Yann Martel’s long-awaited new novel Son of Nobody is a brilliant retelling of the Trojan War from two perspectives, that of an ancient soldier and a modern scholar.
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were not the only ancient tales of the Trojan War. In Son of Nobody, Martel composes a new legend: an epic that follows Psoas of Midea, who leaves his family to fight at Troy. Psoas meets his doom and the poem of his life is lost—until an academic, Harlow Donne, discovers its relics 30 centuries later. As Harlow assembles the fragments in footnotes, he retrieves memories of Psoas’s wife and daughter and grapples with questions of ambition, family, and responsibility in both the ancient and modern worlds.
Readers of Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles and Emily Wilson’s The Iliad will revel in this breathtaking feat of the imagination.
Yann Martel is the author of Life of Pi, the global bestseller that won the 2002 Booker Prize and was adapted to the screen in the Oscar–winning film by Ang Lee.
6:30 PM
Enjoy a pre-event guided tour of Greek art in the DMA collection. Space is limited; advance registration is strongly recommended, and a tour ticket is required to participate. To register click here.
