‘Never less than compelling … She consistently succeeds in bringing what might otherwise seem dusty and remote to vivid life’ Tom Holland, Literary Review‘Starts with an erupting volcano – and then gets more exciting … Wonderfully rich, witty, insightful and wide-ranging’ Sarah Bakewell‘Never less than compelling … She consistently succeeds in bringing what might otherwise seem dusty and remote to vivid life’ Tom Holland, Literary Review‘Starts with an erupting volcano – and then gets more exciting … Wonderfully rich, witty, insightful and wide-ranging’ Sarah BakewellIn a dazzling new literary biography, Daisy Dunn introduces Pliny the Younger, the survivor who became a Roman lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and representative of the Emperor. He was confidant and friend to the great and good, an unparalleled chronicler of the Vesuvius catastrophe, and eyewitness to the terror of Emperor Domitian.The younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle, admiral of the fleet and author of the Natural History, an extraordinary compendium of knowledge and the world’s first full-length encyclopaedia. The younger Pliny inherited his uncle’s notebooks and carried their pearls of wisdom with him down the years.Daisy Dunn breathes vivid life back into the Plinys. Reading from the Natural History and the Younger Pliny’s Letters, she resurrects the relationship between the two men to expose their beliefs on life, death and the natural world in the first century. Interweaving their work, and positioning the Plinys in relation to the devastating eruption, Dunn’s biography is a celebration of two outstanding minds of the Roman Empire, and their lasting influence on the world thereafter..Winner of the Classical Association Prize 2020‘A fascinating, compelling and excellent biography of the two great Plinys of Ancient Rome, as well as a celebration of nature, a study of literature and the human soul, and a lens into Roman society itself … This work of both scholarship and entertainment, arranged in Plinyesque seasons rather than strict chronology, is a delight that befits their high standards.’ Simon Sebag Montefiore‘Starts with an erupting volcano – and then gets more exciting. A wonderfully rich, witty, insightful and wide-ranging portrait of the two Plinys … and their world.’ Sarah Bakewell'Daisy Dunn’s book is an absolute delight. Meticulously researched and beautifully crafted, it shines a clear beam of light into the private lives of Pliny the Elder and Younger.' Giles Milton‘Immensely entertaining and readable …. Dunn has given us a delightful new biography … Thoroughly recommended’ Sunday Times‘Never less than compelling … Without ever veering into historical fiction, she consistently succeeds in bringing what might otherwise seem dusty and remote to vivid life … A portrait of the Roman Empire that gives the reader something of the shiver down the spine that Herculaneum can inspire’ Tom Holland, Literary Review‘It is a story …retold with vivid flair…Dunn knits [the two Plinys’] lives together well and analyses the influence that they would have later on scholars from the Italian Renaissance to the English Romantic poets’ The Times‘An enthralling and ambitious book … Dunn has a great eye for a story, and writes wonderfully’ The Daily Telegraph‘If only Daisy Dunn’s book had been around back when I was an aspiring classicist … Dunn is a good writer, with some of the easy erudition of Mary Beard … Her translations of both Plinys are graceful and precise … Her enthusiasm, together with her eye for the odd, surprising detail, wins you over’ New York TimesDaisy Dunn is a classicist, art historian and cultural critic. She read Classics at Oxford, before winning a scholarship to the Courtauld and completing a doctorate in Classics and History of Art at UCL. She writes and reviews for a number of newspapers and magazines, and is editor of Argo, a Greek culture journal. Her first books, Catullus’ Bedspread and The Poems of Catullus, were published in 2016.• FOLLOWS AN ESTABLISHED TRADITION OF CLASSICAL WRITING: Pliny would sit comfortably alongside recent non-fiction books, such as Tom Holland’s Dynasty (TCM: 36k), Mary Beard’s SPQR (TCM: 192.8k), Armand Marie Leroi’s award-winning Lagoon (TCM: 380k), about the ancient Greek biologist Aristotle. Pliny also shares ground with Robert Harris’s excellent novel, Pompeii (TCM: 619.6k).• PLINY WROTE THE FOUNDATIONAL TEXT OF NATURAL HISTORY/NATURE WRITING: With its frequent quotations from Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, Pliny shares with Leroi’s book an interest in the natural world, which is very much in favour. Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk (TCM: 287.4k) and Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks (TCM: 65k) have been enormously successful.• TV & BROADCAST INTEREST: In the autumn of 2017, Pliny was recently also the subject of a 4-part drama on BBC Radio 4. The popularity of last year’s British Museum blockbuster, Pompeii and Herculaneum, is an indication of how compelling this period of history remains.Competition: A Thousand Ships; Mythos; The Odyssey; SPQR A History of Ancient Rome; The Hemlock Cup; Helen of Troy. Natalie Haynes; Emily Wilson; Mary Beard; Bettany Hughes; Sarah Bakewell
Publicat de: HarperCollins Publishers