Publication Date: October 14, 2022
Two lovers crest the wave of the golden age of Athens: Pericles, statesman and general, and Aspasia, his courtesan, a philosopher’s daughter and a brilliant woman in her own right. In a world of hierarchies, he is at the top when she arrives as little more than flotsam cast up on Athenian shores. Their love transcends social sanctions, enduring and deepening despite the grave threat it presents to Pericles’ reputation as a leader of the Athenian democracy.
The novel unfolds against the background of the arts and history of the Golden Age seen through the eyes of two individuals who lent their particular brilliance to make it “golden,” Pericles, the great orator and visionary of democracy and its most influential woman, Aspasia. Their story takes them from the Agora-Athens’ marketplace-to the Acropolis, from the mercantile, raunchy Athenian Port Piraeus across the Aegean Sea to East Greece. Pericles and Aspasia-together and apart-navigate treacherous paths from venal calculations to impassioned philosophical inquiry, from high-stakes sea battles to the passions of family life.
Pericles and Aspasia engages issues that are vital today-the paradoxes of democracy, the tensions of hierarchy, the ironies of gender, and others-but this novel is immersed in classical Athens: the city, its sunshine, its physical presence, its people and their struggles and aspirations.
Ancient Greece comes alive as the backdrop for the romance between a couple remembered for their contributions to politics and philosophy.
In Pericles and Aspasia, author Yvonne Korshak delivers a debut novel steeped in history. Packed with references to the greats of fifth-century Greece, such as Socrates, the story follows the relationship between a respected statesman and his courtesan.
Aspasia, the daughter of a philosopher, not only knows how to read, but her ability to communicate those thoughts serves as a magnet for Pericles. Together, they embark on a quest for democracy.
The author’s thorough research is evident within the text, in addition to descriptions that are reflective of the time period. A helpful cast of characters appears at the end of the book, followed by additional historical documentation.
Pericles and Aspasia highlights a fascinating time in the history of Ancient Greece, unfolding within the pages of a 490-page epic tale.
Yvonne Korshak received her BA with honors from Harvard, and her MA in Classics and Classical Archaeology and PhD in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley.
As a professor at Adelphi University, she has taught Art History and topics in the Humanities, served as Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Director of the Honors Program in Liberal Studies, and Director of a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute. She has written and spoken widely on topics of Greek art and archaeology and on European painting, particularly on van Gogh, Courbet, and David. Her blog, “Let’s Talk Off-Broadway,” focuses on art and theater.
She has excavated at Old Corinth, Greece, and has visited almost all the cities, towns, landscapes, and seascapes in Greece—and what today is Turkey—that figure in Pericles and Aspasia.
She is currently at work on The Sword of the War God, a sequel to Pericles and Aspasia.
