300.000 Baci: Racconti d’amore queer dal mondo antico

by Seán Hewitt, Luke Edward Hall

Per secoli, le tracce di amore queer nel mondo antico sono state dimenticate o rimosse. Persino oggi, solo poche testimonianze sono ricordate: l’amore selvaggio tra Achille e Patroclo, quello doloroso che traspare dai testi di Saffo e i tre generi introdotti dal Simposio di Platone. Eppure, esiste una ricca tradizione letteraria degli amori queer di epoche greca e latina che vanno ben oltre le pruriginose traduzioni di poche opere note. Accanto ai celebrati versi di Omero, Saffo, Ovidio e Catullo, si svela una vasta gamma di opere raramente riportate nelle antologie: poemi erotici, dialoghi intensi, dissertazioni filosofiche e persino il testo di un graffito salvato dalle rovine di Pompei. Grazie alla sensibilità letteraria di Hewitt e le vivide illustrazioni di Hall, scopriamo relazioni che sono allo stesso tempo spirituali o lussuriose, tenere o crude, immortali o tormentate.

Genres: Poetry, Queer, LGBT, Nonfiction, Mythology, History, Short Stories

224 pages, Hardcover

Published October 5, 2023

About the author

Seán Hewitt's debut collection of poetry, Tongues of Fire (2020), won the Laurel Prize in 2021. His memoir, All Down Darkness Wide (2022), won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2022. He lives in Dublin.

Reviews

[jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

went from

”having a crush is so fucked up cause what do you mean it took me three hours to fall asleep last night cause i was *checks notes* … busy imagining what it would feel like to touch his fingers???”

to

“For my part, I pray to the gods that, throughout my life, it might be my pleasure to sit beside him, to hear him talk to me in that sweet voice, to go out into the world with him and be always part of his life.”

over the course of reading this; and for that feeling alone it was worth panic buying this book on that fateful second date.

(also i definitely got my 300,000 kisses hihi)



personally, i’m a sucker for randomly thrown together text excerpts and art pieces based on a broad topic so this was definitely the book for me. some very relatable queer experiences those ancient greeks and romans were having. will definitely reread some of the stuff in here.; tattoo the entire 300,000 kisses poem on my body - you know how it is.

[Andrew H · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A ground- breaking anthology that changes the way that we see the ancient world" says the publishers (Penguin). Really? It did not change my view of the ancient world one iota -- read it all before. An opportunity to identify with "queer archetypes" says the Introduction, misusing the word archetype. For some bizarre reason, a section from Book 4 of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura on the nature of psychological images and Venus is offered as an example of queer love and reduced to a bit of wet-dream titillation. The illustrations are trendy in a sort 0f pseudo-Cocteau way, favour style over emotional content, but do have a funkiness that will sit nicely with Vogue on some minimalist coffee table overlooked by lavender wallpaper. No doubt this will make a nice stocking filler for Christmas, beyond that it has little literary or artistic merit.

[Márcio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the book is presented as a landmark "illustrated anthology of queer Greek and Roman love stories", I doubt it, for I have read other such anthologies with a much better approach and quite good introductions. Don't get me wrong, Seán Hewitt is a poet and a writer of great talent, which doesn't mean each and all of an author's attempts might result great.

300,000 kisses felt more like an editorial pursuit rather than an authorial one. Not even the translation is top-notch; it had a sense of versions of translations brought to a new audience of readers who can't stand metric poetry or are too lazy to read it that way, for in most of the texts they have a sense of free verse.

There is also the problem that for such an anthology, there should be a much broader introduction that could deepen its main theme. What I found was a very short introduction, mostly designed to justify the subtitle of the book, and even then, providing a vision from a contemporary perspective, rather than references from the studies and books contained in its biography at its end. Even the use of contemporary terms to justify ancient social practices and attitudes can be troubling. Love in Ancient Greece could have many faces: philia (deep friendship); ludus (playful love); agape (love for everyone); pragma (longstanding love); philautia (love of the self); storge (family love); and mania (obsessive love). In some of the poems and texts, there is a clear sense of philia, pragma, and eros in the relations portrayed. But in others, it felt like philia, no hint of eros or pragma. A much broader introduction could also explain the somewhat random disposal of the texts.

