A Thing of Beauty
Travels in Mythical and Modern Greece
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022
‘Peter Fiennes’s road trip around Greece [is] engagingly described’ Mary Beard, TLS
‘Fiennes is a brilliant and generous guide through Greece’ Observer
‘A wonderful… really profound meditation on what it means to hope… a gorgeous excursion into Greece and across the centuries on an environmental quest’ BBC Radio 4 Open Book Book of the Year choice by Anita Roy
What do the Greek myths mean to us today?
It’s now a golden age for these tales – they crop up in novels, films and popular culture. But what’s the modern relevance of Theseus, Hera and Pandora? Were these stories ever meant for children? And what’s to be seen now at the places where heroes fought and gods once quarrelled?
Peter Fiennes travels to the sites of some of the most famous Greek myths, on the trail of hope, beauty and a new way of seeing what we have done to our world. Fiennes walks through landscapes – stunning and spoiled – on the trail of dancing activists and Arcadian shepherds, finds the ‘most beautiful beach in Greece’, consults the Oracle, and loses himself in the cities, remote villages and ruins of this storied land.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nature writer Fiennes (Footnotes) delivers a wide-ranging if scattered meditation on his travels in Greece. Drawing on myths, dreams, stories of climate change, and moments of hope that he encountered there during "the first year of Covid," Fiennes seeks to discover if Greece's origin stories are "in any way relevant to our now apparently distant lives." He makes effective use of foundational myths, which he draws on when describing the Acrocorinth and the Oracle at Delphi, and his descriptions of natural beauty, such as the Stymphalian Lake, are memorable. The narrative often veers from traditional travel writing to more environmental cri de coeur as Fiennes observes the impacts of a changing climate on littered beaches and in the unbearable heat, leaving him to wonder if humans are "at a turning point, or perhaps the end of the road" when it comes to the damage done to the environmental. The hopscotch narrative is often colored by the Covid-19 pandemic, as trips are delayed, typically crowded sites are deserted, and, in one instance, Fiennes picks up two hitchhikers attempting to make it home before borders close. But though the writing is passionate and lyrical, the many disparate pieces never quite coalesce. This one feels stuck in the departure lounge.
