Long Live Latin, Nicola Gardini
Long Live Latin, Nicola Gardini
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Long Live Latin
The Pleasures of a Useless Language

Author: Nicola Gardini, Todd Portnowitz

Narrator: Todd Portnowitz

Unabridged: 8 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/12/2019


Synopsis

"It's a genuine pleasure to hear spoken Latin--lots of it, and by many of the great classical authors, including Cicero, Ovid, and Virgil--and to follow the story of Gardini's lifelong infatuation with a language that is nowhere and everywhere in our modern lives... This is an audiobook to appreciate on many levels, most of all, to hear the sound of Latin again, so familiar and so essential to the ear." — AudioFile Magazine

A lively exploration of the joys of a not-so-dead language

From the acclaimed novelist and Oxford professor Nicola Gardini, a personal and passionate look at the Latin language: its history, its authors, its essential role in education, and its enduring impact on modern life—whether we call it “dead” or not.

What use is Latin? It’s a question we’re often asked by those who see the language of Cicero as no more than a cumbersome heap of ruins, something to remove from the curriculum. In this sustained meditation, Gardini gives us his sincere and brilliant reply: Latin is, quite simply, the means of expression that made us—and continues to make us—who we are. In Latin, the rigorous and inventive thinker Lucretius examined the nature of our world; the poet Propertius told of love and emotion in a dizzying variety of registers; Caesar affirmed man’s capacity to shape reality through reason; Virgil composed the Aeneid, without which we’d see all of Western history in a different light.

In Long Live Latin, Gardini shares his deep love for the language—enriched by his tireless intellectual curiosity—and warmly encourages us to engage with a civilization that has never ceased to exist, because it’s here with us now, whether we know it or not. Thanks to his careful guidance, even without a single lick of Latin grammar readers can discover how this language is still capable of restoring our sense of identity, with a power that only useless things can miraculously express.

About Nicola Gardini

Nicola Gardini is Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford. A novelist, poet, critic, translator, and painter, he is the author of numerous books. One of his recent novels, Lost Words, was awarded the Viareggio-Rèpaci Prize and the Zerilli-Marimò / City of Rome Prize for Italian Fiction. Long Live Latin was a bestseller in Italy and has been translated into several languages.

About Todd Portnowitz

Todd Portnowitz is the translator of Go Tell It to the Emperor by Pierluigi Cappello; Midnight in Spoleto by Paolo Valesio; and Long Live Latin by Nicola Gardini. He is the recipient of a Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Meike on April 09, 2020

This is Latin nerd heaven, and Gardini's obvious passion and ethusiasm for the language, its literature and culture is sure to inspire some not-yet-Latinists to become true believers! :-) Don't expect some superficial motivational-speech-turned-book though: Gardini, a professor of comparative litera......more

Goodreads review by Antonio on January 16, 2018

Fosse esistito quando andavo al liceo, avrei apprezzato il latino e i miei voti sarebbero stati decisamente migliori. Un libro imprescindibile.......more

Goodreads review by Nathan on September 11, 2020

This is a book written by someone who, like many classicists, is greatly interested in the Latin language and desirous to interest other people in so being as well. If I am not exactly a Latin scholar myself, I am least passingly familiar with and interested in the language. And like the author, my......more

Goodreads review by Manuel on March 21, 2020

"Il latino, anche se non è più parlato, è testimoniato in una vastissima quantità di manoscritti e la scrittura, in particolare la scrittura letteraria, è un mezzo assai più efficace di qualunque esecuzione orale. Se, dunque, il latino permane nella forma scritta più elaborata che si possa pensare,......more

Goodreads review by Fred on November 11, 2024

This is not a long book, but it takes some time to read even if you know Latin pretty well. It is more a book about Latin literature than the Latin language. After a brief introduction to the language, Gardini looks at a series of major Latin authors: Catullus, Cicero, Ennius, Caesar, Lucretius, Ver......more