First published 2014
Shirley Hazzard moved from Australia to Naples in the 1950s for a United Nations position. That job launched a lifelong romance with the Italian city. This collection gathers her finest writing about Naples alongside a classic New Yorker piece by her husband Francis Steegmuller. Both voracious readers, they see the Naples of Pliny, Gibbon, and Auden living in the present moment. Hazzard guides readers through encounters with Henry James, Oscar Wilde, and Goethe, but focuses mainly on contemporary Naples. The city treats innocent tourists harshly yet rewards patient visitors who learn its rhythms and history. Living under Vesuvius, Naples never forgets life's fragility or the human compassion needed to endure it. Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Herbert List illustrate this lyrical tribute to a beloved place.
Genres: essays, historical-fiction, 20th-century, biography-memoir, 21st-century, art-history, academic, cultural-studies
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, intimate
Setting: Australia, Naples, United Nations
Period: 1950s
140 pages · Unknown Binding · Not Avail