Europe in the Looking Glass
Robert Byron Jan Morris / Jan 20, 2021
Europe in the Looking Glass Three rich young Englishmen cross pre World War II Europe in an old car with a mixture of laugh out loud humor and perceptive commentary on art and architecture Turning a corner we suddenly found ours
Three rich young Englishmen cross pre World War II Europe in an old car with a mixture of laugh out loud humor and perceptive commentary on art and architecture Turning a corner we suddenly found ourselves sliding down a precipice, tilted so far forward that it was necessary to hold ourselves back with our hands pressed against the dashboard, as half a dozen Apennine valleThree rich young Englishmen cross pre World War II Europe in an old car with a mixture of laugh out loud humor and perceptive commentary on art and architecture Turning a corner we suddenly found ourselves sliding down a precipice, tilted so far forward that it was necessary to hold ourselves back with our hands pressed against the dashboard, as half a dozen Apennine valleys beckoned invitingly below Here St Peter s Popes with black faces and golden crowns are wallowing twice life size in the titanic folds of marble tablecloths, their ormolu fringes festooning upon the arms of graceful skeletons to disclose some Alice in Wonderland door or the grim hinges of some sepulchral grill Best known as the author of The Road to Oxiana, published in 1937, Robert Byron had developed his considerable writing skills on this travel book which has not been in print since 1926 It describes a journey Byron made with three friends, driving across Europe between two world wars, and mixes political and historical analysis with architectural insights, classical scholarship, and the day to day adventures of three young and not very experienced travelers For fans of Robert Byron s work this will be a discovery for others it will be an introduction Includes nine original sketches made by the author during his travels.
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Robert Byron Jan Morris
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[PDF] ✓ Free Read Ê Europe in the Looking Glass : by Robert Byron Jan Morris å
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Published :2020-03-01T22:02:36+00:00
Robert Byron Jan Morris
Robert Byron 1905 24 February 1941 was a British travel writer, best known for his travelogue The Road to Oxiana He was also a noted writer, art critic and historian.Byron was born in 1905, and educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford He died in 1941, during the Second World War, when the ship on which he was travelling was torpedoed by a U Boat off Cape Wrath, Scotland, en route to Egypt.Byron s The Road to Oxiana is considered by many modern travel writers to be the first example of great travel writing It is an account of Byron s ten month journey to Persia and Afghanistan in 1933 34 in the company of Christopher Sykes Byron had previously travelled to widely different places Mount Athos, India, the Soviet Union, Tibet However it was in Persia and Afghanistan that he found the subject round which he forged his style of modern travel writing, when he later came to write up his account in Peking, his temporary home.Writer Paul Fussell wrote in his 1982 book Abroad British Literary Traveling Between The Wars that The Road to Oxiana is to the travel book what Ulysses is to the novel between the wars, and what The Waste Land is to poetry Travel writer Bruce Chatwin has described the book as a sacred text, beyond criticism, and carried his copy spineless and floodstained on four journeys through central Asia.However, in his day, Byron s travel books were outsold by those of writers Peter Fleming and Evelyn Waugh.An appreciation of architecture is a strong element in Byron s writings and he was a forceful advocate for the preservation of historic buildings, and was a founder member of the Georgian Group A philhellene, he was also amongst the pioneers in a reinterest in Byzantine History.He attended the last Nuremberg Rally, in 1938, with Nazi sympathiser Unity Mitford Byron knew her through his friendship with her sister Nancy Mitford, but he was an outspoken opponent of the Nazis He died aged 35 in 1941 after his ship, the SS Jonathan Holt, was torpedoed by a u boat in the North Atlantic.