Customer Reviews

Twilight in Italy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

D.H. Lawrence is better known for his various novels, i.e., Women in Love; Lady Chatterly's Lover; and Sons and Lovers than for his travel writing. With that said, I highly recommend this book. Personally I love Lawrence's writing style and this particular book is exceptional even for Lawrence. You will feel as though you are there with him experiencing the moment he is describing. The people and places of Italy come alive through his prose. His writing moves, at times, from reality and physical descriptions to abstraction and philosophy, but it is so wonderfully written, you will cherish every word and never question the move from one to the other. Images abound in this work and the scenes he describes are beautifully sensual. I have read this work twice and plan on reading it numerous other times throughout my life.

I found myself reading, rereading, and rereading aloud, passages from this beautiful work. Lawrence writes poetically--never mind the sportswriters' rule against repeating the same word in a sentence ("Angels," "Seraphs," "Halos")--this author uses "dark" numerous times in a single paragraph. I felt as though I were in northern Italy with him. Incredible. Also recommended are his other travel works, such as Sea and Sardinia and Mornings in Mexico.

Much is said of D.H. Lawrence's fiction, but we've mostly forgotten about his amazing travel writing. Twilight in Italy takes us on a foot tour of the Alps all the way down into the verdant gardens and sun soaked plaza's of Italy. Lawrence, as always, finds small stories here and there that not only share a sense of place but also relate the experience of a real traveler. If you are a fan of Paul Theroux or Pico Iyer you will immediately feel at home with this book.

I was so impressed with Lawrence's description of the Etruscan tombs in this book that, when I was visiting Rome, I got on a bus trying to get to the town where the tombs were. The bus didn't go there and I got back to Rome fairly easily by train(all train tracks also lead to Rome). I tried again and got to the town, whose name I forget, and walked along a road until I found the site of the Etruscan tombs and went down the stairs to see several of the tombs, which are now sealed behind clear plastic to preserve the painted walls inside. The paintings have faded since Lawrence described them but are still quite impressive, with flocks of birds and happy, plunging dolphins, people having what appears to be sado-masochistic sex or just smiling and eating. These tombs are cheerful and colorful.

Very boring. I could not bring myself to even attempt to read past the 2nd chapter. Sorry. Hope you have better luck with it than I did.