An Iliad: A Story of War

(Paperback, Main)

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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 startingly 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.

Reviews

* You won't, and can't put it down Observer * 'A swift, stylish, summer-reading version of the great epic.' San Francisco Chronicle * 'A taut and mesmerizing tale.' Seattle Times * '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

Author Bio

Alessandro Baricco was born in Turin in 1958. He is the author of six novels, including Silk and Without Blood, four of which have been translated into English. Ann Goldstein has translated works by, among others, authors Roberto Calasso, Alessandro Baricco, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Aldo Buzzi. She has been the recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Award.