Don’t miss Yann Martel, author of the international sensation Life of Pi, discussing his new novel, Son of Nobody, in conversation with award-winning playwright and actor Ellen McLaughlin (The Greek Plays 2).
Son of Nobody is a brilliant and inventive retelling of the Trojan War through the eyes of two unlikely narrators: an ancient soldier and a modern scholar. At the heart of the novel lies The Psoad, an epic poem that follows Psoas of Midea, a goatherd’s son who leaves his wife and family to fight at Troy. Centuries later, the book’s alternate protagonist—a Canadian academic named Harlow Donne—uncovers the poem’s remnants while studying at Oxford, having left behind a wife and daughter of his own. As he translates the text, a quiet, almost mystical dialogue forms between ancient and modern lives, revealing the perennial ache of homesickness, ambition, longing, and regret.
Blending myth, history, and domestic intimacy, Son of Nobody moves effortlessly from the plains of Troy to the halls of Oxford, and from ancient verse to contemporary footnotes. It offers a fresh angle on the Trojan War—one centered not on kings and demigods, but on ordinary people whose stories rarely survive the centuries.
Martel and McLaughlin’s rich discussion will consider the enduring power of literature to bridge between worlds ancient, contemporary, factual, and mythical. A book signing will follow the event.