Images & Shadows: Part of a Life

by Iris Origo

Book Overview

An extraordinary memoir by Iris Origo, who chronicled political life in A Chill in the Air and War in Val d'Orcia, and now turns inward to describe her own family, the work of writing, and the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567921035
• ISBN13: 9781567921038
• Release Date: June 2015
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
• Length: 588 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A treasure

I am on the third chapter of this most moving and illuminating book. How it contrasts with the vulgarity of our times. Am looking forward to reading her other books.

Such good company!

I read both the Origo books many years ago and found her company delicious. One really feels honored to enjoy the refinement and intelligence of such a writer.

It's true; the rich do live differently from the rest of us

This well-written memoir is an opportunity to get a first-hand peek at a whole different culture, society and way of thinking. The author is not pretenuous at all in the almost matter-of-fact style that she uses to describe a privileged life where money was always available to provide the necessities and the luxuries. Here we see a glimpse of the reaction of the privileged class to the horrors of war when it made its way to the door steps of their salons.The best part of the book though was the insight into the author's opinions about the philosophy of writing. Here the modern middle-class American is allowed into the thoughts and opinions of one who was raised with all the advantages of tutors, exposure to the best art in the world, and variety of influential and interesting characters who sailed through her life. The book would have been much better had the author allowed her emotions to shine through when writing about the deaths of her loved ones. This is the only flaw in the book and this failure leaves the reader with a longing to have had more opportunity to learn the complexities of this intelligent lady. Anyone who enjoys reading about the aristocracy will enjoy this small, spare book.

A Beautiful Book

This a charming and moving account of what on the surface appears to have been a very privileged life; however the author tells her story (which at times is very sad) without 'showing off' at all.For those who have enjoyed this book, I recommend Kinta Beevor's A Tuscan Childhood and, also, although it is about an English childhood, James Lees-Milne's Another Self. Both manage to evoke the magic of childhood in the early 20th century in settings that are closer to, say the 17th century, than to today's world.

From the Introduction

I turn to this memoir whenever I need perspective on what matters in life. Origo, despite her privilege and access to many of the great figures of the 20th century, never lost sight of what mattered: the people that she loved. This is how she introduces her memoir: "It has sometimes been pointed out to me that I have had a very varied and interesting life, have lived in some extremely beautiful places and have met some remarkable people. I suppose it is true, but now that I have reached `the end game', I do not find myself dwelling upon these pieces on the board. The figures that still stand out there now are the people to whom, in different ways and in different degrees, I have been bound by affection. Not only are they the people whom I most vividly remember, but I realise that it is only through them that I have learned anything about life at all. The brilliant talk that I heard at I Tatti in my youth, in Bloomsbury in the thirties, in New York and Rome in later years, has lost some of its glitter. All that is left to me of my past life that has not faded into mist has passed through the filter, not of my mind, but of my affections. What has not warmed by them is now for me as if it had never been."