All in all, it can be a start for new readers, but it lacks profundity for those who yearn for more.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I began hating this anthology when Mr. Hewitt dragged in the Oscar Wilde's 'Love that dare not speak its name' speech about the love common to Plato, Shakespeare and Michelangelo! Really?! are we (as in queer men) still dragging out these old tired tropes?! As a schoolboy in 1970's Ireland I found neither Plato's philosophy or Shakespeare's or Michelangelo's poetry of any relevance or help in deciding what the raging hard on I got around boys my age meant. I didn't need Plato or any others, including Wilde (and really is there any greater contrast than between Wilde's definition of that love and the reality of his life with Douglas or anyone else?) Do queer boys and girls need it now? When I left Ireland and found myself in London and discovered the works of Gay Men's Press authors of the 1980's like David Rees and Tom Wakefield (woefully forgotten) stories about about real/ordinary gay/queer people not fanciful justifications based on some old artist lusting after younger boys.

So that was page one of the introduction and it was all downhill from there so here are some of my complaints in no particular order:

1.) Theognis's elegy "...Boy, you're like a horse..." is illustrated by a boy sitting on a horse - I am dam sure that neither Theognis nor any other queer man thinks that is what he meant.

2.) This apparent prudery is odd because elsewhere Hewitt makes great play of how Martial's epigrams were censored and suppressed and in support of this he mentions editions of his works published 1897 and 1919 - so are we are supposed to imagine he is striking a great blow for freedom in publishing his translation (but is it his? - see below) The truth is there have been many, many translations of Martials epigrams scholarly, popular and pornographic since 1919 - no one has suppressed him in 100 years.

3.) The authorship of the translations in this book is not specified, Hewitt is not a classicist, acknowledgement is given for help finding texts but I am pretty sure they are all out of copyright texts which he has 'adapted' to bring out queer elements in a way totally alien to the original - I have made a cursory comparison of some of the classical texts with very modern queer sounding versions by Hewitt? or whoever did them, with other more scholarly translations of the poems and the versions in this book come close to misrepresentation.

4.) The story of Achilles and Patroclus comes from Plutarch not Homer, which is rather bizarre except that it allows Hewitt to claim Christianity suppressed romantic/sexual aspects of their relationship. Well Homer is actual silent about the Achilles/Patrocolus relationship and although many classic age and later Greek and Roman writers read Homer's story as that of a love and his beloved not everyone did, or not in the way Plutarch mentions it.

5.) The inclusion of Greek and Roman writers as if they all meant, understood and said the same things about 'queer' love is egregiously deceptive.

But my biggest problem with this anthology is the labelling of these authors and excerpts as 'queer' it is a concept that is just anachronistic and Mr. Hewitt does admit this in a limited way in his introduction but then ignores the reservation and applies not only the 'queer' tag but the transgender one indiscriminately. This just won't do, the meaning of drag queens in 'gay' culture has gone through wild changes of understanding and acceptance (and you only have to read a writer like Ethan Morden's first 'Buddy Cycle' book 'I don't think we are in Kansas Anymore?' to see how far) so to now retrospectively apply today's labels not to people and events fifty years ago but to millennia ago is absurd. Provincial UK museums can relabel Heliogabalus as a 'trans' emperor but he wasn't - the idea of 'gender' didn't exist.

By labelling the past as 'queer' is to hide what was best about the past - they did not think in terms of either Judaeo-Christian morality or the medico-legal definition of 'normal' or 'straight' as opposed to the non-normal or non-straight. In the past the story of Heracles and Hylas, Alexander the Great and Bagoas, the poetry of Catallus, the Epigrams of Martial, etc. were not 'queer' stories, they did not celebrate 'queer' love. They were everyone's stories and they celebrated love which everyone understood and accepted. The Sacred Band was an army of 'lovers' not 'queer lovers' these stories, poems, legends and histories were for everyone. To corral them into a 'queer' ghetto is possibly the greatest betrayal of what these works can mean. They belong to everyone and spoke to everyone and we should be looking to recapture that, not hoard these tales as 'ours' and thus limit them.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely beautiful book. As to the words on the page: Hewitt's translations breathe contemporary life into the Greco-Roman stories of queer persons. My only quibble was that I wish there was a bit more scene-setting for the historical context of the stories, which range across the centuries and across societies. However, I understand the tension of needing to engage the reader and not be a history book.

As to the art and design: Hall's works make this book a coffee table piece in all but dimensions. Absolutely stunning. I wish there were prints available for purchase. Hall's colors and whimsy become the treat the reader looks for at every turn of the page. By the end of the book, Hall presents so many beautiful scenes and studies that are worth framing.

Overall, a great book worth reading and savoring.

***Note: I received an ARC of this novel from Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.***

[Mia Guzzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

300,000 Kisses by Seán Hewitt and Luke Edward Hall documents queer love in ancient Greece and Rome for all its complexity and beauty— but above all, showing how queer people are an undeniable part of history.

This anthology is very unique in that it does not tell you what the dynamics of or ideologies regarding being queer was like in this era, instead, it shows you! With a short bit of context before every excerpt, the reader gets to build what queer life was like in this period for themselves. While it may not be the perfect introductory book to the ancient world, I definitely recommend for anyone who wants to do a deep-dive into such an integral— but often ignored or misconstrued— part of not just queer history, but history, in general.

What I found to really be a great part of this specific anthology is the care of Sapphic love and women. There was, admittedly, a sad lack of Sapphic stories, which is not a critique of the authors, at all! While it did feel a bit empty without much Sapphic content, there was great care in balancing education on the exclusion of women while still allowing Sapphics to see themselves happy. The Greeks and Romans did not like women and that is very closely tied to their beliefs regarding queerness, however, by digging deeper like 300,000 Kisses did there is still beauty in queer love—for both men and women— that was untainted by misogyny.

As someone way too invested in the dynamics of queer love in the ancient world, this is a great place to go to to see first-hand and not just be told what these relationships were like. With charming drawings along the way, the reader is taken on a journey of the ancient world for all its beauty and faults.

Queer love in the ancient world was messy, problematic, beautiful, but beyond everything it was undeniably present— 300,000 Kisses captures this idea perfectly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarkson Potter for this ARC!

[Callum Morris-Horne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5.

Fluorescent and fascinating, this is a heterogeneous anthology of texts from the ancient world which reflect upon homosexual desire and queerness in all its metamorphic forms. Paired with flamboyant paintings, each tale—featuring anyone or anything from disgruntled gigolos to Sapphic throuples—contributed to my revolutionary reconsideration of queer love and its place in the Classical canon. Before, I thought it was just Platonic pederasty and tragic-fated twink twosomes; now, I know it’s so much more. I particularly praise the collection for avoiding the temptation of anachronism, whilst still allowing for parallels to made to our present moment.

[Kj · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology drawn from historical, philosophical, mythological, as well as social texts is a bouquet of bright, dark, luminous, tragic, and luscious pages, including colorful, free-spirited illustrations by Luke Edward Hall.

Seán Hewitt's translations resound with intimacy and familiarity even in those where the content feels most distant due to time and cultural context. Each pericope includes an introduction, attuned to help readers orient themselves into the source material, offering light interpretive frames, but with just enough guidance to help one find one's own interpretation. I also appreciated the contextualization of many texts' problematic premises or ethical differences, which allow the texts speak on their own terms but without evading the trickiness and complexity of encountering them from contemproary viewpoints.

I loved turning each page, discovering flashes of imagery and phrasing that broke my heart and made me smile. Would love this to kick off a series...

