Just Jennifer

Footsteps: From Ferrante’s Naples to Hammett’s San Francisco: Literary Pilgrimages Around the World ed. Monica Drake

Monica Drake has mined The New York Times travel column “Footsteps” archives and has assembled almost forty columns, each examining what influence a particular geographical location had on an author, or in some cases, following in the footsteps of that author to learn why a specific place was so important in their body of work, or perhaps one particular book.  These essays have been then divided into three categories “The United States”, “Europe”, and “Beyond” allowing the reader to choose a reading order that best suits them.  The United States stretches from Hawaii (Mark Twain) to the Northwest (Jack Kerouac) to the Northeast (Rachel Carson) to the Deep South (Flannery O’Connor).  While some of the geographical influences may be more obvious, such as Hammett in San Francisco, some essays expound on the author’s delights of an area.  In Europe, novelist Charlie Lovett finds Alice in Oxford, James Baldwin’s days as an expatriate in Paris are recounted, and one essay depicts David G. Allen’s search for Hansel and Gretel in the woods of Germany.  “Beyond” essays take readers to the Canada of L.M. Montgomery, the South America of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Neruda; an essay of Pushkin’s St. Petersburg nestles between one of Arthur Rimbaud in Ethiopia, and Orhan Pamuk in Istanbul.  Whether read cover to cover, coast to coast, continent to continent, or just skipping around as the mood or travel itinerary dictate, this collection will not only broaden understanding about favorite authors but encourage readers to seek out some new horizons.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.