Andrea Marcolongo – författare

“It is to the Greeks that we turn when we are sick of the vagueness, of the confusion, of our own age.”—Virginia WoolfDiscover 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.

Lucid, compelling, enlightening“Marcolongo is today’s Montaigne.”—André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name“Shows how languages gives us new ways of seeing and understanding the world."—The Guardian“Marcolongo uses the secrets of the Ancient Greek language to illuminate a new way of perceiving the world.”—Refinery29From the international bestselling author of The Ingenious Language, a fascinating portrait of antiquity's most misunderstood, complex, and surprisingly modern hero.In times of peace and prosperity, it's natural to turn to Homer to learn about life's joys and passions; to experience the thrill and terror of war; to look for adventure in distant lands. But what about when things go wrong? What do we do when we find ourselves at the centre of one of the great upheavals of history? Then, writes Andrea Marcolongo, it's time to set the Iliad and the Odyssey aside, and call upon Aeneas.In her fresh, nuanced portrayal, Aeneas emerges as a multiform, deeply human hero, one who feels close to us in his vulnerability and capacity for empathy. His journey from the ruins of Troy to the shores of Italy holds many lessons for our present—chief among them that, even when all seems lost, through resilience and hope we can usher a new beginning.

In 490 BCE the indefatigable Athenian herald Philippides made his legendary 26 mile run to deliver to the people of Athens news of their city’s victory over the Persians. Each year, all over the world, thousands of athletes and millions of enthusiasts replicate Philippides’s marathon. Why do we run? To what end all the effort and pain? The Greeks were the first to ask these questions and to wonder why we choose to measure ourselves against others; they were also the first to suspend war, politics, and the daily workings of the state to enjoy days’ long public celebrations of athletic prowess.As the pandemic entered its second year, internationally renowned scholar and best-selling author Marcolongo discovers running. In this spirited, generous, and erudite book, she shares not only her scholarship but her own journey to understanding that a healthy body is a healthy mind.

One day in late spring, Andrea Marcolongo walks into an outdoor store in Paris to buy a camp bed, a sleeping bag, and a flashlight. Her destination, not a forest or mountain peak, but the deserted halls of one of the most famous museums in the world, the Acropolis of Athens. But it’s hard to be truly alone when you’re surrounded by the scarred beauty of the Parthenon, lit only by the moon and summoning shadows from the past. Amog them, Lord Elgin, the English diplomat who in the early 19th century orchestrated the controversial transportation of the Parthenon marbles from Ottoman Greece to London, where they remain today.As the night goes by, the empty space left by the missing statues starts evoking other, more personal absences. Marcolongo reflects on the ever-changing relationship between present and past, and on the choices that make us who we are. A powerful book that crosses time and space to remind us we cannot live in isolation but are continuously connected and indebted to others, from one of Europe’s most original classicists.

Altgriechisch ist ebenso außergewöhnlich wie erstaunlich und nicht die tote Sprache, für die wir sie halten – das hat Andrea Marcolongo erkannt. Ihr kluges und überraschendes Buch über die Sprache der antiken Griechen ist kein Lehrbuch und keine Grammatik, sondern eine Liebeserklärung an die Fähigkeit des Altgriechischen, unsere Wahrnehmung zu verändern. Es ist eine Entdeckungsreise zu den faszinierenden Besonderheiten dieser Sprache, die das damalige Weltbild maßgeblich beeinflusst haben. So kannten die antiken Griechen zum Beispiel keinen Zeitdruck, da Wörter wie früh, spät, gestern oder morgen keine Rolle spielten. Oder sie hatten die Möglichkeit, der Zweisamkeit mit dem Dual eine ganz eigene Bedeutung zu geben. Andrea Marcolongo bringt uns die Magie des Altgriechischen nahe und zeigt uns, was wir von den antiken Griechen lernen können, selbst wenn wir ihre Sprache nicht sprechen.