Author:Jennifer March
The figures and events of classical myths underpin our culture and the constellations named after them fill the night sky. Whether it’s the raging Minotaur trapped in the Cretan labyrinth or the twelve labours of Hercules, Aphrodite’s birth from the waves or Zeus visiting Danae as a shower of gold, the mythology of Greece and Rome is full of unforgettable stories. All the stories of the Greek tragedies – Oedipus, Medea, Antigone – are there; all the events of the Trojan wars and of Odysseus and Aeneas’ epic journeys; the founding of Athens and of Rome…
These are the strangest tales of love, war, betrayal and heroism ever told and, while brilliantly retelling them, this book shows how they echo through the works of much later writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Camus and Ted Hughes. Full of attractive illustrations and laid out in eighteen clear chapters (the titles include ‘Dangerous Women’ and ‘Heroes’), Dr Jennifer March has written a fascinating guide to the myths of classical civilization that is as readable as a novel.
Both fun and funny. It is sharp too, in the sense of painful as well as witty... Barnes dissects with tremendous verve and insight this awesome inevitability of death and its impact on the human psyche. He also tears at your heart
—— New StatesmanA maverick form of family memoir that is mainly an extended reflection on the fear of death and on that great consolation, religious belief... It is entertaining, intriguing, absorbing...an inventive and invigorating slant on what is nowadays called 'life writing'. It took me hours to write this review because each reference to my notes set me off rereading; that is a reviewer's ultimate accolade
—— Penelope Lively , Financial TimesA brilliant bible of elegant despair...that most urgent kind of self-help manual: the one you must read before you die
—— Tim Adams , VogueIntensely fascinating
—— The TimesAn elegant memoir and meditation. A deep seismic tremor of a book that keeps rumbling and grumbling in the mind for weeks thereafter
—— Garrison KeillorAn essay in the best sense: speculative and precise, intimate and metaphysical, capacious and democratic in the variety of voices, alive and dead, that are invited to counsel the author as he edges his way towards the void
—— TLSIntensely serious book of striking elegance: a clever, complicated reverie on last things, so full of ideas as to reveal itself quite slowly, through frequent re-reading
—— Jane Shilling , Sunday Telegraph, Books of the YearA fantastic work of non-fiction, a showcase for his elegantly unfussy sentences and Barnes's ability to burrow to the very bottom of a subject, no matter how daunting
—— Colin Waters , The Sunday HeraldJulian Barnes takes on the ambitious subject of death - and succeeds brilliantly
—— William Leith , ScotsmanIt is a sincere, humble work, punctuated by moments of poignancy
—— Colm Farren , The Irish TimesThis year, its moving, sly, terrified grappling with the approach of extinction overwhelmed me
—— Andro Linklater , Spectator, Books of the YearA rather beautiful account of the birth and evolution of Islam ... Lucid and illuminating ... Fascinating
—— MetroAslan is an engaging writer, his strength lies ... as an observer of contemporary challenges facing Islam ... Sensitive and generous
—— FT MagazineEnthralling. A book of tremendous clarity and generosity of spirit
—— Jim Crace
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