A Time In Rome

Product Description

Elisabeth`s Bowen account of a time spent in Rome between February & Easter is both an introduction for visitors & an attempt to capture the ”mood” of the Eternal City. It is no ordinary guidebook but an evocation of a city
- its history, its architecture &, above all, its atmosphere. She describes the famous classical sites, conjuring from the ruins visions of former inhabitants & their often bloody activities. She speculates about the immense noise of ancient Rome, the problems caused by the Romans` dining posture, & the Roman temperament, which blended ”constructive will with supine fatalism”. She envies the Vestal Virgins & admires the Empress Livia, who survived a barren marriage. She evokes the city`s moods
- by day, when it is characterized by golden sunlight, & at night, when the blaze of the moon ”annihilates history, turning everything into a spectacle for Tonight”. Elegant & amusing, A Time in Rome is an unusual portrait of this glorious city into which Bowen has woven her personal meditations on religion, politics, love & life.” Rome is a continuity, called `eternal`. What has accumulated in this place acts on everyone day & night, like an extra climate”, Elisabeth Bowen