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Lisbona
A new and innovative series offering in-depth cultural, historical and literary guides to the great cities of the world. More than ordinary guidebooks, they introduce the visitor or armchair traveller to each city's unique present-day identity and its links with the past.Paul Buck explores this seven-hilled city with a particular emphasis on its literature and arts. Viewing the "white city" from angles high and low, from miradouros and alleyways, pursuing songs and saudade, he discovers the confidence of a cosmopolitan city full of the sounds and tastes of its former colonies. A city in a hurry to modernize, but one that can slow anybody to its relaxed pace.
- GenresTravelPortugalNonfiction
245 pages, Unknown Binding
First published May 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 4, 2018
(4-1/2 stars) This book is part of the Cities of the Imagination series of nearly 40 books that explores the arts, culture and history of some of the world's great cities, and was written by a British poet, translator and playwright who has visited the Portuguese capital numerous times. Starting at the Praça do Comércio, the square of commerce which sits along the Rio Tejo (River Tagus) that was built after much of the city was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake, Buck provides the reader with a short history of Lisbon and its important place in Portuguese and European history. He introduces us to the concept of saudade, the nostalgia for the past that infuses the city and influences fado, the mournful musical genre that Lisbon is best known for. The Praça do Comércio sits between the city's two main ferry terminals, the Terreiro do Paço and the Cais do Sodré, and the author uses this vantage point to describe the first impressions of it by several famous writers, most notably and notoriously Lord Byron, along with Henry Fielding, Anais Nin and Paul Bowles. Several movies filmed in the city are mentioned in this section and subsequent ones, along with novels written by non-Portuguese visitors.
After leaving the river our tour guide takes us to central Lisbon, the heart and oldest section of the city, and introduces us to its preeminent writer, the poet and novelist Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), whose sculpture is featured outside of his favorite meeting place, the Café a Brasileira in the Chiado neighborhood. As we "walk" through these neighborhoods Buck introduces us to several of the city's other authors, in particular the Nobel laureate José Saramago, Teolinda Gersão and Antonio Tabucchi, who was born in Italy but spent most of his life in Lisbon. We view the city from several miradouros, designated vantage points on one of the city's numerous hills, visit the Jardim Botânico (Botanical Garden), with its hundreds of topical plants, and the Gulbenkian Museum, where we learn about two major modern artists, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Paula Rego, go to a fado house and listen to singers influenced by Amália Rodrigues and hopefully hear morna, the music from Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique, watch a jazz set in the tiny Hot Clube, and finish with a meal of bacalhau (salted cod) and port wine in an all night restaurant. On subsequent days Buck takes us to the other major neighborhoods to the north, east and west, along with the historically important towns of Bélem and Sintra.
Lisbon: A Cultural and Literary Companion is a superb introduction to the Portuguese capital, particularly for first time visitors like myself who are interested in its history, culture and vibe. Paul Buck's portrayal of Lisbon is affectionate and enticing without being overly effusive, and I plan to go through this book once more before I make my first visit to the city next month.
After leaving the river our tour guide takes us to central Lisbon, the heart and oldest section of the city, and introduces us to its preeminent writer, the poet and novelist Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), whose sculpture is featured outside of his favorite meeting place, the Café a Brasileira in the Chiado neighborhood. As we "walk" through these neighborhoods Buck introduces us to several of the city's other authors, in particular the Nobel laureate José Saramago, Teolinda Gersão and Antonio Tabucchi, who was born in Italy but spent most of his life in Lisbon. We view the city from several miradouros, designated vantage points on one of the city's numerous hills, visit the Jardim Botânico (Botanical Garden), with its hundreds of topical plants, and the Gulbenkian Museum, where we learn about two major modern artists, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Paula Rego, go to a fado house and listen to singers influenced by Amália Rodrigues and hopefully hear morna, the music from Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique, watch a jazz set in the tiny Hot Clube, and finish with a meal of bacalhau (salted cod) and port wine in an all night restaurant. On subsequent days Buck takes us to the other major neighborhoods to the north, east and west, along with the historically important towns of Bélem and Sintra.
Lisbon: A Cultural and Literary Companion is a superb introduction to the Portuguese capital, particularly for first time visitors like myself who are interested in its history, culture and vibe. Paul Buck's portrayal of Lisbon is affectionate and enticing without being overly effusive, and I plan to go through this book once more before I make my first visit to the city next month.
October 17, 2024
Relatively fast-reading cultural guide to Lisbon, it was a bit different from other books I have read in the series (both by Elizabeth Nash; _Madrid: A Cultural and Literary Companion_ and _Seville, Córdoba, and Granada: A Cultural History_). Nash’s two works did a better job giving the overall history of the different parts of the cities she covered and her books had a better chronological order, with for the most part the areas she chose to discover pretty much taking the reader forward in time (especially true for her book on Madrid). However, Paul Buck in his work on Lisbon talked a great deal more about the many literary and artistic elements that depicted Lisbon and in a “feels like you are walking with him through Lisbon” tour of the city, discussed how different works of art depicted different parts of the city. Though I think his historical narrative was nowhere near as good as Nash’s, Buck did a much better job of depicting what Lisbon was like in different parts of the city for the tourist rather than a sweeping historical narrative and Buck discussed far more examples of art.
To my surprise, though books are very much discussed in _Lisbon: A cultural and literary companion_, the author finds time to discuss architecture, a few paintings, and quite a few films, maybe even cinema as much as literature, noting differences between a novel set in Lisbon and the film version. Movies and novels discussed included classics as well as many quite recent ones, though sadly as the book was published 2002, recent is a relative term. Most were definitely art indie films like 1983’s _In the White City_ but there were exceptions like 1990’s _The Russia House_ starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer (based on 1989 novel of the same name by John le Carré, both of which have scenes in Lisbon.) and Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s 1993 novel _The Dumas Club_ (which was the basis of the 1999 film _The Ninth Gate_ starring Johnny Depp).
