Mediterranean: The Passenger

IN THIS VOLUME: The Sea Between Lands by David Abulalfia; The Liquid Road by Leïla Slimani; The Cold One, the Hot One, the Mad One, and the Angry One by Nick Hunt • plus: the sounds and smells of the Mediterranean; the invention of the Mediterranean diet; and more…

The word “Mediterranean” evokes something larger than geography, and has historically marked a distinct cultural space, one where different people have met, traded, and clashed.

Today the Mediterranean appears to be in crisis, neglected by the EU, and at the centre of one of the greatest migrations in history. While millions of tourists flock to its shores, hundreds of thousands of people face a dramatic journey in the opposite direction—to escape wars, persecutions, and poverty. The liquid road, as Homer called it, is increasingly militarized, trafficked, and polluted—as well as overheated and overfished.

But the Mediterranean remains a source of wonder and fascination—a space not entirely colonized by modernity, where time flows differently, and where multiple cultures and languages are in very close contact and dialogue.