Pictures from Italy

by Charles Dickens

Book Overview

'When Dickens has described something you see it for the rest of your life' George Orwell

In 1844, Charles Dickens took a break from novel writing to travel through Italy for almost a year, and Pictures from Italy is an illuminating account of his experiences there. He presents the country like a magic-lantern show, as vivid images ceaselessly appear before his - and his readers' - eyes. Italy's most famous sights are all to be found...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140434313
• ISBN13: 9780140434316
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Charles Dickens takes us on a tour of Italy with his meticulous novelistic eye for detail and color

He left the London fog for the canals of Venice, the museums and statues of Florence, the churches and ruins of Rome and the glory of the Italian Mediterranean sun! He was Charles Dickens the greatest British novelist of the Victorian era. In 1846 Dickens and his family decided to spend several months in Italy where the great author could write and explore the wonders of the Italian boot. Dickens was not the first or the last British author to love Italy. Just think of such literary luminaries as Frances Trollope, D.H. Lawrence and EM Forster to name a few. Dickens gives us pictures in words of all the major cities and sights. After reading this short (just over 200 pages long) travel book the reviewer learns from Dickens that: 1. The cities and towns were usually run-down and the people encountered were poor. Dickens says little about Italian cuisine. 2. Rebellion against the monarchy was already in evidence in 1846. Several years later Garibaldi would lead a major Italian revolution. Dickens was a committed democrat who favored constitutional monarchy such as was the practice in his native England. 3. Dickens disliked many aspects of the Roman Catholic Church as he witnessed it in Italy. 4. He includes many anecdotes regarding the mule and cart travel in upland Italy. Travel was often dangerous and slow. 5. Dickens was an early riser and walker enjoying touring on foot the major attractions. This work is shorter and not as interesting as his "American Notes for General Circulation" but it is a window into the mind of a creative genius who relished new sights, sounds and smells. Viva Italia! Viva Dickens!

Careening Through Italy like the Dickens

I don't think I'd like to have Charles Dickens as my travelling companion. He's always on the go, seemingly preferring an enclosed carriage careening down the road to mixing it with the natives (he makes one exception for Genoa, where he spends twelve months). And he makes virtually no mention of his wife, to whom refers at one point as accompanying him, but who therupon disappears as surely as if she had fallen down a well. Finally, as a Roman Catholic, I would spend my trip grimacing at his observations of my faith.The people appearing in PICTURES are almost entirely people encountered enroute, including postilions, innkeepers, guides, soldiers, and the like. He does not appear to have entertained any intention of interviewing writers, political leaders, prelates, or others. It is as if I took a trip through the U.S. and wrote only about bus drivers, service station attendants, traffic cops, and ticket takers.And yet, and yet, it is obviously the great Charles Dickens writing this book. The writing is superb even if the subject matter is strangely limited. I was entertained, dismayed, and befuddled all at the same time. Comparing it to something like Mark Twain's INNOCENTS ABROAD or ROUGHING IT, however, I feel it is Twain who comes out ahead. Dickens, it seems, forgot to create any memorable characters.