The Ingenious Language: Nine Epic Reasons to Love Greek

Description

"It is to the Greeks that we turn when we are sick of the vagueness, of the confusion, of our own age."-Virginia Woolf Discover a new passion for a very old language, a language that can express what can't be said in any other, and thrillingly relevant to our lives today. A language that rewards desire by giving its own modal verb; bequeaths lovers a special case beyond singular and plural; prioritises mindfulness and dynamic presence through its very own grammar. A language that can transform our relationship to time and to those around us. A love song to the language of the greatest poets, philosophers, adventurers, lovers, and generals that ever lived. In Marcolongo's words: "Greek has been the longest and most beautiful romance of my life." Whether or not readers are familiar with ancient Greek, they will find Marcolongo's boundless enthusiasm for her subject utterly infectious.

Andrea Marcolongo is an Italian journalist, writers, Classics scholar, and former speech writer for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The Ingenious Language was a bestseller in Italy and in many of the other dozen countries in which it has thus far been published. She is also the author of The Heroic Measure. Will Schutt is the author of Westerly, winner of the 2012 Yale Series of Younger Poets award. His poems and translations have appeared in Agni, Narrative, The New Republic, and The Southern Review. For his translations of poems by Edoardo Sanguineti he received grants from the NEA and PEN/ America. He lives in Baltimore.

Aciman mentions THE INGENIOUS LANGUAGE as the first book on his nightstand and says "The Ingenious Language, by Andrea Marcolongo, who loves ancient Greece and gives antiquity a new, very modern face." -- Andre' Aciman * The New York Times * "A love story about a language, and its ability to affect our senses." * La Stampa * "Marcolongo writes about ancient Greek in a new, non-academic way. Her aim is to excite our interest for a language that today seems more alive and necessary than ever, because of its ability to 'tell complex things with simple, true, and honest words'." * Il Corriere della Sera * "The Ingenious Language is a love letter which aims to the dispel the dread that surrounds ancient Greek." * Rivista Studio * "A delightfully spirited yet succinct apologia for "the magnificent and elegant ancient Greek language"." * The Guardian * "Joyous, superb and exuberant, The Ingenious Language by Andrea Marcolongo is an irrepressibly compelling, playfully erudite and deliciously charming celebration of Greek. Everyone should read it." -- Simon Sebag Montefiore