ABOUT THE BOOK

The historical novel from author Yvonne Korshak, Pericles and Aspasia, set in Ancient Greece, immerses readers in a time of radical new ideals through the epic love story of a general known as “the first citizen of Athens” and a courtesan with the mind of a philosopher.

A tale of courtesans, philosophers, and cunning political statesmen during a period when democracy bloomed and of architectural wonders, Pericles and Aspasia, is a literary feat, with a love story to rival Anthony and Cleopatra’s.

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 intelligence and luster 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yvonne Korshak received her B.A. with honors from Harvard University, Masters 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.

TALKING POINTS

• Aspasia: feminist heroine or kept woman? The real- life Aspasia and the re-imagining within the novel.
• How Yvonne’s real-life archaeological experience and travel has informed the writing of the book.
• How Yvonne’s intimate knowledge of classical literature and theater experience has influenced her style of writing.
• ​​The process of blending fiction with history. The techniques used in weaving in aspects of Ancient Athens, during the Golden Age, along with an epic love-story. 
• Feminism in Ancient Greece compared to the current day cultural understanding of the movement today. 
• How Yvonne’s knowledge and study of archeology shaped Pericles and Aspasia giving the reader an immersive experience.  
• The gender divide: From Ancient Greece to today, does a democratic society truly exist for women?  
• Did Pericles and Aspasia have a real-life romance? How was it impacted and viewed at the time and today by historians? 
• Visiting the sites of Ancient Athens set in Pericles and Aspasia – can you walk in the footsteps of these characters today?