[lucien]

rtc!

[Henrique · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 ⭐

It was good I guess. It became a task to finish this book after the first few poems.

I think I would prefer a retelling of these tales, instead of a short summary from the author and a somewhat questionable translation of the original source material. I don't know, it just feels like lazy writing to me.

The artwork is delightful. I want all those illustrations tattooed on my body!

[Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this felt decadent

[Hunter McLaren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!!!! I often forget how much queer history exists, and this is one beautiful, celebratory slice of it. I could read these stories a hundred times over and not get sick of them

This will have a special place on my bookshelf :’)

[Jess Esa · Rating 3 out of 5]

300,000 Kisses is a gorgeous book to have and reference, and the watercolors are just stunning. A lot of love has clearly been put into it. Unfortunately, I think it misrepresents itself a little because it's a collection of excerpts rather than stories, and some of the great loves described have absolutely no impact without the context of the full story. It's at its best when it presents poems or epigrams where you're able to read and appreciate the whole or as a reference book to find the stories you're interested in. I really appreciate what they've tried to do with this, and I found some wonderful new things to go and read from here, but it's not exactly what it's presented as.

[Ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have loved this when I was sixteen, and I think there’s absolutely an audience for this among pretentious teenagers with an interest in history, for whom this is a better bet than a Penguin anthology with some rather dodgy/antiquated translations. Alas, I am now an adult with a classics degree and a fondness for Catullus in the original Latin, and the Catullus translations aren’t very good (especially not Catullus 16. What’s happening there??). The Martial and Ovid are similarly underwhelming (and the Martial is straight up inaccurate). I will give it this: unlike the Penguin edition of Plato’s Symposium, no one here is translating ‘eromenos’ as ‘boyfriend’.

[Lucy Wragg · Rating 5 out of 5]

i LOVED this anthology so much. the illustrations are so beautiful, and there were so many extracts i’d never heard of before, even after scouring every library resource available from top to bottom for my dissertation and other essays. welled up lots of times, loved. lots of criticism i’ve seen is about the fact that it is quite entry-level, and the introductions to the pieces are not hugely well-informed or in-depth, but picking up a book like this wasn’t for academic purposes and i didn’t expect or want to be overly educated. i really enjoy engaging with the subject on a less formal but also not totally basic way. i understand why not everyone likes it, but it was exactly what i was looking for.

[Mazzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful book, accessible and concise introductions to the various, mostly very short texts/excerpts. I was drawn to this book by its stunning cover; the felt-tip illustrations are beautiful (if you don't look at them for too long) but repetitive (and didn't dare be explicit when the text was).
I found it unsatisfactory that there was no context given to the translations; it left me wondering how "free" or "close to the original" the translations were.

[Joey]

"Steeped in honey, Juventius,
your golden eyes, and as sweet too
when I press my lips to them –
three hundred thousand kisses
is not close to enough."

An enlightening and moving collection of "tales of queer love from the ancient world" (i.e., ancient Greece and Rome). It's both empowering and sobering to see proof that history and culture have not been a straight line but a series of peaks and valleys, dictated by the whims and preferences of the powerful. What might the world have been, for better and for worse, if Rome never fell and Christianity never spread? We'll never know, but these insights into a past civilization are important and essential – and the original art for this book is gorgeous.

[Ethan]

I don’t really feel like rating this one for some reason.
I’m honestly just really glad this book exists and that I have it and that this archive is alive to show queerness has been around in its many different forms for ages.

Also, the illustrations. C’mon. They’re gorgeous. Simple, but gorgeous.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

jesus this took me forever to finish. lol honestly brought me back to some of my college classes. not a big fan of how the passages were translated and i wish the author spent more time with each story. the illustrations are gorgeous tho

[maité · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book shows once more that queer people have always existed, albeit hidden and persecuted.

for me, there was a nice balance of stories I'd read before, some I recognised and some I had never heard of. the illustrations throughout the books were a nice way to visualise the stories and have a bit of a break between them.

every story also had some background information that sometimes had to clarify that yes queer love can sometimes be very exclusive, especially towards women.

