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Mentone, Cairo, and Corfu
Excerpt from Mentone, Cairo, and Corfu
Mentone, Cairo, and Corfu was written by Constance Fenimore Woolson in 1896. This is a 369 page book, containing 75923 words and 70 pictures. Search Inside is enabled for this title.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Mentone, Cairo, and Corfu was written by Constance Fenimore Woolson in 1896. This is a 369 page book, containing 75923 words and 70 pictures. Search Inside is enabled for this title.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
374 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1895
6 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Constance Fenimore Woolson
195 books37 followersConstance Fenimore Woolson (March 5, 1840 – January 24, 1894) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. She was a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, and is best known for fictions about the Great Lakes region, the American South, and American expatriates in Europe.
Woolson was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, but her family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after the deaths of three of her sisters from scarlet fever. Woolson was educated at the Cleveland Female Seminary and a boarding school in New York. She traveled extensively through the midwest and northeastern regions of the U.S. during her childhood and young adulthood.
Woolson’s father died in 1869. The following year she began to publish fiction and essays in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. Her first full-length publication was a children’s book, The Old Stone House (1873). In 1875 she published her first volume of short stories, Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches, based on her experiences in the Great Lakes region, especially Mackinac Island.
From 1873 to 1879 Woolson spent winters with her mother in St. Augustine, Florida. During these visits she traveled widely in the South which gave her material for her next collection of short stories, Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880). After her mother’s death in 1879, Woolson went to Europe, staying at a succession of hotels in England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Woolson published her first novel Anne in 1880, followed by three others: East Angels (1886), Jupiter Lights (1889) and Horace Chase (1894). In 1883 she published the novella For the Major, a story of the postwar South that has become one of her most respected fictions. In the winter of 1889–1890 she traveled to Egypt and Greece, which resulted in a collection of travel sketches, Mentone, Cairo and Corfu (published posthumously in 1896).
In 1893 Woolson rented an elegant apartment on the Grand Canal of Venice. Suffering from influenza and depression, she either jumped or fell to her death from a window in the apartment in January 1894. Two volumes of her short stories appeared after her death: The Front Yard and Other Italian Stories (1895) and Dorothy and Other Italian Stories (1896). She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, and is memorialized by Anne's Tablet on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Woolson’s short stories have long been regarded as pioneering examples of local color or regionalism. Today, Woolson's novels, short stories, poetry, and travelogues are studied and taught from a range of scholarly and critical perspectives, including feminist, psychoanalytic, gender studies, postcolonial, and new historicism.
(from Wikipedia)
Woolson was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, but her family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after the deaths of three of her sisters from scarlet fever. Woolson was educated at the Cleveland Female Seminary and a boarding school in New York. She traveled extensively through the midwest and northeastern regions of the U.S. during her childhood and young adulthood.
Woolson’s father died in 1869. The following year she began to publish fiction and essays in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. Her first full-length publication was a children’s book, The Old Stone House (1873). In 1875 she published her first volume of short stories, Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches, based on her experiences in the Great Lakes region, especially Mackinac Island.
From 1873 to 1879 Woolson spent winters with her mother in St. Augustine, Florida. During these visits she traveled widely in the South which gave her material for her next collection of short stories, Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880). After her mother’s death in 1879, Woolson went to Europe, staying at a succession of hotels in England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Woolson published her first novel Anne in 1880, followed by three others: East Angels (1886), Jupiter Lights (1889) and Horace Chase (1894). In 1883 she published the novella For the Major, a story of the postwar South that has become one of her most respected fictions. In the winter of 1889–1890 she traveled to Egypt and Greece, which resulted in a collection of travel sketches, Mentone, Cairo and Corfu (published posthumously in 1896).
In 1893 Woolson rented an elegant apartment on the Grand Canal of Venice. Suffering from influenza and depression, she either jumped or fell to her death from a window in the apartment in January 1894. Two volumes of her short stories appeared after her death: The Front Yard and Other Italian Stories (1895) and Dorothy and Other Italian Stories (1896). She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, and is memorialized by Anne's Tablet on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Woolson’s short stories have long been regarded as pioneering examples of local color or regionalism. Today, Woolson's novels, short stories, poetry, and travelogues are studied and taught from a range of scholarly and critical perspectives, including feminist, psychoanalytic, gender studies, postcolonial, and new historicism.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 12, 2020
Very nice nineteenth century travel book by an intelligent, literate writer.
January 2, 2025
A Memorable Excursion.
🖊 Of note: Constance Fenimore Woolson is a niece of James Fenimore Cooper.
According to the preface, within this book are three of Constance Fenimore Woolson’s articles published in Harper’s Magazine on her travels in the Mediterranean. The articles on Cairo and Corfu were expanded for this book.
"At Mentone" – published in 1884.
✯ Mentone, France is on the Mediterranean Sea and borders northwest Italy. In this sketch, the author shares intimate conversations between her travelling companions and herself . The conversations are filled with educational tidbits on geography, history, and the like.
✯ There is also the somewhat humorous back-and-forth regarding how to pronounce “Menton:”
"Cairo in 1890" – published in 1891.
✯ As in the other two travel sketches, old spellings of place names have been retained, and I find that charming. Here is what we know as “Giza:”
✯ Today, Cairo has grown so much that the pyramids of Giza are within a small handful of miles, not far in the distance. See how much it changed:
✯ Let the dervishes whirl:
✯ The Suez Canal:
"Corfu and the Ionian Sea" – published in 1892.
✯ The island of Corfu is described beautifully, with a bit of history:
✯ More descriptive language:
Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable book to get lost in. I appreciated the descriptive language and tidbits of history and culture, and the black and white photographs and sketches in the E-book version on Project Gutenburg was excellent.
📕Published in 1895.
🎨Illustrated with black and white photographs and sketches.
—From My Desk in My Private Library at Crystal Lake:
જ⁀🟢 E-book version on Project Gutenburg.
જ⁀🟣 Kindle.
✴︎⋆✴︎⋆✴︎⋆✴︎
🖊 Of note: Constance Fenimore Woolson is a niece of James Fenimore Cooper.
According to the preface, within this book are three of Constance Fenimore Woolson’s articles published in Harper’s Magazine on her travels in the Mediterranean. The articles on Cairo and Corfu were expanded for this book.
"At Mentone" – published in 1884.
✯ Mentone, France is on the Mediterranean Sea and borders northwest Italy. In this sketch, the author shares intimate conversations between her travelling companions and herself . The conversations are filled with educational tidbits on geography, history, and the like.
🔺 The next morning when we opened our windows there entered the Mediterranean Sea. It is the bluest water in the world; not a clear cold blue like that of the Swiss lakes, but a soft warm tint like that of June sky, shading off on the horizon, not into darker blue or gray, but into the white of opal and mother-of-pearl.
✯ There is also the somewhat humorous back-and-forth regarding how to pronounce “Menton:”
🔻 "Are we to call the place Menton or Mentone?" asked Janet. "We might as well come to some decision." "Menton is correct," said the Professor; "it is now a French town." The lost Italian sweetness of Mentone?" Inness: "Or, with French accent, and the n's half gone, Try the Parisian syllables—Men-ton?"
"Cairo in 1890" – published in 1891.
✯ As in the other two travel sketches, old spellings of place names have been retained, and I find that charming. Here is what we know as “Giza:”
🔺Gizeh itself is the typical Nile village, with the low, clustered houses built of Nile mud (which looks like yellow-brown stucco), and beautiful feathery palms.
✯ Today, Cairo has grown so much that the pyramids of Giza are within a small handful of miles, not far in the distance. See how much it changed:
For those who have fair eyesight the pyramids of Gizeh are a part of Cairo; their gray triangles against the sky are visible from so many points that they soon become as familiar as a neighboring hill.
✯ Let the dervishes whirl:
Mohammedan monks (one calls them monks for want of a better name; they have some resemblance to monks, and some to Freemasons). . . . They are all attired in long, full white skirts, whose edges have weights attached to them; as the speed of the music increases, their whirl becomes more rapid, but it remains always even; though their eyes are closed, they never touch each other. From the description alone, it is difficult to imagine that this rite (for such it is) is solemn. But looked at with the actual eyes, it seemed to me an impressive ceremony; the absorbed appearance of the participants, their unconsciousness of all outward things, the earnestness of the aspiration visible on their faces—all these were striking. The zikr, as this species of religious effort is named, is an attempt to reach a state of ecstasy (hallucination, we should call it), during which the human being, having forgotten the existence of its body, becomes for the moment spirit only, and can then mingle with the spirit world
✯ The Suez Canal:
The opening, in 1869, of the Suez Canal turned the eyes of the entire civilized world upon Egypt.
"Corfu and the Ionian Sea" – published in 1892.
✯ The island of Corfu is described beautifully, with a bit of history:
The casino of the Empress is not the only royal residence at Corfu. About a mile from the town is the country-house called "Mon Repos," the property of the King of Greece. King George and Queen Olga, with their children, have frequently spent summers here.
✯ More descriptive language:
The mountains, the hills, the fields, are sometimes bathed in lilac. Then comes violet for the plains, while the mountains are rose that deepens into crimson. At other times salmon, pink, and purple tinges are seen, and ochre, saffron, and cinnamon brown. This description applies to the whole of Greece, but among the Ionian Islands the effect of the color is doubled by the wonderful tint of the surrounding sea.
Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable book to get lost in. I appreciated the descriptive language and tidbits of history and culture, and the black and white photographs and sketches in the E-book version on Project Gutenburg was excellent.
📕Published in 1895.
🎨Illustrated with black and white photographs and sketches.
—From My Desk in My Private Library at Crystal Lake:
જ⁀🟢 E-book version on Project Gutenburg.
જ⁀🟣 Kindle.
✴︎⋆✴︎⋆✴︎⋆✴︎
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews