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Granada: The Light of Andalucía
AN INDEPENDENT TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR
A TELEGRAPH TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR
Yearning for a change, Steven Nightingale took his family to live in the ancient Andalucian city of Granada. But as he journeyed through its hidden courtyards, scented gardens and sun-warmed plazas, Steven discovered that Granada's present cannot be separated from its past, and began an eight-year quest to discover more.
Where once Christians, Muslims and Jews lived peacefully together and the arts and sciences flourished, Granada also witnessed places of worship razed to the ground, books burned, massacre and anarchy. In the 1600s the once-populous city was reduced to 6,000 who lived among rubble. In the next three centuries, the deterioration worsened, and the city became a refuge for anarchists; then during the Spanish Civil War, fascism took hold.
Literary and sensual, Steven Nightingale produces a portrait of a now-thriving city and the joy he discovered there, revealing the resilience and kindness of its people, the resonance of its gardens and architecture and the cyclical nature of darkness and light in the history of Andalucia. At once personal and far-reaching, Granada is an epic journey through the soul of this most iconic of cities.
A TELEGRAPH TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR
Yearning for a change, Steven Nightingale took his family to live in the ancient Andalucian city of Granada. But as he journeyed through its hidden courtyards, scented gardens and sun-warmed plazas, Steven discovered that Granada's present cannot be separated from its past, and began an eight-year quest to discover more.
Where once Christians, Muslims and Jews lived peacefully together and the arts and sciences flourished, Granada also witnessed places of worship razed to the ground, books burned, massacre and anarchy. In the 1600s the once-populous city was reduced to 6,000 who lived among rubble. In the next three centuries, the deterioration worsened, and the city became a refuge for anarchists; then during the Spanish Civil War, fascism took hold.
Literary and sensual, Steven Nightingale produces a portrait of a now-thriving city and the joy he discovered there, revealing the resilience and kindness of its people, the resonance of its gardens and architecture and the cyclical nature of darkness and light in the history of Andalucia. At once personal and far-reaching, Granada is an epic journey through the soul of this most iconic of cities.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 12, 2015
About the author
Steven Nightingale
20 books21 followersSteven Nightingale is an author of books of poetry, novels, and essays. He divides his time between the San Francisco Bay Area; Reno, Nevada; and Granada, Spain.
Personal and Family Life
Nightingale was born in Reno, Nevada, and attended public schools there before being admitted to Stanford University, where he studied literature, religion, and computer science. He has lived near London, in Paris, and in Granada, Spain, and traveled worldwide, often to wild country. He moved to Granada in 2001, after buying, with his wife Lucy Blake, a carmen in the ancient barrio of the Albayzin. He and Lucy have one daughter, Gabriella.
Writing
Nightingale is the author of two novels, six books of sonnets, and a travel and history book about Granada. His work is widely anthologized, and he has taught poetry by invitation in over fifty schools and universities in Nevada and California.
His first poetry was published in 1983, by the magazine Coevolution Quarterly, and his first novel, The Lost Coast, and its sequel, The Thirteenth Daughter of the Moon, were published by St. Martin’s Press in New York, in 1995 and 1996.
Following those books, he began to assemble into manuscripts his sonnets, a poetic form with an eight-hundred year history. Nightingale specialized in the sonnet, believing that its history and durability give the form a straightforward and uncanny power. His six books of poetry begin with the limited edition Cartwheels, followed by the trade edition Planetary Tambourine, and four more collections of ninety-nine sonnets each, all published by the Black Rock Press, in their Rainshadow Editions.
In 2015, Counterpoint Press in Berkeley, California brought out Granada: A Pomegranate in the Hand of God. The book describes the move of the author and his family to Granada, and goes on to address the history of gardens and of the Albayzin, the extraordinary history of Al-Andalus, the sacred geometry in Islamic tile work, the work of the Sufis, the history of flamenco, and the life and poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca.
Personal and Family Life
Nightingale was born in Reno, Nevada, and attended public schools there before being admitted to Stanford University, where he studied literature, religion, and computer science. He has lived near London, in Paris, and in Granada, Spain, and traveled worldwide, often to wild country. He moved to Granada in 2001, after buying, with his wife Lucy Blake, a carmen in the ancient barrio of the Albayzin. He and Lucy have one daughter, Gabriella.
Writing
Nightingale is the author of two novels, six books of sonnets, and a travel and history book about Granada. His work is widely anthologized, and he has taught poetry by invitation in over fifty schools and universities in Nevada and California.
His first poetry was published in 1983, by the magazine Coevolution Quarterly, and his first novel, The Lost Coast, and its sequel, The Thirteenth Daughter of the Moon, were published by St. Martin’s Press in New York, in 1995 and 1996.
Following those books, he began to assemble into manuscripts his sonnets, a poetic form with an eight-hundred year history. Nightingale specialized in the sonnet, believing that its history and durability give the form a straightforward and uncanny power. His six books of poetry begin with the limited edition Cartwheels, followed by the trade edition Planetary Tambourine, and four more collections of ninety-nine sonnets each, all published by the Black Rock Press, in their Rainshadow Editions.
In 2015, Counterpoint Press in Berkeley, California brought out Granada: A Pomegranate in the Hand of God. The book describes the move of the author and his family to Granada, and goes on to address the history of gardens and of the Albayzin, the extraordinary history of Al-Andalus, the sacred geometry in Islamic tile work, the work of the Sufis, the history of flamenco, and the life and poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 16, 2020
A love letter to Granada and all its wonder, celebrating its unparalleled beauty, achievements and unwillingness to be forgotten. The author explores these ideas through the history of the carmenes in his beloved Albayzin, the ancient history of the city, the wonder of the convivencia of Al-Andalus (while acknowledging it was not the Utopia its sometimes made out to be), the fall of Al-Andalus and subsequent centuries worth of mismanagement, as well as the more recent horrors of history. Throughout the authors waxes lyrical about some of the defining elements of Granada and Andalucía as a whole, its architecture, artwork, people, poetry and musical traditions. At times political and philosophical it invites us not just to appreciate but to learn from all aspects and apply the lessons to a modern world
"It is a vision of a better world. The convivencia was a dangerous experiment. It proceeded by fits and starts, setbacks and abominations, strange alliances, unexpected advances, and practical ingenuities. Its achievements, only recently come into focus, were without precedent in Europe. It is a schoolroom where we might learn, we who even now are failing disastrously to live together at a time with much more dangerous weapons and with billions of lives at stake."
"It is a vision of a better world. The convivencia was a dangerous experiment. It proceeded by fits and starts, setbacks and abominations, strange alliances, unexpected advances, and practical ingenuities. Its achievements, only recently come into focus, were without precedent in Europe. It is a schoolroom where we might learn, we who even now are failing disastrously to live together at a time with much more dangerous weapons and with billions of lives at stake."
May 10, 2024
When I visited Spain one of my favorite places was Granada and one of my favorite places there was the Alambra. So I was excited to revisit it in Steven Nightgale's book Granada: The Light of Andalucia. And the best parts of it are how he recounts how he and his wife bought a house and remodeled it and fell in love with the city. His passion for the city and region is palpable and shows in the research he has done about the city and culture of the region. However, the ancient history was not as interesting for me nor was discussion of ancient religious sufism and poetry. The more modern stuff about Fredrico Garcia Lorca and fascism was more my speed. Still a nice little diversion during a time when I am unable to travel.
October 31, 2020
Wonderful breezy tour of history with insight. The chapter Al-Andalus and 1482: The plate tectonics of history is brilliant
December 19, 2022
This lyrical travel/history book made me long to return to the Albaicin.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews