Gardens of the Imagination: A Literary Anthology [Hardcover]

Sophie Birotti (Editor), Peter Malone (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1999

Retreat into Gardens of the Imagination, a magnificent anthology of fiction and poetry from some of the world's best-loved writers. Gardens have long fed the literary imagination, and their landscapes are abundant with meaning. Beautifully illustrated in lush hues by artist Peter Malone, this collection takes readers on an inspired journey through the garden haunts of Vladimir Nabokov, Zora Neale Hurston, Pablo Neruda, Italo Calvino, Lewis Carroll, Octavio Paz, and many others. At turns astonishing, moving, and magical, this eclectic collection of prose and poetry spans ancient Babylon to the present, Wonderland to Xanadu. It is a book sure to delight gardeners and readers alike.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Gardens have been the ultimate metaphor for birth, death, and renewal, for sanctuary and expulsion, ever since Adam and Eve were booted out of the Garden of Eden. Add that to the fact that gardens have been central to every culture on earth (think of the hanging gardens of Babylon and the palace gardens of Imperial China) and you understand why gardens have appeared so often in literature through the centuries. This lovely new book is filled with poetry and bits of prose written by such diverse authors as Lewis Carroll, Zora Neale Hurston, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Vita Sackville-West. Such a collection first impresses with the breadth of its authorship, then surprises with the realization that gardens have been an integral part of so many famous literary works. Most of all it delights, as each piece is appreciated afresh, graced with the luminous paintings of British artist Peter Malone.

The colorful artwork that fills the pages, one for each literary piece, along with stray snakes, trowels, flowers, and butterflies that float about across the pages, are what raise this book itself to the level of fine art. Malone has painted dreamscapes that capture the flavor of gardens lovingly crafted across cultures and centuries, of gardens only imagined, of the possibilities of gardens originally painted in words. He is no way restrained by realities, but brings his own deeply personal style to portraying gardens conceived in the minds of the authors. The style of the paintings is as lush and exotic as Rousseau, with a touch of the bizarreness, albeit far more warm and benign, of Dali's work. And all is done with the quality paper and beautiful color reproduction that we've come to expect of Chronicle Books. --Val Easton

About the Author

Peter Malone is a full-time illustrator who enjoys painting in gouache. His work has appeared in The Times and The New Yorker . He lives with his wife and two young daughters in the United Kingdom.

Sophie Birotti illustrated The Secret Language of Dreams (0-8118-0728-2) and The Possibility of Angels (0-8118-1530-7). He lives in London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1st Ed. edition (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811818845
• ISBN-13: 978-0811818841
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,792,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)