I'm not sure whether it's the imp of the perverse that put the idea into my head, but I've ordered four books that I hope will give me some perspectives on the current crisis:
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
The Plague by Albert Camus
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Epidemic in History
by John M. Barry
I welcome other suggestions.
Omitting Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror was obviously an oversight.
ReplyDeleteYear of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks?
ReplyDeleteYear of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks?
ReplyDeleteYes, a major one! Though I did reread it last year, so perhaps I can be forgiven for the omission.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course Thucydides (the shortest read). Ancient Greece's most famous epic and most famous tragedy both begin with plagues.
ReplyDeleteThank you both!
ReplyDeleteThe group read " The Medici Boy", by John L'Heureux, about gay Donatello, life in early renaissance Florence, and the imagined story behind his bronze David. There were outbreaks of plague, and deaths in the storyline.
ReplyDeleteI am currently enjoying "The Heart is a Full Wild Beast", by L'Heureux, a wonderful collection of his short stories, which had received a vey good review in The New York Times.
Ernie
PS- Hello to all. I am going to miss our regular meetings with all of you during this present health problem.
Thanks, Ernie. I miss you all, too!
ReplyDeleteDeath in Venice, of course. (Patrick Flynn)
ReplyDelete