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Pleasures and Landscapes
Sybille Bedford once wrote that travel writing is inseparable from the writer's tastes, idiosyncrasies, and general temperament--it is what happens to him when he is confronted with a column, a bird, a sage, a cheat, a riot; wine, fruit, dirt; the delay in the dirt, the failing airplane. Pleasures and Landscapes is what happened to Mrs. Bedford when, at the peak of her literary powers, she traveled through France, Italy, and the rest of Europe for Vogue, Esquire, and other magazines --eight classic essays that secure her a place at the table with A. J. Liebling and M. F. K. Fisher.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 2003
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281 people want to read
About the author
Sybille Bedford
48 books99 followersSybille Bedford, OBE (16 March 1911 – 17 February 2006) was a German-born English writer. Many of her works are partly autobiographical. Julia Neuberger proclaimed her "the finest woman writer of the 20th century" while Bruce Chatwin saw her as "one of the most dazzling practitioners of modern English prose.
Works
The Sudden View: a Mexican Journey - 1953 - (republished as A Visit to Don Otavio: a Traveller's Tale from Mexico, a travelogue)
A Legacy: A Novel - 1956 - her first novel, a work inspired by the early life of the author's father, which focuses on the brutality and anti-Semitism in the cadet schools of the German officer class.
The Best We Can Do: (The Trial of Dr Adams) - 1958 - an account of the murder trial of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams
The Faces of Justice: A Traveller's report - 1961 - a description of the legal systems of England, Germany, Switzerland, and France.
A Favourite of the Gods - 1963 - a novel about an American heiress who marries a Roman Prince
A Compass Error - 1968 - a sequel to the above, describing the love affairs of the granddaughter of that work's protagonist
Aldous Huxley: A biography - 1973 - the standard, authorized biography of Huxley
Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education - 1989 - a sort of followup to A Legacy, this novel was inspired by the author's experiences living in Italy and France with her mother
As It Was: Pleasures, Landscapes and Justice - 1990 - a collection of magazine pieces on various trials, including the censorship of Lady Chatterley's Lover, the trial of Jack Ruby, and the Auschwitz trial, as well as pieces on food and travel.
Pleasures and Landscapes: A Traveller's Tales from Europe - a reissue of the above, removing the legal writings, and including two additional travel essays.
Quicksands: A Memoir - 2005 - A memoir of the author's life, from her childhood in Berlin to her experiences in postwar Europe.
Works
The Sudden View: a Mexican Journey - 1953 - (republished as A Visit to Don Otavio: a Traveller's Tale from Mexico, a travelogue)
A Legacy: A Novel - 1956 - her first novel, a work inspired by the early life of the author's father, which focuses on the brutality and anti-Semitism in the cadet schools of the German officer class.
The Best We Can Do: (The Trial of Dr Adams) - 1958 - an account of the murder trial of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams
The Faces of Justice: A Traveller's report - 1961 - a description of the legal systems of England, Germany, Switzerland, and France.
A Favourite of the Gods - 1963 - a novel about an American heiress who marries a Roman Prince
A Compass Error - 1968 - a sequel to the above, describing the love affairs of the granddaughter of that work's protagonist
Aldous Huxley: A biography - 1973 - the standard, authorized biography of Huxley
Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education - 1989 - a sort of followup to A Legacy, this novel was inspired by the author's experiences living in Italy and France with her mother
As It Was: Pleasures, Landscapes and Justice - 1990 - a collection of magazine pieces on various trials, including the censorship of Lady Chatterley's Lover, the trial of Jack Ruby, and the Auschwitz trial, as well as pieces on food and travel.
Pleasures and Landscapes: A Traveller's Tales from Europe - a reissue of the above, removing the legal writings, and including two additional travel essays.
Quicksands: A Memoir - 2005 - A memoir of the author's life, from her childhood in Berlin to her experiences in postwar Europe.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 31, 2022
„Champagner in Buchform“ ist mein liebstes Zitat über Sibylle Bedford, eine außergewöhnliche Frau und eine meiner liebsten Schriftstellerinnen. Am besten gefällt sie mir immer dann, wenn sie schwelgt: wenn sie von exzellenten Weinen sachkundig schwärmt, wenn sie mit großem Appetit über die Speisenfolge in einem normannischen Landhaus fachsimpelt, wenn sie das gute Leben auf Reisen für uns Leser*innen erfahrbar macht. Durch ausufernde Beschreibungen von Architektur und Landschaft. Durch geistreiche Bemerkungen über Land und Leute. Durch Passion für Menschen, Momente und Abenteuer.
