{"product_id":"rome-and-a-villa-9780062363404","title":"Rome and a Villa","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"These essays gather up Rome and hold it before us, bristling and dense and dreamlike, with every scene drenched in the sound of fountains, of leaping and falling water.\" -- \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Perhaps the finest book ever to be written about a city.\" -- \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBringing to life the legendary city's beauty and magic in all its many facets, Eleanor Clark's masterful collection of vignettes, \u003cem\u003eRome and a Villa\u003c\/em\u003e, has transported readers for generations.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1947 a young American woman named Eleanor Clark went to Rome on a Guggenheim fellowship to write a novel. But instead of a novel, Clark created a series of sketches of Roman life written mostly between 1948 and 1951. Wandering the streets of this legendary city, Eleanor fell under Rome's spell--its pace of life, the wry outlook of its men and women, its magnificent history and breathtaking contribution to world culture. Rome is life itself--a sensuous, hectic, chaotic, and utterly fascinating blend of the comic and the tragic. Clark highlights Roman art and architecture, including Hadrian's Villa--an enormous, unfinished palace--as a prism to view the city and its history, and offers a lovely portrait of the Cimitero acattolico--long known as the Protestant cemetery--where Keats, Shelley, and other foreign notables rest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eClark, Eleanor:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eEleanor Clark (July 6, 1913-February 16, 1996) was born in Los Angeles and attended Vassar College in the 1930s. She was the author of the National Book Award winner \u003cem\u003eThe Oysters of Locmariaquer\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eRome and a Villa\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eEyes, Etc.\u003c\/em\u003e, and the novels \u003cem\u003eThe Bitter Box\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBaldur's Gate\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eCamping Out\u003c\/em\u003e. She was married to Robert Penn Warren.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50526789796114,"sku":"9780062363404","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_faf17996-0fc5-494d-a67f-94325eeb4d23.jpg?v=1731283501","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/rome-and-a-villa-9780062363404","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}