South from Granada (Penguin Travel Library) [Paperback]

Gerald Brenan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Travel Library | Publication Date: April 1963

Gerald Brenan is generally regarded as the greatest of English writers about Spain. "South from Granada" describes the essence of a remote rural area before the Civil War with vivid sympathy. Here, brought back to life, are the festivals and folk-lore of the Sierra Nevada, the rivalries, romances and courtship rituals, the village customs, superstitions and characters. Equally compelling are chapters on Granada in the twenties, food and the Phoenicians, the cheap brothels and archaeological remains of Almeria, the stark but haunting mountain scenery and even a visit from Virginia Woolf. The result was acclaimed on publication as a masterpiece; it remains a classic, richly evocative account of a lost way of life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Viking Pr (April 1963)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140167005
• ISBN-13: 978-0140167009
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,907,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mastery of English, May 1, 2003

By 

"dpmath" (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South from Granada (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

This book surely has its ethnographic merits, but there's another great reason to read it. Gerard Brenan is one of the most elegantly simple writers in the English language. The economy of his prose that never feels hurried perfectly suits the man for his observations of the unhurried, simple life he describes.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life in Las Alpujarras, March 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: South from Granada (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

At once a travel memoir, a work of anthropological observation, and an account of becoming a writer, Brennan's account of life in a Spanish Village in the 1920's is acutely observed. Rich in its account of the culture of the region, South from Granada also contains wry descriptions of the visits of various members of the Bloomsbury group (Lytton Strachey, Dora Carrington, Leonard and Virgina Woolfe) who, with varying degrees of adaptability, are confronted with the rather basic ammenities of the village. Strong, clear writing makes for an evocative read.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Look at an Facinating People, May 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: South from Granada (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

I bought this book in preparation for a trip to Andalucia this summer. What I found was one of the best character studies I have ever read. This would be the father of the "Year in Provence" type of book set in a facinating section of Southern Spain amid white-washed Berber homes and olive groves. Don't worry about the chapters on the visits from various famous writers (Virginia Wolfe, etc.) as they can be skipped without dimishing from the work at all. Nonetheless, I enjoyed them despite having absolutely no interest in Lytton-Strachy, et al.