Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Andrea Marcolongo

The Ingenious Language

Cover: The Ingenious Language - Andrea Marcolongo

Andrea Marcolongo

The Ingenious Language

2019, pp. 208, Paperback
ISBN: 9781609455453
Translated by: Will Schutt
Region: Italy
Book collection: Europa Compass
Available as ebook Available as ebook Available as ebook
$ 15.95
READ NOW READ NOW READ NOW

The book

Nine Epic Reasons to Love Greek

For word nerds, language loons, and grammar geeks, an impassioned and informative literary leap into the wonders of the Greek language. Here are nine ways Greek can transform your relationship to time and to those around you, nine reflections on the language of Sappho, Plato, and Thucydides, and its relevance to our lives today, nine chapters that will leave readers with a new passion for a very old language, nine epic reasons to love Greek.

The Ingenious Language is a love song dedicated to the language of history’s greatest poets, philosophers, adventurers, lovers, adulterers, and generals. Greek, as Marcolongo explains in her buoyant and entertaining prose, is unsurpassed in its beauty and expressivity, but it can also offer us a way seeing the world and our place in it in new ways. She takes readers on an astonishing journey, at the end of which, while it may still be Greek to you, you’ll have nine reasons to be glad it is.

No batteries or prior knowledge of Greek required!

“Andrea Marcolongo is today’s Montaigne.”—André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name

“Fascinating. Marcolongo transforms nine linguistic peculiarities into existential questions.”—La Stampa

“Extraordinary and absolutely original [...] with a little ancient Greek, life is more exciting, colorful, and attractive.”—Italian Association for Classic Culture

The author

Andrea Marcolongo
Andrea Marcolongo is an Italian journalist, writer, 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 been published thus far. She is also the author of The Heroic Measure.

Press

From the same country

  • Cover: The Malcontents - Sacha Naspini

    Sacha Naspini

    The Malcontents

    2025, pp. 480, $ 25.00
    There is a village carved into the rock of the Maremma hinterland in Tuscany and its name is Le Case. A dying country. A provincial trap. A microcosm...
  • Cover: The Other Profile - Irene Graziosi

    Irene Graziosi

    The Other Profile

    2025, pp. 208, $ 17.95
    A story of a conflicted friendship and its unraveling, told against the background of an ever-present, mind-twisting social media-verse
  • Cover: The Bishop’s Villa - Sacha Naspini

    Sacha Naspini

    The Bishop’s Villa

    2024, pp. 192, $ 28.00
    From the best-selling author of Nives, a story of love, redemption, and resistance set in Italy during WWII
  • Cover: The Passenger: Naples - AA.VV.

    AA.VV.

    The Passenger: Naples

    2024, pp. 192, $ 22.00
    Fully-illustrated, The Passenger collects the best new writing, photography, art and reportage from around the world.    IN THIS VOLUME:...
  • Cover: The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan - Domenico Starnone

    Domenico Starnone

    The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan

    2024, pp. 144, $ 18.00
    Children can be cruel, and children can love as passionately as adults, more so at times. When these two facts combine and ignite the imagination...
  • Cover: The City of the Living - Nicola Lagioia

    Nicola Lagioia

    The City of the Living

    2024, pp. 432, $ 18.95
    From the winner of the Strega Prize, a spellbinding investigation of one of the most vicious crimes in recent Italian history and a journey into...

More suggestions

  • Cover: The Passenger: Naples - AA.VV.

    AA.VV.

    The Passenger: Naples

    2024, pp. 192, $ 22.00
    Fully-illustrated, The Passenger collects the best new writing, photography, art and reportage from around the world.    IN THIS VOLUME:...
  • Cover: The Ogre’s Daughter - Catherine Bardon

    Catherine Bardon

    The Ogre’s Daughter

    2024, pp. 384, $ 28.00
    The turbulent life story of Flor de Oro Trujillo, the eldest child of one of the world’s most brutal dictators.
  • Cover: The Passenger: South Korea - AA.VV.

    AA.VV.

    The Passenger: South Korea

    2024, pp. 192, $ 22.00
    Fully-illustrated, The Passenger collects the best new writing, photography, art and reportage from around the world.   IN THIS VOLUME:...
  • Cover: A Rebel in Gaza. A Daughter of Rafah Speaks - Asmaa Alghoul, Sélim Nassib

    Asmaa Alghoul, Sélim Nassib

    A Rebel in Gaza. A Daughter of Rafah Speaks

    2024, 335 min., $ 21.95
    “Gaza has always been rebellious... stubborn, addictive. I’m her daughter, and I look like her.”
  • Cover: A Rebel in Gaza. A Daughter of Rafah Speaks - Asmaa Alghoul, Sélim Nassib

    Asmaa Alghoul, Sélim Nassib

    A Rebel in Gaza. A Daughter of Rafah Speaks

    2024, pp. 224, $ 18.00
    “Gaza has always been rebellious... stubborn, addictive. I’m her daughter, and I look like her.”
  • Cover: Living with our Dead - Delphine Horvilleur

    Delphine Horvilleur

    Living with our Dead

    2024, min., $ 26.95
    Read by Jenna Rose Stein WINNER OF THE 2021 BABELIO PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION A timely, powerful reflection on our relationship to death...

Join Our Newsletter and receive a FREE eBook!

Stay updated on Europa’s forthcoming releases, author tours and major news.

Are you a bookseller? Click here!

Are you a librarian? Click here!

X