Manchmal mag dann ein Absatz zu ausführlich erscheinen, der Ton gelegentlich belehrend und womöglich die ein oder andere Beobachtung aus der Zeit gefallen. Aber was für ein Glück dieser Essayband ist, um die Sehnsucht nach einer Zeit des Reisens zu vermitteln als Glamour und Gemütlichkeit und vom Guten das Beste noch zusammengehörten.
„Zum Käse gab es einen 1945er Château de Pez. Wenn man Wein von jugendlicher Kraft getrunken hat, bereitet es besonderes Vergnügen, sich der vergänglichen Komplexität eines älteren Weines zuzuwenden.“
„In Sarnen verliebten wir uns in ein Haus mit weiß und rot gestrichenen Fensterläden. >>Das ist es<<, sagte Martha (Gellhorn!). >>So schön, so beruhigend. Und denk nur, wie gut man dort arbeiten könnte. Aber was würde man in der heure bleue machen?<<
>>Es gibt immer einen pensionierten Major mit einer Kollektion von Monteverdi-Platten<<, sagte ich.
>>Würde er den Mund aufmachen?<<, fragte Martha.“
„Denn diese Konstellation aus Hafen, kleinem Ort und Castello ist hinreißend und wird das auch bleiben, da es verboten ist, auch nur die Form eines Fensters zu verändern. Als wir ankamen, war Nebensaison und Mondschein: Mehr kann man nicht verlangen.
Wir aßen. Das erste Abendessen in Italien - wird es den Erwartungen entsprechen? Reicht je etwas an das heran, woran man sich erinnert? Ja. Wir aßen leichte Pasta, die wie ein geflochtenes Nest auf dem Teller lag, mit der grünen Genueser Sauce aus zerstoßenem Basilikum und Knoblauch, dann eine gegrillte Dorade, festes Fleisch, leicht nussig im Geschmack, mit einem Schuss toskanischem Olivenöl und etwas Zitrone. Dazu tranken wir einen mir unbekannten lokalen Wein, weißen Cinqueterre, der sehr angenehm schmeckte.“
Manchmal mag dann ein Absatz zu ausführlich erscheinen, der Ton gelegentlich belehrend und womöglich die ein oder andere Beobachtung aus der Zeit gefallen. Aber was für ein Glück dieser Essayband ist, um die Sehnsucht nach einer Zeit des Reisens zu vermitteln als Glamour und Gemütlichkeit und vom Guten das Beste noch zusammengehörten.
„Zum Käse gab es einen 1945er Château de Pez. Wenn man Wein von jugendlicher Kraft getrunken hat, bereitet es besonderes Vergnügen, sich der vergänglichen Komplexität eines älteren Weines zuzuwenden.“
„In Sarnen verliebten wir uns in ein Haus mit weiß und rot gestrichenen Fensterläden. >>Das ist es<<, sagte Martha (Gellhorn!). >>So schön, so beruhigend. Und denk nur, wie gut man dort arbeiten könnte. Aber was würde man in der heure bleue machen?<<
>>Es gibt immer einen pensionierten Major mit einer Kollektion von Monteverdi-Platten<<, sagte ich.
>>Würde er den Mund aufmachen?<<, fragte Martha.“
„Denn diese Konstellation aus Hafen, kleinem Ort und Castello ist hinreißend und wird das auch bleiben, da es verboten ist, auch nur die Form eines Fensters zu verändern. Als wir ankamen, war Nebensaison und Mondschein: Mehr kann man nicht verlangen.
Wir aßen. Das erste Abendessen in Italien - wird es den Erwartungen entsprechen? Reicht je etwas an das heran, woran man sich erinnert? Ja. Wir aßen leichte Pasta, die wie ein geflochtenes Nest auf dem Teller lag, mit der grünen Genueser Sauce aus zerstoßenem Basilikum und Knoblauch, dann eine gegrillte Dorade, festes Fleisch, leicht nussig im Geschmack, mit einem Schuss toskanischem Olivenöl und etwas Zitrone. Dazu tranken wir einen mir unbekannten lokalen Wein, weißen Cinqueterre, der sehr angenehm schmeckte.“
July 6, 2022
Manchmal stößt man ganz unverhofft über eine wunderbar unterhaltsame Lektüre auf eine sehr beeindruckende Persönlichkeit. Mir ging das zuletzt bei "Am liebsten nach Süden" von Sybille Bedford, in der Übersetzung von Matthias Fienbork, so. Sybille Bedford wurde 1911 in Berlin geboren. Sie war Halbjüdin und homosexuell - für die Nazis also eine wandelnde Zielscheibe. Um sie vor der Internierung zu bewahren arrangierte ihr Freund Aldous Huxley eine Scheinehe mit dem ebenfalls homosexuellen Engländer Walter Bedford. So konnte sich Sibylle Bedford vor dem Übergriff Nazi-Deutschlands retten und sich zugleich ein bürgerliches Leben sichern. Von all diesen Verwicklungen liest man in ihrer Reise-Essay-Sammlung "Am liebsten nach Süden" zwar nichts, schmökert man das Buch aber mit dem Wissen um diesen Hintergrund, stechen immer wieder ihr Freiheitsdrang und ihr gesellschaftskritisches Denken hervor.
