three generations of the same family only tenuously linked by the device of a green, dolphin ring. The first edition was impressively illustrated by Cyril Walter Hodges, in a…

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2447 words

Citation: Davis, Graeme. "The Eagle of the Ninth". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 December 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38982, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth

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