Bibliograph

Long live Latin, the pleasures of a useless language, Nicola Gardini ; translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz

Type

Label

Long live Latin, the pleasures of a useless language, Nicola Gardini ; translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Long live Latin

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Nicola Gardini ; translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz

Sub title

the pleasures of a useless language

Summary

Virgil gave us the Aeneid, and Ovid the Metamorphoses; Lucretius analysed the material world with sensuality and Seneca showed us how to live a good life -- but what does Latin offer us today? Often seen as the bulky relic of school curricula long forgotten, Latin seems to have lost its punch in the popular conscious. Professor Nicola Gardini argues the case for its lasting importance, offering a passionate defence of the beauty and future of the language. From ancient writers we can learn about such vital aspects of life as love, purpose, eloquence, beauty and loss. He encourages us to dig to the roots of our own language to consider how Latin has influenced the ways in which we communicate, think and live today. A formidable mix of history, memoir and criticism, this is an elegant love letter to one language that ultimately celebrates the vital power of all literature, and what we can learn about being human when we listen to our past

Classification

Contributor