Description

‘It will be read and re-read not as a treatise but as a story: one of the most extraordinary that has ever been written of the origins of Western self-consciousness’ Simon Schama

The marriage of Cadmus and Harmony was the last time the gods of Olympus feasted alongside mortals. What happened in the distant ages preceding it, and in the generations that followed, form the timeless tales of ancient Greek mythology. In this masterful retelling of the myths we think we know, Roberto Calasso illuminates the deepest questions of our existence.

‘The kind of book one comes across only once or twice in one’s lifetime’ Joseph Brodsky

‘A perfect work like no other’ Gore Vidal

Publisher Review

Sensuous, dazzlingly intelligent -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Sunday Times * The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony is a perfect work like no other -- Gore Vidal A brilliant and profound narration -- A.S. Byatt A masterpiece ... a wonderfully fashioned work of art -- John Banville Calasso has no equal in the sparkle of his storytelling and the depth of his learning -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * Enlivening, enthralling, essential: a classic -- Peter Conrad * Observer *