Tim Parks is a British writer, well-known for fourteen novels as well as works of non-fiction. But he is also loved as a translator of books by famous Italian writers down through the years.
In A Literary Tour of Italy, he looks at a number of these writers (and statesmen) and gives us essays on Dante, Machiavelli, Garibaldi, Mussolini — all the way up to less familiar names like Bassani and Tabucchi. These show the stages by which various parts of Italy finally got together to become one country.
Parks loves his adopted country and between literary and statesmen concerns we get a vivid picture of the life and customs of this beautiful country.
Reviewed by Anne McDougall