This is a decidedly unromantic account of the life of Alexander, which as historical fiction feels like a cross between a fairy tale and one of Freud's case studies. True to the literary mixed media telling of his life, Alexander's death combines extreme unction with a quasi-stigmata wherein an angel reassures Alexander that he'll reincarnate as Jesus Christ, or something like that. Somewhere off in another part of the library Mary Renault is spinning in her grave.

Anyway, for all that, this isn't a terrible book. If it was meant as a critique of absolute power, it's dyspeptic rather than tragic. (A somewhat embarrassing rendering.) I enjoyed it as a deterministic horror story of desire scorned. I'll never look at Clitus quite the same way again. ( )

As you would expect, Klaus Mann's Alexander covers roughly the same ground as all the other Alexander novels out there, but the emphasis is rather different. The great battles and epic marches are barely footnotes in this story: everything is about the struggle for Alexander's soul between, on the good side: Aristotle's Hellenic (read: Germanic) rationalism and healthy outdoor activity in the nude; on the bad side: Philip's macho ranting, Olympias and the cult of the Mother Goddess, and perfumed Persian sophistication in baggy trousers. Lovely writing, but there's something rather disturbing about seeing someone you're used to thinking of as a political opponent of the Nazis going into ecstasies about the Macedonians' short skirts and hard, sunburned bodies... ( )

The language and structure is neither riveting nor convincing, but the storyline carries one along Alexanders life. Not a masterpiece but a fast moving story on his life. ( )

Ein Roman über Alexander den Größen, in dem fast alle Feldzüge und Schlachten nur im vorübergehen erwähnt werden, ja manchmal erfährt man sogar erst über die militarischen Beschäftigungen in einem Nebensatz, wo es steht, dass der Gegner in die Flucht getrieben ist.

Anstatt auf Strategie und machtpolitische Abhandlungen zu konzentrieren, ist Klaus Manns "Alexander" ein Roman über den inneren Leben eines Menschen, der im Leben keine Ruhe findet und unaufhörlich die Grenzen der Welt und des menschlichen Wissens sucht. Manchmal erinnert es an Hermann Hesse (besonders "Siddhartha"), da die Reise nach Indien gleichzeitig eine geistige Reise darstellt. Detailliert werden auch Alexanders Beziehungen zu seinem engsten Umkreis beschrieben -- die Mutter, derentwegen er die Welt zu erobern versucht, seine beide Kameraden, mit denen er in einem unglücklichen Dreiecksbeziehung verwickelt ist.

Kein historischer Roman im traditionellen Sinn, sondern ein Charakterstudie. Schön geschrieben, erstaunlich kurzweilig, und bei weitem nicht so langatmig wie die Romane seines Vaters.

As opposed to the American lost generation of his time, the author employs a traditional writing style, whilst short sentences would have been more appropriate to Alexander's restless life.