Synopses & Reviews
A bold reimagining of our civilization's greatest tale of war, by the author of the acclaimed best seller Silk.
Alessandro Baricco re-creates the siege of Troy through the voices of twenty-one Homeric characters in the narrative idiom of our modern imagination. Sacrificing none of Homer's panoramic scope, Baricco forgoes Homeric 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 almost three thousand 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 clamor of 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 startling 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 readers of Homer's indispensable classic.
Review:
“For all those curious about
The Iliad but intimidated by its heft, Baricco’s book offers a swift, stylish, summer-reading version of the great epic.”
San Francisco Chronicle
Review:
“A taut and mesmerizing tale.”
The Seattle Times
Synopsis:
A bold re-imagining of our civilization’s greatest tale of war, from the acclaimed and bestselling author of
Silk.
In An Iliad, Alessandro Baricco re-creates the siege of Troy through the voices of twenty-one Homeric characters, in the narrative idiom of our modern imagination. 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 almost three thousand years ago. Imbuing the stuff of legend with a startling 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 readers of Homer’s indispensable classic.
Synopsis:
The acclaimed author of the bestseller "Silk" now offers a bold reimagining of our civilization's greatest tale of war: the siege of Troy, as told through the voices of 21 Homeric characters in the narrative idiom of our modern imagination.
About the Author
Alessandro Baricco was born in Turin in 1958 and still makes his home there. The author of four previous novels, he has won the Prix Médicis Étranger in France and the Selezione Campiello, Viareggio, and Palazzo al Bosco prizes in Italy.
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