Reflections on Blue Water by Alan Ross
The fifth book, part memoir, part travel journal, by Alan Ross. It is based on his long acquaintance with the islands in the Gulf of Naples. Demobilised from the Navy, the war still fresh, Ross made a series of journeys in 1948 on foot all over Ischia, producing a kind of anatomy. He spent summers there in the 1950s and 1960s, a period when Moravia, Koestler, Auden and William Walton among others, made Maria's Bar in Forio a centre of gossip. More recently he returned: Capri in winter, Ischia at the end of the summer, the Aeolian islands in spring. This book, as well as being a description of the islands themselves, recalls some of those who brought fame by their presence - Gorky, Lenin, and Bunin; Pablo Neruda and Walter Benjamin; Rilke, Malaparte and Alex Munthe; D.H. Lawrence, Norman Douglas, and Compton Mackenzie. Naples, too, is an important part of Ross's experience and he records his pleasure in recalling it through the writings of Lewis and Burns.
Alan Ross (1922-2001) was a poet, writer, journalist, editor and publisher. In fact, he was a man of letters par excellence. Born in India, educated in England, he joined the Royal Navy in the Second World War and endured the Arctic convoys to Russia. Alan Ross took over The London Magazine (the definite article was later dropped) from John Lehmann and revitalized it. There, it has been said, 'he simplified as well as unified contemporary culture by the clarity of his unique editorial taste. He also discovered many new talents.'His writing embraced poetry, cricket journalism, biography, autobiography, criticism and travel writing. Many of his titles are to be reissued in Faber Finds.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781860466915 |
| ISBN 10 | 1860466915 |
| Title | Reflections on Blue Water |
| Author | Alan Ross |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 1999-12-30 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |