Winters of Content: And Other Discursions on Mediterranean Art and Travel

by Osbert Sitwell

The author's intention is to present the reader with Mediterranean sketches.

362 pages, Hardcover

First published August 23, 1978

About the author

Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, Bt.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, what a gift I receive when in the midst of a wonderful book the author talks about a book he/she loves and is reading. And so, Elizabeth David in Italian Food (1954) loved and read Osbert Sitwel's Winters of Content (1932) who loved and read Charles Dickens' Pictures from Italy (1844). That is how I discovered this book, long out of print and with no reviews or ratings on Goodreads, Amazon or Google.

I very much enjoyed it, it brought back memories of Italy and of other English authors of his generation. He has descriptions of light and art that are poetic--that stopped me to savor them before I read on. He has stories and comments that are bitingly funny--that had me laugh out loud, in the tradition of Dorothy Parker, Oscar Wilde and Rebecca West. He has some dull sections (starts off slowly) and annoyingly does not translate any French quotes into English. He has racist and other stereotypes that deeply offended me and made me reflect on him as a man and the shared prevalence of his views then and now. This book isn't for everyone, in fact it may be for few, but it engaged me for better and for worse.