Sex, Seduction, and Myth in The Latinist

October 14, 2022 Topic: Book Review Region: World Tags: Book ReviewMythologyAncient GreeceApollo

Sex, Seduction, and Myth in The Latinist

Mark Prins’ new novel, The Latinist, offers an original variation on the well-worn Jamesian theme of the American girl adrift in European waters alive with crafty seducers.

THE LIBRARY of Congress lists this fine novel as a “thriller.” It is one, if of a rare kind. Will Tessa prevail in solving the mystery of Marius’ choliambics, the “limping iambs” familiar to classicists from Hipponax and Catullus; will she overcome the intriguing of Chris so as not to have to spend the coming years as a barista at some Starbucks? It all ends with a literal bang, owing to ingenious plotting and character development on Prins’ part, whose account of Tessa’s own metamorphosis could hardly be more enthralling.

Gunther Heilbrunn is a retired classicist living in Pittsburgh, PA.

Image: Giulio Nepi via Flickr.