Andalucia. A Literary Guide for Travellers: 7 (Literary Guides for Travellers) - Tapa dura

Andalusia has a rare and special quality - a magic if you will - like the enchanting force of a fairy queen's spell or the anguished cry of a heart-felt prayer. Many have felt this power - even from afar - yet few have distilled it successfully into words. This superb literary guide to one of the world's most culturally rich and diverse corners sifts through many hundreds of books and texts to present us with a fine selection of the highest quality gems, small, concentrated droplets of the essence of the place, its poetry and people. It is essential reading for anyone who has ever fallen for the charms, mystique and passion of southern Spain. - Jason Webster, author of Andalus and Duende, 'As with their impeccable literary guide to Sicily - the best of its type I know - Andrew and Suzanne Edwards, in this new book, trace the lines of a double cartography. One map is real... the other is of the emotions: intimate, impossible to photograph from satellites, invisible even to the meticulous eye of Google Earth. An itinerary which has to do with the stuff that dreams are made of.' Alejandro Luque, cultural correspondent of the Correo de Andalucia and author of Palabras Mayores

Its literary history began to develop with the Romans and reached an early flowering when Arabic poets drew on centuries of literary tradition, together with the landscapes and passions of Moorish Spain. Later, Prosper Merimee, Byron and Washington Irving forged legends of exotic southern Spain that persist to this day and Spanish writers themselves captured the rich tapestry of Andalucian culture, from Cervantes' Seville to the Cordoba of Baroque poet Luis de Gongora and Lorca's 'hidden Andalucia'. With the advent of the Civil War, a new generation flocked to Andalucia and were inspired to write some of the Twentieth Century's most iconic works of literature, from Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls to Gerald Brenan's The Spanish Labyrinth and Laurie Lee's trilogy of books. As vibrant and compelling as the region itself, Andalucia: A Literary Guide for Travellers illuminates the very soul of Spain.