Research Catalog

Pagan light : dreams of freedom and beauty in Capri

Title
Pagan light : dreams of freedom and beauty in Capri / Jamie James.
Author
James, Jamie, 1951-2020
Publication
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFD 19-3594Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
322 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps; 22 cm
Summary
  • "A history of the artists and renegades who found refuge on the island of Capri"--
  • "The isolated and arrestingly beautiful island of Capri has long been a refuge for renegade artists, writers, and political figures fleeing the confines of conventional society. From the time of Augustus, who bought the island in 29 B.C. after defeating Antony and Cleopatra, to the early twentieth century, when the poet and novelist Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen was exiled there after being charged with corrupting minors, and later, when Audrey Hepburn was pattering through town in capri pants, the island's history is rich and full of intrigue. The first book of its kind, Jamie James's sweeping Pagan Light is a fascinating portrait of the foreigners who have found home on the storied island for more than two thousand years. We encounter the Roman emperor Tiberius, who conducted an extended orgy on the island for the last eleven years of his life; Maxim Gorky, who lived on Capri after being banished by the tsarist regime; and the legendary American painter Romaine Brooks, who moved her studio to Capri and broke hearts, male and female. We also meet figures as varied as the Marquis de Sade, Goethe, Pablo Neruda, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Compton Mackenzie, and Rilke, among others. Grounded in a deep intimacy with Capri and full of captivating anecdotes about some of history's most notable eccentrics, Pagan Light tells the story of a tiny island that has served as a wildly permissive haven for people--queer, criminal, sick, marginalized, and simply crazy--who have nowhere else to go."--Dust jacket.
Alternative Title
Dreams of freedom and beauty in Capri
Subjects
Genre/Form
History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Map -- Pagan light -- Notes and bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index.
Call Number
JFD 19-3594
ISBN
  • 9780374142766
  • 0374142769
LCCN
2018033300
OCLC
1057730921
Author
James, Jamie, 1951-2020, author.
Title
Pagan light : dreams of freedom and beauty in Capri / Jamie James.
Publisher
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.
Edition
First edition.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Research Call Number
JFD 19-3594
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