Classical Literature

Kirkus Reviews
“A deft distillation of 1,000 years of literature. Classicist Jenkyns crafts a concise and spirited overview of poetry, drama, and prose from Homer to post-Augustan Rome, focusing on a broad swath of writers.... Jenkyns' enthusiasm and erudition infuse a shrewd, illuminating narrative.”

J. E. Lendon, professor of history, University of Virginia, and author of Song of Wrath and Soldiers and Ghosts
“In outlining the lofty, uncompromising, literary tradition of ancient Greece and Rome, by some magic Richard Jenkyns preserves and conveys the nobility and sublimity of his subject. The reader for whom this book is an introduction to the Classics will come away with a grasp of why classical writings are the irreplaceable soul of the West, while the reader who fancies his classical learning will be humbled by a rush of new ideas about works he or she thought long tamed.”

Christopher Pelling, Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek, University of Oxford
“If you want to know why the best classical authors are very, very good, this is the book for you—beautifully written, with a feeling for style on every page. If you want to know why some are not so good, this is the book for you too: Jenkyns does not mince his value judgments, and that makes it an even more refreshing read.”

Christopher B. Krebs (author of A Most Dangerous Book), The Wall Street Journal
"Thus an accessible and enjoyable overview of Greek and Roman literature such as Richard Jenkyns's Classical Literature: An Epic Journey From Homer to Virgil and Beyond is most welcome. He travels with us from the fountain, Homer, downstream, visiting the highlights of Greek and Roman literature, whose basic features he captures in brief and pithy phrases: Hesiod's didactic poetry on rural themes has a “dour peasant flavor”; Thucydides has a “hard and unblinking eye.” While we learn little about the afterlife of the classical texts, we learn a great deal about their artistry and their meaning.This is no surprise, as few scholars are better positioned to embark on such a journey than Mr. Jenkyns."

Library Journal, STARRED review
“A rich, witty, perceptive, and brief account of the Greek and Latin classics and their importance, both in themselves and in their enduring influence on the Western world. One of the best introductions available to the general reader.”

Sunday Telegraph (UK)
“[A]n epic undertaking, an odyssey of its own... There is a great deal in Jenkyns's book for which to be thankful... most of all his infectious love.”

G.W. Bowersock, The New York Review of Books
“In this short book, written in artfully uncomplicated prose, Jenkyns not only informs his readers about all the major authors of Greek and Roman antiquity but invariably delivers fresh, arresting, and by no means uncontroversial opinions on most of them. His book will certainly instruct those in search of information about classical literature, but it will also give profit and pleasure to those who already know something about it. There is scarcely anything on which he does not offer an original aperçu, sometimes illuminating, sometimes simply provocative, but always worth reading... Jenkyns's view of ancient literature is Olympian. He sees it from a great height, with a sharp eye and broad vision, and what he sees is never clouded or obscure. His success comes from an unusual conjunction of distance with a deep knowledge and love of the literature about which he writes.”