Pictures from Italy

by Charles Dickens

Overview

It is a travelogue, written in 1846. Illuminating account of a journey undertaken by Charles Dickens and his family through Italy in 1844.Dickens was much impressed by the colourful customs and personages that he encountered. He presents the country like a magic-lantern show, as vivid images ceaselessly appear before his and his readers’ eyes. Avoiding preconceptions and stereotypes, he portrays a nation of great contrasts between grandiose buildings and squalid poverty, and between past and present, as he observes everyday life besides ancient monuments. Combining thrilling travelogue with piercing social commentary, the book is a revealing depiction of an exciting journey. In reading about his travels through Italy, we also gain insight into the character of Charles Dickens: his reaction to the Carnival, to the great works of art that he viewed. Though not a biography, Pictures from Italy offers a view into the mind and personality of Charles Dickens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788121254724
Publisher:	Arts & Science Academic Publishing
Publication date:	06/30/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	270
File size:	633 KB

About the Author

Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are still widely read today.

Date of Birth:

February 7, 1812

Date of Death:

June 18, 1870

Place of Birth:

Portsmouth, England

Place of Death:

Gad's Hill, Kent, England

Education:

Home-schooling; attended Dame School at Chatham briefly and Wellington

Table of Contents

One reader's passport; Going through France; Lyons, the Rhone, and the Goblin of Avignon; Avignon to Genoa; Genoa and its neighbourhood; To Parma, Modena, and Bologna; Through Bologna and Ferrara; An Italian dream; By Verona, Mantua, and Milan, across the Pass of the Simplon into Switzerland; To Rome by Pisa and Siena; Rome; A rapid diorama.

Editorial Reviews

This travelogue of Dickens's 1844 Italian sojourn retains the wit and sumptuous detail of his novels, but lacking an explicit narrative, the book never coalesces into much more than a series of sketches. The fragmentary nature of the text is exacerbated by the removal, by editor V. Geetha, of "sections that appear tediously familiar today." As a result, the most memorable sections of the book are not descriptions of the Italian countryside or cities, but Dickens's own reveries on memory and history, which still hold their power even in excerpt. In fact, the text is somewhat secondary in this handsome edition; the primary reason to obtain this volume is the gorgeous illustrative work of Italian artist Livia Signorini. Collaging old maps, postcards, and photographs, Signorini's design complements the introspective nature of Dickens's text, particularly when she interprets his surreal vision of Venice in an eerie, dream-like four-panel spread. So while Dickens aficionados may be disappointed by the textual liberties taken by Geetha, those interested in studying the ways in which visual art and text can interact with and complement one another will gain much from paging through this edition. Color illus. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly