An Iliad

An Iliad

by Alessandro Baricco (Author), Ann Goldstein (Translator)

Synopsis

Alessandro Baricco re-creates the siege of Troy through the voices of 21 Homeric characters. Sacrificing none of Homer's panoramic scope, Baricco forgoes Homer's detachment and admits us to realms of subjective experience his predecessor never explored. From the return of Chryseis to the burial of Hector, we see through human eyes and feel with human hearts the unforgettable events first recounted more than 3,000 years ago, events arranged not by the whims of the gods in this instance but by the dictates of human nature. With Andromache, Patroclus, Priam, and the rest, we are privy to the ghastly confusion of battle, the clamour of the princely councils, the intimacies of the bedchamber until finally only a blind poet is left to recount secondhand the awful fall of Ilium. Imbuing the stuff of legend with a startlingly new relevancy and humanity, Baricco gives us The Iliad as we have never known it. His transformative achievement is certain to delight and fascinate all the readers of Homer's indispensable classic.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
Published: 02 Aug 2007

ISBN 10: 1841959014
ISBN 13: 9781841959016

Media Reviews
Baricco creates a persuasive atmosphere of character-driven impending doom . . . Both celebration and condemnation of war, this Iliad manages to speak to yet another generation that needs desperately to hear its message. * * Kirkus Reviews * *
A swift, stylish, summer-reading version of the great epic. * * San Francisco Chronicle * *
You won't, and can't put it down * * Observer * *
Author Bio
ALESSANDRO BARICCO was born in Turin in 1958. He is the author of six novels, including Silk and Without Blood, all of which have been translated into English. His latest novel, Questa Storia, was recently published to great acclaim in Italy, and he has also produced five collections of essays and a theatrical monologue.