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Twilight in Italy and Other Essays
D. H. Lawrence left England for the first time in May 1912, and began almost immediately to record his reactions to foreign cultures. He wrote a series of travel articles intended for newspapers, two of which are published here for the first time after having been rejected as too anti-German in the tense pre-war atmosphere. In 1915 he amplified some of these essays and wrote others for Twilight in Italy (1916), his first travel book. Profoundly charged by the disorienting anxieties of the War, these essays evince a confidence and intellectual daring which take them well beyond the bounds of the conventional travel sketch. All are published in this first critical edition of his 1912-16 essays, together with his eerily prophetic article, 'With the Guns', written upon the outbreak of war in 1914.
- GenresNonfiction
404 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1916
About the author
D.H. Lawrence
2,426 books4,449 followersDavid Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism, and personal letters. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, human sexuality and instinct.
Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile he called his "savage pilgrimage." At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation." Later, the influential Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness, placing much of Lawrence's fiction within the canonical "great tradition" of the English novel. He is now generally valued as a visionary thinker and a significant representative of modernism in English literature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.H._Law...
Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile he called his "savage pilgrimage." At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation." Later, the influential Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness, placing much of Lawrence's fiction within the canonical "great tradition" of the English novel. He is now generally valued as a visionary thinker and a significant representative of modernism in English literature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.H._Law...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 8, 2023
This is a review of the 1990 Crown Publishing HARDCOVER edition. Beautiful book. Glossy pages replete with beautiful full-page reproductions of artworks evocative of the locales and peoples about which he writes, interspersed with photos of Lawrence and his wife, Frieda. Total of 158 illustrations.
Lawrence's writing is an absolute pleasure to read; "Twilight in Italy and Other Essays" is no exception. Lawrence paints exquisite verbal pictures of the various regions of Italy in which he's stayed, but he's really at his best when focused on characterizing individuals and the close circles of life that whirl around them. Lawrence looks at people and describes them faithfully in simple but rich language, seems to see "into" them - somehow encompassing the fullness of their lives with words, then connecting them with generations past and with their unknown futures, as well, into which he seems able to see them reaching.
The book is categorized as "travel," but really it's more of a meditative expression of Lawrence's personal experiences of places and the people who inhabited them - at a particular point in time. It's armchair travel at its best. So don't go to Italy expecting to find what Lawrence found. It's no longer there. It now exists only in D.H. Lawrence's writings - writings we're so very fortunate to have...
My one criticism of this edition: it would enhance a reader's enjoyment if attributions for the copious numbers of photos and artworks were included on the same pages as the artworks themselves, eliminating the necessity of frequently referring to the "Acknowledgements" pages at the back of the book.
Lawrence's writing is an absolute pleasure to read; "Twilight in Italy and Other Essays" is no exception. Lawrence paints exquisite verbal pictures of the various regions of Italy in which he's stayed, but he's really at his best when focused on characterizing individuals and the close circles of life that whirl around them. Lawrence looks at people and describes them faithfully in simple but rich language, seems to see "into" them - somehow encompassing the fullness of their lives with words, then connecting them with generations past and with their unknown futures, as well, into which he seems able to see them reaching.
The book is categorized as "travel," but really it's more of a meditative expression of Lawrence's personal experiences of places and the people who inhabited them - at a particular point in time. It's armchair travel at its best. So don't go to Italy expecting to find what Lawrence found. It's no longer there. It now exists only in D.H. Lawrence's writings - writings we're so very fortunate to have...
My one criticism of this edition: it would enhance a reader's enjoyment if attributions for the copious numbers of photos and artworks were included on the same pages as the artworks themselves, eliminating the necessity of frequently referring to the "Acknowledgements" pages at the back of the book.
August 8, 2024
While I know from my book club that DHL isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea, I am so struck by the empathy and insight into the landscape and its people in this superb collection of travel writing.
Lawrence travels around the Tyrol encountering Germanic, Swiss and Italian culture. He walks over mountains and sleeps in inns, hayhuts and in the homes of locals. He meets a range of people from peasants to factory workers to minor nobility. He drinks wine and eats a lot of rough-sounding meals and sleeps under enormous feather quilts. Through these experiences he captures a dying way of rural life as young men escape to America if the war doesn't get them first.
The writing is beautifully descriptive. For me, 'Christs In The Tyrol' and 'A Hayhut Among The Mountains' are outstanding in their capacity to evoke the sensuality of Lawrence's experience but also tender and full of sympathy and understanding for the people. Mentions of young men, army training and military service are a poignant indication of the shadow of WWI.
Lawrence travels around the Tyrol encountering Germanic, Swiss and Italian culture. He walks over mountains and sleeps in inns, hayhuts and in the homes of locals. He meets a range of people from peasants to factory workers to minor nobility. He drinks wine and eats a lot of rough-sounding meals and sleeps under enormous feather quilts. Through these experiences he captures a dying way of rural life as young men escape to America if the war doesn't get them first.
The writing is beautifully descriptive. For me, 'Christs In The Tyrol' and 'A Hayhut Among The Mountains' are outstanding in their capacity to evoke the sensuality of Lawrence's experience but also tender and full of sympathy and understanding for the people. Mentions of young men, army training and military service are a poignant indication of the shadow of WWI.
November 24, 2023
Unassigned reading for my D.H Lawrence seminar. Needed to read this for my seminar paper. Only read essays relating to Italy. Bad travel writing, goes on long rants about phallic supremacy among other things...
August 31, 2018
Read this at Ramstein.
April 16, 2014
interesting observations
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews