really interesting post. As a book reviewer/book blogger for books set in Italy, I am never suprised by how many authors set their books here. Italy has inspired literary creativity throughout history and there are as many notable English writers as American. Many of Shakespeare's plays were set in Italy, Charles Dickens visited and then wrote Pictures from Italy. DH Lawrence had a passion for all things Italian and wrote Twilight in Italy, (1916)
Lawrence also wrote Sea and Sardinia , lived in Taormina where he wrote most of Lady Chatterlys Lover and in Tarquinia site of Etruscan Places……don’t you love walking in the footsteps of the writers who were here before us ?
Grazie, I write about things I know, and as an expat historian living in Italy since 1965 try to spread the stories to more people , to help build interest and appreciation
Twain is one tough critic. But I love that he wound up in Florence anyway. I’m also a big fan of Elizabeth Wharton’s writing about Italy. A little less judgmental than Hawthorne….
Your beautiful Amalfi guidebook features also in the new piece I published this morning Catania part 2. My cousins bought it, studied it and I gave them instructions for Sorrento to take the lift.... but there was construction going on when they went ashore and ended up taking the long hike uphill.
I love the quote from Twain, but even more the fact that he eventually wound up living for a time in Italy. By our contemporary standards, it's interesting how provincial so many of these great American writers from that period were, even in comparison to a subsequent generation like Henry James, Edith Wharton, etc. Or maybe Civitavecchia was really that bad...
thanks x the mention in this interesting post
really interesting post. As a book reviewer/book blogger for books set in Italy, I am never suprised by how many authors set their books here. Italy has inspired literary creativity throughout history and there are as many notable English writers as American. Many of Shakespeare's plays were set in Italy, Charles Dickens visited and then wrote Pictures from Italy. DH Lawrence had a passion for all things Italian and wrote Twilight in Italy, (1916)
Lawrence also wrote Sea and Sardinia , lived in Taormina where he wrote most of Lady Chatterlys Lover and in Tarquinia site of Etruscan Places……don’t you love walking in the footsteps of the writers who were here before us ?
Having read "Marble Faun" and "Innocents Abroad", I am glad to see someone paying attention to them here.
Grazie, I write about things I know, and as an expat historian living in Italy since 1965 try to spread the stories to more people , to help build interest and appreciation
Twain is one tough critic. But I love that he wound up in Florence anyway. I’m also a big fan of Elizabeth Wharton’s writing about Italy. A little less judgmental than Hawthorne….
a real new England Puritan ,wasn't he?
Thank you so much for sharing about my guidebook! What an honored company to be in here. Very interesting reading about Hawthorne's time in Italy!
Your beautiful Amalfi guidebook features also in the new piece I published this morning Catania part 2. My cousins bought it, studied it and I gave them instructions for Sorrento to take the lift.... but there was construction going on when they went ashore and ended up taking the long hike uphill.
I love the quote from Twain, but even more the fact that he eventually wound up living for a time in Italy. By our contemporary standards, it's interesting how provincial so many of these great American writers from that period were, even in comparison to a subsequent generation like Henry James, Edith Wharton, etc. Or maybe Civitavecchia was really that bad...