Customer Reviews

Within Tuscany: Reflections on a Time and Place (Penguin Travel)

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

 

 

Matthew Spender's Within Tuscany was recommended to me by a friend whose family is two generations removed from the Tuscan village of Fiesole. Spender, who is better known as a sculptor whose work was featured in the film Stealing Beauty, writes not to make traveling in Tuscany simpler. In fact, he says, "I loath talking of food, restaurants, hotels, timetables, itineraries." Instead, he seems to be seeking to explain the mysteries and historical complexities of Tuscany to himself and anyone who cares to listen in. Included are ruminations on Michelangelo's struggles to acquire suitable marble, an annual horse race that is at least much cultural ritual as it is a competition, and visits to various churches and offices to marvel at the antiquities which abound in Italy, frequently in the most unlikely places. Spender also captures the Tuscan people in prose which shows respect for them, rather than in the look-how-quaint-they-are caricatures so common in popular travel narratives. As Spender writes to comprehend Tuscany, we are also led to understand, appreciate, and feel the region's daily rhythms as well as its place in Italy's past

Influenced by the title alone, I bought this book a few months before travelling through Chianti a couple of years ago. Although it is in no way an ordinary guidebook (i.e., hotel and restaurant recommendations, who slept where and when), it offered more insights into the people and culture of the region than anything else I have ever read. In fact, a highlight of our trip was finding the little church near Radda that contains Spender's crucifix. Also, his speculation on Shelley's death was provocative, to say the least.

A wonderful read, especially while traveling in Tuscany. Far greater insights to local customs than several best sellers

I found "Within Tuscany" in the travel section of a bookstore and bought it because it was about Italy. I actually ended up enjoying it mostly because of the quirky life of the author-artist -- or perhaps more correctly, the reflections of an artist about his past several years of living in a particularly attractive place.

He apparently has or had female companions along the way. There's a wife, maybe, and some daughters (pictured in the book in a mid-seventies photo wearing clothes their mother made), and a friend Vittoria with whom he spends a great deal of time. He describes his life style as "alternative" which I take to mean not exactly traditional Italian.

Mathew Spender is English, and like fellow travlers in Tuscany, he relates amusing cultural incidents. He describes several notable friendships with individuals from various classes and backgrounds, one of whom dies two-thirds through the book. I believe he is a sculpter. His descriptions are physical and three dimensional, but he also plays his clarinet in the village band. Throughout the book he recalls his visits to a few notable places in Tuscany and shares his experiences at those places, but you would have to know the places to follow his writing completely.

Spender's writing reminds me a bit of John Mortimer's in "Summer Lease" as it's both sweet and sad. His observations about folks in various stages of life's sorrows and joys are touching. Spender also has an artists comprehension, absorbing and conveying what is going on around him.

Easily dismissible at first glance as yet another soul-searching travelogue of yet another Englishman Italianate, "Within Tuscany" at closer looks reveals itself instead as a rather complex literary enterprise, which ties to the life experience of the author, through a capturing sequence of good-spirited, revealing anecdotes, a rather commanding view of the history and art, the contemporary crafts and the social context of that small continent of Western culture, which still is Tuscany.
So, Spender is no tourist, and will settle for nothing less than a perfectly ordinary life in Tuscany, as an artist and family father and clarinet player and whatnot, bringing himself directly into play as a cautious, observant, discerning, enterprising and also openly vulnerable social actor. And all this is rendered in a diary of high literary standard, perfectly self confident in being in parts sketchy, and in parts plainly narrative, almost didascalic in character.
As a result, the book is rather unique in capturing that suspended, slightly deceitful atmosphere of the Tuscan countryside, with that pending, unspoken sense of history, that continuous cat-and-mouse play between the individual and a culture of seemingly unfathomable depth and richness.
Yet, Tuscany is Spender's Forest of Arden: it is the half-magic backdrop of a self-inflicted, sweet-sour exile, with all its hidden pitfalls and small mysteries: one in which we are quite unexpectedly led, step by step, to partake to a self-effacing, compassionate apocalypse of the English soul.
For all this and more, "Within Tuscany", to all those who are or have been partial to Tuscan fascinations, commands affectionate, compulsive reading.

With all the wonderful reviews this book received, I couldn't wait to read Matthew Spender's "Within Tuscany." I am very disappointed. The narrative lacks focus and cohesion - it is not well-written. The reader does not get a true feeling for Tuscany. The author is stuck on relating tales of the sad and macabre. I had hoped that as a sculptor and artist, the author would be able to put into words all the beautiful, singular qualities of Tuscany and the Italian people. Sadly, this is not the case. I guess the best way to sum up this book is to say it lacks joy and warmth, which to me are essential elements of Tuscany. Spare yourself the agony (and the pricey shipping and handling charges).

I was very disappointed with this book. I found the writing to be dry and bordering on judgmental in many instances. It's as if he cannot help but view the country and its people through a filter; a filter in which everything "foreign" is suspect, sinister or stupid. He occasionally is able to move beyond that mindset and provide small, insightful, glimpses into the people and customs of the country, but those moments are far too brief in comparison with the overall body of the work. I would not recommend this book unless you are simply out of other reading material.