Thomas Fuller's new book

The writer Thomas Fuller, when asked to describe his new book, "The Classical World," calls it a novel of ideas, then quickly amends that description by describing it as a, "novel-log."

Mr. Fuller says his book, which is expected to be released by summer 2017, explores "ancient themes that, hopefully, haven't been exhausted": the proper roles of the individual and the state; the benefits of becoming an active philosopher; the crisis of Athenian democracy; and the transformation of pagan love worship into what is now known as romanticism.

"Romanticism carries the day," according to Mr. Fuller, "romanticism and the healthy hearts of two American tourists, a man and a woman, as they ramble through the hills and valleys of southern Italy, taking stock of the ancient world and finding they can't quite live in it full time."

The book was heavily researched, with Mr. Fuller drawing on texts ranging from Aristotle's 'Poetics' to biographies of Leopardi, Marcel Duchamp, and Charles DeGaulle.

"I read widely, the plays of Aristophanes, the work of the classical scholar Werner Jaegar, airline schedules, brochures of luxury resort hotels, the menus of restaurants good and bad, wine lists, "The Leopard" by Lampedusa. Toward the end I came to see that much of human history consists of men and women looking for things that don't exist."

Asked if he found parallels between the ancient world and the place we now call home, Mr. Fuller offered an anecdote from the life of General Charles DeGaulle.

"DeGaulle was giving a speech in Paris during the riots there in 1968. When a heckler shouted, 'death to the imbeciles', the general responded by saying, 'vast program.'