The fifth book, part memoir, part travel journal, by Alan Ross. It is based on his long acquaintance with the islands in the Gulf of Naples. Demobilised from the Navy, the war still fresh, Ross made a series of journeys in 1948 on foot all over Ischia, producing a kind of anatomy. He spent summers there in the 1950s and 1960s, a period when Moravia, Koestler, Auden and William Walton among others, made Maria's Bar in Forio a centre of gossip. More recently he returned: Capri in winter, Ischia at the end of the summer, the Aeolian islands in spring. This book, as well as being a description of the islands themselves, recalls some of those who brought fame by their presence - Gorky, Lenin, and Bunin; Pablo Neruda and Walter Benjamin; Rilke, Malaparte and Alex Munthe; D.H. Lawrence, Norman Douglas, and Compton Mackenzie. Naples, too, is an important part of Ross's experience and he records his pleasure in recalling it through the writings of Lewis and Burns.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A wonderfully civilised guide who bears his scholarship and his own memories lightly . . ." -- Patrick Skene Catling, The Irish Times
"Ross re-creates a web of old-fashioned charm, mixing reminiscence, literary allusion, digression, straightforward travel diary and belle-lettrism . . ." -- Jan Dalley, Financial Times
"Ross recreates a web of old-fashioned charm, mixing reminiscence, literary allusion, digression, straightforward travel diary and belle-lettrism . . . It all works with ease and elegance . . .an unusually enjoyable, learned and good-natured book"
--Jan Dalley, Financial Times
"A wonderfully civilised guide who bears his scholarship and his own memories lightly. . . reading Reflections on Blue Water is a winter holiday"
--Patrick Skene Catling, Irish Times
-- Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"Ross re-creates a web of old-fashioned charm, mixing reminiscence, literary allusion, digression, straightforward travel diary and belle-lettrism . . ." -- Jan Dalley, Financial Times
"Ross recreates a web of old-fashioned charm, mixing reminiscence, literary allusion, digression, straightforward travel diary and belle-lettrism . . . It all works with ease and elegance . . .an unusually enjoyable, learned and good-natured book"
--Jan Dalley, Financial Times
"A wonderfully civilised guide who bears his scholarship and his own memories lightly. . . reading Reflections on Blue Water is a winter holiday"
--Patrick Skene Catling, Irish Times
-- Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
About the Author
Alan Ross was a poet and writer and the editor of the London Magazine from 1961 until his death in February 2001. His own works include four poetry collections, three travel books, and two volumes of autobiography.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Non-Traditional Travelogue.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Reflections on Blue Water: Journeys in the Gulf of Naples and in the Aeolian Islands (Hardcover)
"Reflections on Blue Water" is an interesting book. It is not at all what I expected. Most travel book are a chronological account of a journey or an explicit description of a place. Alan Ross's book both, but is more a description of the author's state of mind at the time he visited the Bay of Naples and the Aeolian Islands. Alan Ross first visited the area after service in World War II. Part of his book contains his journals written during these travels. Fifty years later he once again travels to the Bay of Naples and the Aeolian Islands to see how things have changed. He brings with him a number of books written from, on, & about the area. The majority of the book is given over to an aged intellectual's "Reflections" on these books and the era they were written in. Like I said, not a typical travelogue. At first my expectations were disappointed. It took me a while to accept the book for what it was, but once I had I was richly rewarded. I will mine the list of authors Alan Ross quotes from and the books they wrote for quite some time. Near the end of the book we are treated to his 1948 journals and his return to the same locale in 1998. This portion of the book is the most like a traditional travelogue. It is also the most lyrical. Take this passage, written from Porto d'Ischia: "At night, the waterfront crushes out the day's heat on its stone transfer. The sea changes colour as you look at it; houses, losing their daytime stains, acquire a mellow bloom. Girls in the semi-dark become romantic, elusive creatures, turning from peasants into icons. Old age is becoming to the matriarchs on their doorsteps. Every so often a boat slips out, its powerful lamp probing the sea. Lighted windows outline the silhouettes of men playing scopa, the card game that is a day-long ritual of fierce intensity, no laughing matter. Women cool off on steps, worn beauties replete in their seasons." If you are looking for stories and narrative, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a deeper understanding of the local history, culture & people, this is not the book for you. If you are, on the other hand, interested in the perceptions and preoccupations of a wide variety of visitors, fugitives, and ex-pats, followed by an exquisitely lyrical journal, then by all means read "Reflections on Blue Water."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sweetnes & Melancholy of a journey in the land of the Sirens,
This review is from: Reflections on Blue Water: Journeys in the Gulf of Naples and in the Aeolian Islands (Hardcover)
As a Neapolitan who lives abroad I have deeply appreciated the exquisite description of that part of the world, and I must admit that the author has remarkably fixed both the beauty of the land and the main features of the people who are so lucky to live in it. Even though at the beginning he seems more interested in the analysis of the work of the artists who lived in those islands, he cannot help to be drawn back to the pure contemplation of the landscape that,through his words, becomes poetry. The second part of the book starting with the description of Ischia is the best expression of his lyrism. Finally he leaves the torments of the people who inhabited the places, but who seem to have never really belonged to them, and he focus on the images soothing the reader's soul with the warmth of the sun, the power of nature, the energy of the sea. As in the quoted "Voyage en Italie" by Chateaubriand it is like looking at Haven from Hell. His deep thoughts and sometimes heavy reasonings find their perfect scenario in the beauty of the Tyrrenian Sea. The book takes time to be read, also because a few paragraphs must be read more than once to retain every detail of the description, but when it is over the readers are left with a smile on their face and the heart full of melacholy for not being in such an haven for real.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
