Conversaciones imaginarias

by Walter Savage Landor, Javier Alcoriza Vento (Editor), Antonio Lastra (Editor)

El poeta inglés Walter Savage Landor no aspiró nunca a un lugar en el mundo de las letras. De su formación académica adquirió una perdurable pasión por los libros y la facilidad en el trato con los clásicos. Horacio, Juvenal, Persio, Demóstenes o Píndaro serían maestros y nombres familiares desde sus años de formación. En Londres asistió a las sesiones del Parlamento, pero no tuvo éxito como escritor político, aunque la política sería el trasfondo de gran parte de su obra en verso. Como otros poetas ingleses, Landor encontró en Italia una patria de acogida y una tierra para cultivar su obra. Allí compuso la casi totalidad de las «Conversaciones imaginarias». Allí le visitaron casi todos los escritores ingleses de viaje por el país. Allí falleció, en Florencia, en 1864. Las «Conversaciones imaginarias» arrancan de un primer esbozo juvenil de Landor y se prolongan con adiciones y modificaciones a lo largo de su vida. Landor habla en ellas por boca de personajes históricos, pero imaginados, es decir, apartando de su mente lo que los libros dicen de ellos y dando rienda suelta al espíritu del lector convertido eventualmente en escritor de diálogos inventados o conversaciones imaginarias de la más diversa índole. Landor devuelve así a la cultura lo que ésta le había un eje en torno al cual gravitan capítulos de la experiencia humana, desde lo anecdótico hasta lo legendario.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, British Literature, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, 19th Century

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1824

About the author

Walter Savage Landor (30 January 1775 – 17 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist.

Landor's best known work is the multi-volume Imaginary Conversations, written during his years living in Italy. He died in Florence at age 89.

Throughout his life, Landor travelled widely and had a notable circle of friends including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Lamb, Countess Blessington, Robert Browning and Charles Dickens. Landor was the godfather of Dickens's son Walter Landor Dickens.

The writer, explorer, and adventurer Arnold Henry Savage Landor is his grandson.

Reviews

[Michael David · Rating 3 out of 5]

During my sojourn in Australia a few years ago, I would spend Sundays on looking for bookstores and book sales. Occasionally, I would stumble upon affordable classics such as this one: after all, this book was published in 1886. I should have realized that I preferred books that were a little younger: I was never into Charles Dickens, and most of the extant classics during the Victorian Era would be written in an intellectual manner. Landor's book can be classified as an intellectual exercise: he constructed contemporary historical characters and thought of what they would talk about.

The challenge, however, behind such a work (which might have been the reason I took so long to read it), is that even as someone who is not totally ignorant of history, I couldn't place or identify the historical personages he talked about. I did not know of Metellus, Marius, Malesherbes, General Lacy, or Cura Merino: I had encountered these people for the first time while reading this book.

I would still, however, say that I liked it (barely) with Landor's skill with epigrams.

"Truth is a point; the subtilest and finest; harder than adamant; never to be broken, worn away, or blunted. Its only bad quality is, that it is sure to hurt those who touch it; and likely to draw blood, perhaps the life-blood, of those who press earnestly upon it."

"Philosophy pines and dines unless she drinks limpid water."

Ultimately, however, I think that what elevates this book toward something I like was the dialogue between Barrow and Newton: “Unless it can be proved that the majority are not dunces – are not wilful, presumptuous, and precipitate – it is a folly to care for popularity. There are indeed those who must found their fortunes upon it: but not with books in their hands.”(p. 194)

Also, “Political power is jealous of intellectual; often lest it expose and mar its plans are projects, and oftener lest it attract an equal share of celebrity and distinction.” (p. 197)

I was delighted at how relevant the dialogue between the two mathematicians were to modern life. The undereducated empower the demagoguery that persists in many countries, Philippines included among them.

Outside occasional sparks of brilliance, however, it’s rather difficult to appreciate Landor’s constructions as many characters featured in this book have become footnotes in history. I’m quite certain most people are unfamiliar with many of the personages in this tome, too. For the general modern reader, this is a rather abstruse work that is also a challenge to read.

2.8/5