Sprezzatura in Cinque Terre: The 5 Villages of Effortless Beauty
Author: Eugenio Montale
The Italians have an expression for art that the English language has still not found an equivalent for: sprezzatura. Sprezzatura is the ability of an artist to make his work seem effortless. It is the soft yet precise curves of The David or the color contrasts of a Monet; its enough to make me think even I am capable of creating such brilliance. Essentially, it is the physical manifestation of talent. Cinque Terre on the Italian coast seems to have an abundance of it.
Posted on Wed, Jul 23, 2008
The Odd Couple in Barcelona: Anton Guadí & Robert Hughes
Author: Anton Guadi
"What is that?" I wondered the first time I saw it. I should have asked the name. I later found it out - the Church of the Holy Family or La Segrada Familia. It was 1985, my first time in Barcelona and while I couldn't see the church for its construction cranes, I would come to know it and its architect, Anton Guadí well - thanks to the Australian writer, Robert Hughes.
Posted on Wed, Jul 23, 2008
The Mysterious Affair of Agatha Christie
Author: Agatha Christie
It's a story that even the Queen of Crime couldn't have come up with: the mysterious disappearance of the most famous writer in England and subsequent nationwide search, then fifty years later a sance in a glamorous Istanbul hotel and the discovery of a key that could solve the whole mystery.
Posted on Thu, Jun 12, 2008
Following the Ink: Prosa y Poesia en Castilla y Leon
Author: Miguel Cervantes
Each region of Spain boasts some literary significance, but Castilla y Leo--home to El Cid, Miguel Cervantes, Teresa of Avila, and birthplace of the Castilian language--is perhaps the most compelling province for a lover of prosa y poesia. I spent a week there, seeking out the magic between pages of old manuscripts and among streets lined with cobblestones.
Posted on Sun, Mar 23, 2008
Mr Biswas' Houses: Finding V.S. Naipaul in Trinidad
Author: V.S. Naipaul
From an airplane window, Trinidad initially appears as a dense green forest rising over the turquoise Caribbean Sea. Beyond the Northern Range mountains, flat plains of cultivated fields line the horizon as far as the eye can see. Trinidad's recent history has much to do with these sugar cane fields, including the island nation's production of one of the more unique English-language writers of the last century.
Posted on Sat, Mar 15, 2008
Pearl S. Buck: A Foreigner in China
Author: Pearl S. Buck
The Chinese port city of Zhenjiang is situated on the Yangtze River, just west of Shanghai. It is small by Chinese standards: population 2.9 million. A scattering of ancient Buddhist temples, well-kept parks and small mountains hedge the city's new commercial district--a block of brightly lit chain stores, two-story McDonald's and colossal shopping malls. Enormous red balloons shaped like traditional Chinese lanterns hover over shop entrances, advertising cheap goods and sales, while blind erhu players busk on street corners, crooning Beijing opera or Taiwanese pop songs.
Posted on Sun, Mar 02, 2008
Jorge Luis Borges in Mythic Buenos Aires
Author: Jorge Luis Borges
Knife fights and backdoor Tango joints used to dot the cobblestone barrio where Jorge Luis Borges once lived. Now known as Palermo Viejo, this former Italian neighborhood in northern Buenos Aires was once overrun by hoodlums, gauchos and easy women who lived their lives like the lyrics of a Rubinstein Tango song.
Posted on Sun, Feb 24, 2008
Rousing Nietzsche in Orta, Italy
Author: Friedrich Nietzsche
Of all the Northern Italian lakes, Lake Orta and the town of Orta is a true prize. Divided by the Mattarone Mountain, Orta is cut off from the popular tourism of Lake Maggiore, and its shore town of Stresa--famously featured in Ernest Hemingway's war novel, A Farewell to Arms. Yet Lake Orta and the town are not short of literary connections. Its wooded alpine mountains, Monte Sacre, the holy mount (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Monte Rosa, have a history of inspiring those who arrive at this Piedmont idle, which is often overlooked. Yet the least unspoiled.
Posted on Wed, Feb 20, 2008
Standing in Jewish Rome
Titus' Arch towers above us; its white marble Corinthian columns and travertine inlays gleam in the sun. It is one of those June days that makes you happy to be alive, happy to be wandering Rome. This trip, we have decided to focus only on Jewish sites. That means staying in the ghetto, wandering its tiny streets, climbing Esquiline Hill to gaze at Michelangelo's Moses, visiting the Great Synagogue and the Jewish Museum. And that means heading to Titus' Arch.
Posted on Thu, Feb 14, 2008
The Visible City of Venice
Nothing is firmly rooted in Venice. As such, it is a city that lends itself to a great deal of missteps and wrong turns. Any traveler who has been there will tell you that finding any particular destination can be a great struggle, and not simply because the locals are apt to wave their hands about in a cheerful, vague way whenever you ask them for directions.
Posted on Sun, Feb 10, 2008
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