From the 1890s until the 1920s, a great tide of literary invention swept Ireland. As the country struggled for political independence, the writers who formed the Irish Literary Revival created a new, authentically Irish literature. Some, such as W. B. Yeats, John Synge, and Lady Gregory, celebrated the mystical tradition of Ireland's west; others, such as Sean O'Casey, explored Dublin's crowded streets and tenements. This fascinating, revealing, and beautiful book examines the relationship between these writers and the towns and countryside that fueled their imaginations. Part history, part biography, and part travel guide, A Journey into Ireland's Literary Revival takes the reader to Galway, the Aran Islands, Mayo, Sligo, Wicklow, and Dublin. Along the route, it visits the cottages and castles, crags and glens, theaters and pubs where some of the country's finest writers shaped an enduring vision of Ireland.

This lavishly illustrated volume examines the major figures of the Transcendentalist movement and explores the places that inspired them. Beginning with Transcendentalism’s birth in Boston and Cambridge, the book charts the development of a movement that revolutionized American ideas about the artistic, spiritual, and natural worlds. At the same time, it creates a vivid sense of New England in the nineteenth century, from its idyllic countryside and sleepy towns to its bustling ports and burgeoning cities. The book is divided geographically into chapters, each focusing on a town or village famous for its relationship to one or more of the Transcendentalists.

Journey Westward suggests that James Joyce was attracted to the west of Ireland as a place of authenticity and freedom. It examines how this acute sensibility is reflected in Dubliners via a series of coded nods and winks, posing new and revealing questions about one of the most enduring and resonant collections of short stories ever written. The answers are a fusion of history and literary criticism, utilizing close readings that balance the techniques of realism and symbolism. The result is a startlingly original study that opens up fresh ways of thinking about Joyce's masterpieces.

A Journey into Flaubert's Normandy, a fascinating, lively, and informative book - richly illustrated with 19th-century art, modern and archival photos, and custom-designed street maps - allows both tourists and armchair travelers to visit the novelist's homes, some of which are now museums, and to discover the locations that featured prominently in his controversial work and colorful private life. Susannah Patton takes the reader to Rouen, with its stunning cathedral; to the resort town of Trouville and its much-painted beach; to Croisset, where Flaubert's riverside house gave him the refuge to write; to the quiet country town of Ry, where the real Madame Bovary lived and died; and to pastoral Pont L'Eveque.

Ireland is home to one of the world's great literary and artistic traditions. This book reads Irish literature and art in context of the island's coastal and maritime cultures, setting a diverse range of writing and visual art in a fluid panorama of liquid associations that connect Irish literature to an archipelago of other times and places.

This beautiful and fascinating volume follows Henri Matisse on his journeys into the South of France, where he discovered the light and color that saturate his work. Part biography, part travel guide, it explores the painter's private life, artistic evolution, and relationships with the places that inspired him. The book begins in Paris and then moves to the fashionable St. Tropez, the fishing village of Collioure, chic Nice, the medieval refuge of Vence, and luxurious Cimiez. In each location, the author visits the villas and studios where Matisse lived and worked, and explains how his art responded to the palette and ambiance of the local landscape.