Click on title to link to Wikipedia's entry for the writer Howard Fast.
Book Review
Spartacus, Howard Fast, North Castle Books, New York, 1951
In one of the ironies of political life I found a copy of this book under review, Spartacus by Howard Fast, in the Young Adult section of the local library. The irony in 2008 is that the author had been among those who early on were blacklisted as Communists, communist sympathizers or dupes during the “night of the long knives” of the McCarthy era in the 1950’s. At that time this book would not only have been proscribed from the library shelves but would have been burned in the public square of this particular town. Why? Well, aside from the author’s then communist sympathies the serious novelistic presentation of the class struggle between free citizens and chattel slaves in ancient Rome was not a fit subject for young minds, or old. Throw in some sexual candid (for the time) descriptions of Roman mores and more than a hint of the bi-sexual or homosexual natures of some of the Roman characters and the book is clearly beyond the pale. So there you have a snapshot of the politics behind the history of the book. But there is more.
The impetus for getting this book out of the library was, as is usually the case when possible, to compare it to the film version that I have previously reviewed in this space. The purpose, mainly, was to compare how true the story line of the film was to the novel. As mentioned in the film review, a fellow blacklistee of Fast's(one who could not write, as least publicly, under his or her own name during the 1950’s due to the political atmosphere) Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay. He did not do a bad job of getting the main point out- that eternal need for freedom from the oppressive boot heel of the ruling class- for a commercial film in the more restrictive 1950’s and early 1960’s but the book really is a much better bet if you are looking for a non-academic treatment of the class struggle in ancient Rome (or with appropriate updating now, for that matter).
I have long noted, as others who have studied the question have as well, that oppression oppresses both the oppressed and the oppressor. (Ouch!, for the awkwardness of this sentence.). The dramatic and psychological tension here between the Roman General Crassus (played by Laurence Olivier in the film) who finally defeats the slave General Spartacus is central to that premise. Along the way we get a serious look at the class structure of pre-Christian Rome, it entertainments and its follies, the dagger-like tensions between slave and master and everyone in between, a close look at the military structure of the Roman legions that made it the most feared army in the then known world and the “guerrilla” tactics of the slave armies and more than our fair share about the fate of rebellious slaves who do not win-capital punishment by crucifixion.
As to comparisons between the film and novel in the film Spartacus (in the person of Kirk Douglas) is front and center in person from the first few minutes and the story unfolds from his transfer from a desert mine to the gladiator school at Capua (the owner played by Peter Ustinov) through the gladiator uprising and the various attempts to break the Roman legions and leave Italy. In the book the story is told in reverse, after the defeat and death of Spartacus, the whole Servile War period is summed up by reflections back on those events by the other characters. Of course the love story between Spartacus and Varania (played by Jean Simmons) is more muted. All in all, if you take the three hours to view the film then you really should read Fast’s novel. Then you will know why we proudly honor the name and exploits of Spartacus in left-wing politics even today.
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