Geschrieben hat Bedford ihre im Wesen sehr unterschiedlichen Reiseberichte zwischen der Nachkriegszeit bis hin zum Massentourismus der 1970er Jahre. Sie nimmt die Lesenden in acht Essays von Capri über Dänemark und die Schweiz mit bis in das autokratische Jugoslawien, immer mit einem besonderen Blick auf ihre Umgebung, einem Gläschen Wein in der Hand und einem ausufernden Essen auf dem Teller. Sie setzt sich einfach in ein Auto und fährt los und ist damit eine der ersten Frauen, die so über ihre Reisen berichten. Erschienen sind die Texte in diversen Hochglanzmagazinen, unter anderem der Vogue.
Gerade wegen solcher Bücher finde ich die Büchergilde einfach fabelhaft, denn niemals wäre ich von selbst darauf gekommen, diese Reiseberichte der 2006 verstorbenen Schriftstellerin und Journalistin zu lesen. Im Gewand der Büchergilde unterwegs-Reihe ist die Lektüre dazu noch ein richtiger Hingucker und passt in jede (Reise-)Tasche. Ein perfektes Sommerbuch, das die akute Reiselust stillt und mir eine ausgesprochen inspirierende Frau näher gebracht hat. Toll!
Hinweis: In der Übersetzung wird das Z-Wort verwendet.
Geschrieben hat Bedford ihre im Wesen sehr unterschiedlichen Reiseberichte zwischen der Nachkriegszeit bis hin zum Massentourismus der 1970er Jahre. Sie nimmt die Lesenden in acht Essays von Capri über Dänemark und die Schweiz mit bis in das autokratische Jugoslawien, immer mit einem besonderen Blick auf ihre Umgebung, einem Gläschen Wein in der Hand und einem ausufernden Essen auf dem Teller. Sie setzt sich einfach in ein Auto und fährt los und ist damit eine der ersten Frauen, die so über ihre Reisen berichten. Erschienen sind die Texte in diversen Hochglanzmagazinen, unter anderem der Vogue.
Gerade wegen solcher Bücher finde ich die Büchergilde einfach fabelhaft, denn niemals wäre ich von selbst darauf gekommen, diese Reiseberichte der 2006 verstorbenen Schriftstellerin und Journalistin zu lesen. Im Gewand der Büchergilde unterwegs-Reihe ist die Lektüre dazu noch ein richtiger Hingucker und passt in jede (Reise-)Tasche. Ein perfektes Sommerbuch, das die akute Reiselust stillt und mir eine ausgesprochen inspirierende Frau näher gebracht hat. Toll!
Hinweis: In der Übersetzung wird das Z-Wort verwendet.
April 18, 2010
Two huge pluses: the book is gorgeously written; almost lyrical in some of the author's impressions. Also, most all the material was written decades ago e.g., Yugoslavia by car in 1965, which makes it even more enjoyable, and informative to read. I especially enjoyed Bedford's description of the Swiss and the Danes, people who're often characterized as bland or even smug---she goes beneath that to discussion of national characteristics in terms of relationship to geography and to a region's history. Just wonderful reading!
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August 7, 2020Food obsessed nobility swans around post war Europe eating and drinking to their hearts delight.
July 17, 2022
Andere, wunderschöne Ausgabe: Büchergilde Gutenberg, Reihe "Büchergilde unterwegs", 1. Auflage 2022.
ISBN 978-3-7632-7379-9.
ISBN 978-3-7632-7379-9.
Want to read
November 11, 2014The cover implies that food will be a prominent part of this travelogue.
September 2, 2025
Sybille is so FRENETIC! Overflowing with energy, effusiveness, opinions - always bumping into her gal pal Martha Gellhorn on her hapless jaunts around Europe! Whata coincidence! (wanted more gossip from Martha tbh, who did seem a gossipy sort).
It's all jolly posh women having a jolly posh time sampling the local delicacies of wherever they end up un Europe. Entertaining but fluffy and a bit of a head-spinner - sometimes you jsut want to tell Sybille to calm down a little, take it easy, stop rushing to get your words out, go a bit slower...The writing about food and drink was really enjoyable, (I love that she also believes in the utmost centrality of wine to any meal) but the issue is that I have read all of MFK Fisher, and nobody does it better. Noboday ever will. Made me want a glass of Sauternes though.
"He ate chex Jacues, at the Greek's and chez la Mere Gros, at Luigi's da Cesare, chez Nine, chez Paul, zum Ochs, at le bon Coin and at l'Auberge de la Foret du Dom. He drank in wine shops and in taverns and in cafes and in cool, dark, narrow, new places called American bars. He sat in the sun and in the shade, on city pavements under the chestnut trees, in summer gardens, in piazzas, by lakeside, on quays, below arbors of vine and awnings flapping in the mistral, in taprooms redolent of pinewood, and late on terraces above swfit nocturnal water.." See what I mean? FRENETIC
"At times one does eat beautifully in the Midi, as indeed one shoud. I remember an hor-d'oevres of home cured small back olives, achovy, firm butter and radishes just pulled from the earth. I remember sardines grilled dripping from the sea; a little dish of veal cooked with new artichokes and sorrel. Striped bass, fish soup, oursins. A stew of wild boar, rabbit done with peppers in a flat black pan at a Spanish place at Aix, green almonds, the first apricots, a round, hard goat cheese eaten with frehs figs and the red Rhone Gigondas....a salmon from the Loire accompanied by the lightest cucumber mayonnaise, a coolness of pink and pale green...the French are propserous again and the young disillusioned or not, feel free. People probably work less, care less...They certainly earn more, drink more, standards are lower, workmanship more shoddy, the new things look hideous, but the people look thriving."
"When Italian food shops are good...they are very, very good....Look at the whole cheeses in their beautiful black rinds, look at the hanging provolone, the fiaschi, the salami, they have fresh fior di latte and mascarpone....But I buy our picnic with restraint...a few olives; bread, not the rolls which are often sad stuff but a cut of coarse baked loaf; a wedge of parmesan, the hard grana...cherries off a stall in the street. A wine shop. What they chiefly drink here is from Piedmost and the Val d'Aosta just above, Barbera and Barbaresco, frank reds, rather strong. I take a flash of the lighter Bardolino from the Veneto because it is an agreeable wine to drink. The good wines of Italy are easy and companionable. Soave, the undernatured Chiantis, Valpolicella, Bardolino, the rose from Ravello...You can do with them what you never would with a hock or a clarent, trundle them about in the car, opened and all, fling in a handful of ice, drink them at all hours, with any food, in carefree quantities."
Portugal - "everywhere the wine is pleasant and very cheap. I have a fondness for the vinho verdes, the slightly (naturally) fizzy wines of the Minho; the white, which is very dry (too acid perhaps for some) for aperitif; the red, which is reminiscent of some young undoctored Tuscan, with simple food. I recommend too the red wines of Colares and of Dao and a crystalline pink wine made at Vila Mateus."
"I have not been to Bordeaux for a good mnay years; too many. Nor ever known it well. Yet in a sense I was there. A day is lacking - whatever else it may have contained - if I have not drunk a little wine. For half a century or more I have drunk wine in and of many countries, many soils, climates, vines, seeking what is honestly made, good of its kind; I have been happy for weeks on end on the Italian neighbours wine of the year; been overwhelmed a few times by the beauty and stature of a burgundy or a hock, yet the lodestar was ever claret - my true love always returned to the Medoc, the Graves, the Pomerol and the Sauternes."
It's all jolly posh women having a jolly posh time sampling the local delicacies of wherever they end up un Europe. Entertaining but fluffy and a bit of a head-spinner - sometimes you jsut want to tell Sybille to calm down a little, take it easy, stop rushing to get your words out, go a bit slower...The writing about food and drink was really enjoyable, (I love that she also believes in the utmost centrality of wine to any meal) but the issue is that I have read all of MFK Fisher, and nobody does it better. Noboday ever will. Made me want a glass of Sauternes though.
"He ate chex Jacues, at the Greek's and chez la Mere Gros, at Luigi's da Cesare, chez Nine, chez Paul, zum Ochs, at le bon Coin and at l'Auberge de la Foret du Dom. He drank in wine shops and in taverns and in cafes and in cool, dark, narrow, new places called American bars. He sat in the sun and in the shade, on city pavements under the chestnut trees, in summer gardens, in piazzas, by lakeside, on quays, below arbors of vine and awnings flapping in the mistral, in taprooms redolent of pinewood, and late on terraces above swfit nocturnal water.." See what I mean? FRENETIC
"At times one does eat beautifully in the Midi, as indeed one shoud. I remember an hor-d'oevres of home cured small back olives, achovy, firm butter and radishes just pulled from the earth. I remember sardines grilled dripping from the sea; a little dish of veal cooked with new artichokes and sorrel. Striped bass, fish soup, oursins. A stew of wild boar, rabbit done with peppers in a flat black pan at a Spanish place at Aix, green almonds, the first apricots, a round, hard goat cheese eaten with frehs figs and the red Rhone Gigondas....a salmon from the Loire accompanied by the lightest cucumber mayonnaise, a coolness of pink and pale green...the French are propserous again and the young disillusioned or not, feel free. People probably work less, care less...They certainly earn more, drink more, standards are lower, workmanship more shoddy, the new things look hideous, but the people look thriving."
"When Italian food shops are good...they are very, very good....Look at the whole cheeses in their beautiful black rinds, look at the hanging provolone, the fiaschi, the salami, they have fresh fior di latte and mascarpone....But I buy our picnic with restraint...a few olives; bread, not the rolls which are often sad stuff but a cut of coarse baked loaf; a wedge of parmesan, the hard grana...cherries off a stall in the street. A wine shop. What they chiefly drink here is from Piedmost and the Val d'Aosta just above, Barbera and Barbaresco, frank reds, rather strong. I take a flash of the lighter Bardolino from the Veneto because it is an agreeable wine to drink. The good wines of Italy are easy and companionable. Soave, the undernatured Chiantis, Valpolicella, Bardolino, the rose from Ravello...You can do with them what you never would with a hock or a clarent, trundle them about in the car, opened and all, fling in a handful of ice, drink them at all hours, with any food, in carefree quantities."
Portugal - "everywhere the wine is pleasant and very cheap. I have a fondness for the vinho verdes, the slightly (naturally) fizzy wines of the Minho; the white, which is very dry (too acid perhaps for some) for aperitif; the red, which is reminiscent of some young undoctored Tuscan, with simple food. I recommend too the red wines of Colares and of Dao and a crystalline pink wine made at Vila Mateus."
"I have not been to Bordeaux for a good mnay years; too many. Nor ever known it well. Yet in a sense I was there. A day is lacking - whatever else it may have contained - if I have not drunk a little wine. For half a century or more I have drunk wine in and of many countries, many soils, climates, vines, seeking what is honestly made, good of its kind; I have been happy for weeks on end on the Italian neighbours wine of the year; been overwhelmed a few times by the beauty and stature of a burgundy or a hock, yet the lodestar was ever claret - my true love always returned to the Medoc, the Graves, the Pomerol and the Sauternes."
March 21, 2022
This slim collection of travel articles will mostly be of interest to Sybille Bedford aficionados, but there are a few pieces here with mass appeal. "The Quality of Travel" (originally published in Esquire, 1961) will be enjoyed by anyone with a love of travel. "A Journey in Yugoslavia" (Venture, 1966) is an informative historical document that most frequent travelers will also enjoy.
Bedford fans will be interested to learn what her writing looked like under the influence of a real editor. Most of these stories lack the unique syntax choices found in most of her novels.
Note that the similarly-titled "As It Was: Pleasures, Landscapes and Justice" contains all of these travel pieces (except one) as well as a bunch of articles about the law.
Bedford fans will be interested to learn what her writing looked like under the influence of a real editor. Most of these stories lack the unique syntax choices found in most of her novels.
Note that the similarly-titled "As It Was: Pleasures, Landscapes and Justice" contains all of these travel pieces (except one) as well as a bunch of articles about the law.
July 9, 2019
A beautiful little book which I’ll dip into again and again. Such lovely descriptions of places, food and wine.
February 6, 2025
wonderful traveling with her.
November 12, 2025
Enjoyable snippet of travel in the 50’s, 60’s & 70’s
June 2, 2014
Loving, breezy account of European travels - mostly 50s and 60s - post rebuilding.
September 28, 2014
Delightful set of essays about travels in Europe 1940s-70s. Points for liking comfort, efficiency, etc rather than the picturesquely primitive and quaint!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews