Reviewed by Jeanne
As a reader, I love it when a book takes me to a place in the
world I have never been and makes me feel I am there. So many of these places are so deeply intertwined
in the stories they tell that I couldn’t imagine them happening any other
place. Kreitner is fascinated by such
places, and at age twenty set out on pilgrimage to Grasmere to feel closer to
Wordsworth and his world. Kreitner has
gone on to visit a number of literary locales, and he documents some of them in
this book.
The first section is just an overview of why Kreitner thinks
readers are compelled to seek out such locations, quoting Eudora Welty about
the importance of place in a work. It’s a thoughtful essay, and helps to put
the book in perspective.
The book proceeds geographically, starting with the Northeast
United States and moving west. Canada follows, making North America take up
half the book. There is a brief section
on Mexico and South America, followed by a lengthier section on Europe, and
ending with short sections on Asia and Africa.
The very first entry is for Bangor, Maine and the Thomas Hill
Standpipe. While the name may not sound familiar, readers of Stephen King’s It
may recognize the location immediately.
Kreitner gives some context for the site and provides a clear, beautiful
photo and information on how the visit.
(He also has a photo of King’s wonderful Victorian home.) The sites he
chooses are a mixture of classic authors/book and more pop culture
selections. Emily Dickinson, Wordsworth,
Thomas Wolfe, James Joyce, and William Shakespeare are in there with J.D. Salinger,
Margaret Mitchell, Alexander McCall Smith, and J.M. Barrie.
I did enjoy browsing this book, reading about some authors
with whom I was unfamiliar and delighting in the ones I knew well. The problem
is that the entries are very brief, leaving me wanting more information. I would have loved to see more pictures, too,
especially when a site was mentioned but not shown.
This is a book best dipped into from time to time instead of
read straight through. It would be a nice personal book to keep handy and refer
to when reading some of the authors mentioned.
No comments:
Post a Comment