Far and away the author mentioned the most in the book is Fernando Pessoa, an early 20th century poet, writer, and publisher that the author wrote whose “work is irredeemably connected to the city” and “[h]is work is the city.” Even when Pessoa is not directly the subject of a literary aside, he often indirectly is as other forms of literature themselves make frequent mention of Pessoa or were about Pessoa (notably _The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis_ by José Saramago and _Requiem: A Hallucination_ by Antonio Tabucchi, both discussed at length).
Though a book of literary and cinematic analysis, the author discussed a number of things in the city such as Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (National Museum of Ancient Art), Belém Tower, Jerónimos Monastery, Jardim Botânico (Botanical Garden), Palácio de Sintra (Palace of Sintra), the art history of the azulejos tiles, São Jorge Castle, fado music, the concept of saudade, Lisbon’s trams, bacalhau (salt cod, a traditional food), and Praça do Comércio (which translates to Commerce Plaza, but still often referred to as Terreiro do Paço or Palace Yard as it hosted the Paço da Ribeira or Royal Palace of Ribeira till the 1755 earthquake).
Has a map, several pages of resources, and a lengthy index. Black and white photos and illustrations throughout the book.
To my surprise, though books are very much discussed in _Lisbon: A cultural and literary companion_, the author finds time to discuss architecture, a few paintings, and quite a few films, maybe even cinema as much as literature, noting differences between a novel set in Lisbon and the film version. Movies and novels discussed included classics as well as many quite recent ones, though sadly as the book was published 2002, recent is a relative term. Most were definitely art indie films like 1983’s _In the White City_ but there were exceptions like 1990’s _The Russia House_ starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer (based on 1989 novel of the same name by John le Carré, both of which have scenes in Lisbon.) and Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s 1993 novel _The Dumas Club_ (which was the basis of the 1999 film _The Ninth Gate_ starring Johnny Depp).
Far and away the author mentioned the most in the book is Fernando Pessoa, an early 20th century poet, writer, and publisher that the author wrote whose “work is irredeemably connected to the city” and “[h]is work is the city.” Even when Pessoa is not directly the subject of a literary aside, he often indirectly is as other forms of literature themselves make frequent mention of Pessoa or were about Pessoa (notably _The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis_ by José Saramago and _Requiem: A Hallucination_ by Antonio Tabucchi, both discussed at length).
Though a book of literary and cinematic analysis, the author discussed a number of things in the city such as Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (National Museum of Ancient Art), Belém Tower, Jerónimos Monastery, Jardim Botânico (Botanical Garden), Palácio de Sintra (Palace of Sintra), the art history of the azulejos tiles, São Jorge Castle, fado music, the concept of saudade, Lisbon’s trams, bacalhau (salt cod, a traditional food), and Praça do Comércio (which translates to Commerce Plaza, but still often referred to as Terreiro do Paço or Palace Yard as it hosted the Paço da Ribeira or Royal Palace of Ribeira till the 1755 earthquake).
Has a map, several pages of resources, and a lengthy index. Black and white photos and illustrations throughout the book.
February 23, 2020
A good companion for any exploration of Lisbon and one that includes most of the highlights picked out in Richard Ayoade’s Travel Man series – including ginjinha cherry brandy, Pastéis de Belém custard tarts and the city’s wondrous elevators and funiculars. The treatment is cultural and literary and Jose Saramago and especially Fernando Pessoa loom large – the latter on almost every page while Wim Wenders almost matches the poet in the number of unnecessary mentions he gets. Football does get a mention too – although Luis Figo was the star of Portuguese soccer at the time of writing which reflects the book’s age. Good on history – even if the author goes a bit soft on Salazar, stopping short of calling his regime Fascist. This series of books is a very good one but most editions do need an update – given how well they are likely to have sold, we may be waiting a while – which is a shame.
November 1, 2017
Great read for the traveller who wants more historical and cultural context than provided by standard travel guides. Best to have a good map on hand, though.
December 10, 2022
The book is called "a cultural and literary companion," and offers exactly this, looking at Lisbon through the lens of films, televisions shows, poems, and artworks.
What it also does is serve as a place for the writer to express his negative opinions on next to everything not related to a film a director or a long dead artist. He does not seem to like Lisbon very much and uses 'grotesque' 'shabby' 'ridiculous' and other qualifiers for just.so.many.things.
In the end I couldn't finish. While I understand providing balance, I found this writer did not understand that concept. He wrote a book about a city he seems to largely look down on, and it grew exhausting.
What it also does is serve as a place for the writer to express his negative opinions on next to everything not related to a film a director or a long dead artist. He does not seem to like Lisbon very much and uses 'grotesque' 'shabby' 'ridiculous' and other qualifiers for just.so.many.things.
In the end I couldn't finish. While I understand providing balance, I found this writer did not understand that concept. He wrote a book about a city he seems to largely look down on, and it grew exhausting.
May 26, 2016
Weird mix of travel guide and anthology... But I gleaned some ideas about where to go on my upcoming trip to Lisbon.
March 28, 2017
A great book that taught me a lot about Lisbons cultural history, from art and music to sea travels and metro stations. It is mostly based on literary works and movies that are set in Lisbon, which allows the reader to see the city through a poetic and sometimes surrealistic filter. The more I got to know the city, the more I enjoyed this book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews