Old Calabria Hb (Picador Travel Classics) [Hardcover]

Norman Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 1994 | Series: Picador Travel Classics

An account of Norman Douglas's travels from village to village in Southern Italy around the turn of the century. From Gargano to Aspromonte, the natives - and even the dogs, are treated with a certain disdain as un-British comic types.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“If there is a better book of travel in English, I do not know it.” —R. M. Dawkins, University of Oxford

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Norman Douglas was born in 1868 and was educated in England, Germany and France. He entered the diplomatic service in 1894 but was granted extended leave in 1896 to avoid a scandal. He settled in Italy and began to write seriously. Siren Land was published in 1911, Fountains in the Sand in 1912 and Old Calabria in 1915. Publication of South Wind in 1917 established his reputation but after this success he became and exile, living in Italy and travelling in India and Africa. He returned to England in 1942 but spent the last five years of his life in Capri, dying in 1952. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 357 pages
• Publisher: Picador (November 11, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 033033817X
• ISBN-13: 978-0330338172
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,175,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Montaigne meets Nabokov, September 29, 2009

By 

Patrick Goold (Portsmouth, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Old Calabria (Paperback)

If you enjoy books by literary travellers, you will love this one. In it a humane sensibility reveals itself in clean, meticulous prose. This is not a book about Calabria but a book about Norman Douglas in Calabria, a much more interesting topic. Read Paul Fussell's excellent essay on Douglas, "Norman Douglas's Temporary Attachments" and you will understand. In Abroad: British Literary Traveling between the Wars

5.0 out of 5 stars Misleading book description, January 7, 2012

By 

cd2011 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old Calabria (Paperback)

This book is a masterpiece of English literature on Italy. However the book description on Amazon is misleading. It is not about Calabria but "Old Calabria." To the ancients the area between northern Apulia (Puglia) and Calabria, and of course Calabria itself, was Calabria. The first half of the book is mostly about the area which is called Tavoliere di Puglia, which is in current-day Puglia, and parts of Basilicata (the old Lucania). Only the second half deals with current-day Calabria.

Norman Douglas's knowledge and grasp of Southern Italy is unsurpassed. I also highly recommend "Siren Land." Add to these Goethe's "Italian Journey" and you will have gained the kind of insight that no contemporary, olive-tree hugging, marketing-conscious author can ever provide.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Read, September 19, 2010

By 

C. A. Varipapa "Giancarlo" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Old Calabria (Paperback)

This was a brilliant book and thoroughly enjoyable. At first I got it to look into the nature of the Calabrian people but soon realized it was the story of one man's interpretation of his own travels through Southern Italy in areas that may at one time have been part of Calabria. Interestingly San Giuseppe di Cupertino was mentioned in the book but he is from Le Marche, far north of Calabria if old. Still a witty and sarcastic endeavor that was fun to read.