I was sad to see that there weren't as many sapphic stories, but that's not the fault of the authors but of the time period. the sapphic stories that were included pulled on my heart like always (special shout out to sappho of course)

[sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

hewitt and hall did this just for me

[Maya F · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was… fine? the passages were mostly too short for me to get into any of them, and they mostly featured pederasty relationships which i probably should have expected but was still a bit disappointing. maybe that kind of relationship was the “normative” queer relationship in ancient greece though. but even then it took until 75% of the way through the book for the author to explain what pederasty was, and it was also around then that i realized that the words “lover” and “beloved” being used a ton were probably translations of erastes and eromenos. (btw this is coming from someone who got most of their knowledge on this from wikipedia and stuff so. maybe that’s a common translation but also if i felt this way about this i can’t imagine what someone who actually took classics courses would feel). i was also disappointed that there were maybe two stories about queer women when i read this for a sapphic book club. especially because the further reading section had a book entirely about female homosexuality in ancient greece? so you would think there were more stories that could have been included. also that this was only stories from greece and rome when i thought there might be ones from other ancient civilizations…. despite all of this i didn’t hate this book though, it was interesting to see the many different ways queer relationships were written about by classical writers, especially outside of the context of mythology. i’m also looking forward to book club on sunday because clearly i have a lot to talk about lol.

[Andie Hales · Rating 3 out of 5]

good to know that men have always been that obsessed with themselves

[Shivangi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shiv rating: 4 stars

This is just a really fun book to read somewhere outside in the sunlight when you wanna look kinda pretentious and artsy and are secretly hoping strangers think you look cool and mysterious. The physical book is beautiful. I’m talking coffee table worthy cover, a range of rich shades in the flyleafs (shoutout carly for the vocab word), thick creamy pages, and really pretty minimalist watercolors of men and women from greek mythology.

The only reason I think this thing got a low rating is because the author is a bittt pretentious and a bit too proud of himself for like “creating the first queer greek anthology ever” when like. clearly bro was not the first. It doesn’t do anything revolutionary. At the end of the day it’s a collection of preexisting literature with intelligent but not complex commentary. But it’s funnn!! It’s chill bro. There are water colors on almost every page and it’s really fun to read all the tales especially since they’re pretty directly translated, and honestly he’s really comprehensive with it. I’d heard of many of the main ones, but this guy included over 40 queer ancient greek tales. I can promise you haven’t heard of at least a handful of them. Overall, a very fun, low commitment (only like 200 pages) read that’s perfect for the summer and sunshine (and looking hot and mysterious). A win!!!

[Sephreadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

IL MIELE DEI TUOI OCCHI

Questa splendida antologia di Sean Hewitt illustrata da Luke Edward Hall e' composta da traduzioni dal latino e greco antico sulle mille sfumature dell'amore #queer, sia platonico che carnale, sia tragico che romantico.

Saffo, Omero, Catullo sono alcuni dei nomi che hanno parlato di relazioni lgbtq+ e questo splendido libro introduce tanti altri autori e autrici che hanno parlato del proprio o dell'altrui amore, in forma di versi o in prosa, brevi componimenti o dialoghi.

Ognuna delle storie e' introdotta da una nota sul contesto - ricordiamo, e' importante conoscerlo visto che si tratta di valori che possono ledere la sensibilita' contemporanea - , le traduzioni forse certe volte sono un po' troppo a mano libera ma glielo perdono volentieri, perche' lo scopo, come annunciato dallo stesso Hewitt a inizio libro, e' quello di esaltare gli esempi di epoca antica di amore queer, in tutte le sue forme, che nel corso dei secoli e' statao taciuto e nascosto per vergogna o pudore.

Se state pensando ad un regalo che parla di amore in tutte le sue forme, questo e' perfetto da trovare sotto l'albero!

