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Pictures from Italy

By Charles Dickens
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Pictures from Italy is a vivid travelogue by Charles Dickens, capturing his journey through Italy in the mid-19th century. The book paints colourful and detailed descriptions of various Italian cities, landscapes, and customs through Dickens' observant and evocative writing style. It offers a blend of personal reflections and cultural insights, showcasing Italy's allure during a transformative period in history.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this delightful work if you're intrigued by travel narratives and vivid, picturesque descriptions of 19th-century Italy from a renowned writer's perspective. It offers a captivating blend of personal reflections, rich cultural observations, and Dickens's signature wit, making it an engaging read for those fascinated by the intersection of art, culture, and history.

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Pictures from Italy

Italy's famous sights are all to be found here - St Peter's in Rome, Naples with Vesuvius smouldering in the background and canals of Venice. In this book, the author portrays a nation of great contrasts: between grandiose buildings and squalid poverty, and between past and present, as he observes everyday life beside ancient monuments.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

After Martin Chuzzlewit was published in 1844, Dickens deliberately took a break from novels to travel in Italy for almost a year.

Bored by many traditional tourist sites and repelled by the greed and empty rituals of the Catholic Church, Dickens is far more attracted by urban desolation, the colourful life of the streets, and visible signs of the nation's richly textured past. He is especially drawn to the costumes, cross-dressing, and sheer exuberant energy of the Roman carnival.

Although seldom overtly political, Pictures from Italy often touches on the corruption and cruelty of Italian history, the grinding poverty, and a sense of continuing oppression lurking just below the surface.

A thrilling travelogue that is also deeply revealing about its author's current anxieties and concerns, this neglected work deserves a secure place among the masterpieces of Dickens's maturity.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens is often praised for its vivid and enchanting descriptions of the Italian landscape and culture, capturing Dickens’s fascination and personal experiences. Some reviewers note that his observations provide an intriguing historical snapshot of 19th-century Italy, though the narrative may not be as structured as Dickens's fictional works. Readers appreciate the blend of travel writing with Dickens's quintessential wit and literary flair.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780140434316

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 29 January 1998

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Kate Flint
  • Notes by Kate Flint

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 17.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 205g

Pages: 272

Collections

Arts & Culture Biography & Memoir Charles Dickens Non-Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics Travel & Adventure

About the Author

CHARLES DICKENS was born in 1812, the second of eight children. He received little formal education, but after a slow start, became a publishing phenomenon, and an instant success. Public grief at his death in 1870 was considerable- he was buried in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Kate Flint is Professor of English at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She is author of The Woman Reader, 1837-1914 (1993) and The Victorians and the Visual Imagination (2000), and has published widely on nineteenth and twentieth century literary and cultural history. She is currently completing The Transatlantic Indian 1776-1930.

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