Beginning Middle End

The narrative and structure of Beginning Middle End are deeply rooted in classical literature and narratives, particularly Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, Seneca’s tragedies, and the myth of Proteus.

Pliny the Elder’s first-century Natural History is a monumental work that compiles the known world’s knowledge on an encyclopedic range of subjects from astronomy to zoology, corresponding more broadly to what Pliny considered part of the study of “life” rather than the subjects typically categorized as natural sciences today. Pliny’s work was notable for its extensive references to the works of other authors as sources for his writing, as well as the index, allowing the work to function as a precursor to the modern encyclopedia. Consequently, this text provides the organizational principle for Luiselli’s novel. Each chapter is divided into subsections whose titles, such as “SKY-YAWNINGS” and “MOTIONS OF THE PLANETS,” are drawn directly from Pliny’s table of contents. This framework mirrors Pliny’s digressive, associative style, weaving together personal memory, natural phenomena, and mythological inquiry into a non-linear whole. The fact that Natural History is the largest surviving work from the Roman Empire, along with the fact that several of its volumes were published after Pliny’s death by his nephew, Pliny the Younger, resonates with the anxieties surrounding memory, posterity, and legacy that Luiselli explores in her novel.