[Matt Law · Rating 4 out of 5]

The majority of my Greek mythology and heroes knowledge came from my obsession in operas - e.g. Gluck’s Iphigenia en Tauride, Strauss’ Elektra, Berlioz’s Les Troyens, etc. My eyes were opened thanks to this gorgeous collection of writings and poems brilliantly selected and translated by Seán Hewitt, the beauty of the writing, philosophies, stories are enhanced by the beautiful illustrations by Luke Edward Hall. There are some hidden gems on queer love, desire and beauty in the Ancient Greek canon. In the Prologue, Hewitt points out that the chapters mainly focus on the men-to-men relationships, because the Greek philosophers and writers often hold a misogynic views on women. Their love are not as worthy or noble as the men's love.

My highlights are:
1) Plato created a speech given by comic playwright Aristophanes on love - why male pursue other men: "they do not seek other men out of shamelessness, but out of boldness, courage and masculine virtue".
2) Xenophon on love - comparing Heavenly Love and Common Love
3) Catullus' Pig Breeder Poem (Furius & Aurelius) #iykyk
4) Sappho's Fragment 31 Poem - watching an unrequited love talking to someone else

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow :,) Messy, gentle, harsh, and sacred all at once, this collection of unaltered excerpts of queer relationships in the ancient world is a striking eye into how perspectives of the LGBTQIA+ community and human nature in general have evolved (and not evolved) over time. I need a physical copy of this on my shelf to pore over and underline and dog ear. Undeniable proof that we have existed, always, in our painful, love-saturated glory.

Something that will stay with me in particular…one of the few poems to survive antiquity that have a woman speaker addressing a woman lover…discovered as graffiti on a wall in Pompeii…MOVED me. You have to read that excerpt of the book to experience the full gravity of this piece. :,)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIL_4.5296

The narrator did a great job giving context to each story, and fleshing out the reality of classism and misogyny in the ancient world. Very well-done all around.

[magalim96 · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the Greeks were gay affff!

BUT, the book also might have led us to the origins of toxic masculinity. Greek ideals were revived in the Renaissance and have informed today’s political systems (democracy, rule of law, republicanism). According to Plato, Socrates & other Greek philosophers/poets in this analogy of queer Ancient Greek literature & storytelling, ‚heavenly love‘ or the superior kind of love is between two actualised men/boys. Women‘s love is dangerous and lesser so.

There‘s some gender fluid passages (Ovid’s Iphis and Iante), with bi & sapphic lovers (Supplementum Magicum&Sappho) & dykes (Martial, Epigrams on Philaenis‘ exploits) that I liked too though. And very cute illustrations!

But as the French say, je suis restée sur ma faim. It‘s an intro to Greek queer thought, but the texts are short, sometimes maybe taken out of context and the whole edition feels kind of empty/superficial. I want and need real interpretation and depth, especially because as we have seen, there‘s material for it.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most delightful things I have ever read. As a person who grew up with ancient Roman history and Greek myth, this was wonderful and as a queer person, it was inspiring. This collection gave me so much queer join. Just reading these stories of 2000 years ago and queerness being talked about so normally was very healing.

Most stories were about cis male relationships. I had expected this as the Greeks and Romans (and all times after) were quite misogynistic, but I liked how the author framed this. Just because these are the stories that remained, doesn't mean the other stories never existed.

If you are queer and/or a fan of ancient Rome and Greece, these are just wonderful.

[mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating collection of fragments from ancient texts that depicted various kinds of queerness. It's definitely a collection that's more than the sum of its parts. The individual fragments and the commentary from Seán Hewitt were nice, but all of these fragments as a whole really made this book something special to listen to (which I somewhat regret doing now that I've found out the book is illustrated). This collection doesn't intend to tell the reader "look how great depictions of queerness in texts from the ancient world were." Rather, it shows modern audiences that queerness was present in ancient texts, even though a lot of it was censored in past translations, and I think it really succeeded on that front.