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Novel Destinations A Travel Guide To Literary Landmarks From Jane Austen S Bath To Ernest Hemingway S Key West 2nd Edition Shannon Mckenna Schmidt
Novel Destinations A Travel Guide To Literary Landmarks From Jane Austen S Bath To Ernest Hemingway S Key West 2nd Edition Shannon Mckenna Schmidt
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“A dream come true for reading enthusiasts who also travel.”
—Denver Post
—Chicago Tribune
—Chattanooga Pulse
Published by National Geographic Partners, LLC.
Copyright © 2008, 2017 Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon
Foreword Copyright © 2017 Matthew Pearl
All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without
written permission from the publisher is prohibited.
ISBN: 978-1-4262-1780-7
Ebook ISBN 978-1-4262-1781-4
Since 1888, the National Geographic Society has funded more than 12,000
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The information in this book had been carefully checked and to the best of our
knowledge is accurate. However, details are subject to change, and the National
Geographic Society cannot be responsible for such changes, or for errors or
omissions. Assessments of sites, hotels, and restaurants are based on the authors’
subjective opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the publisher’s opinion. The
publisher cannot be responsible for any consequences arising from the use of this
book.
v4.1
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Part One:
TRAVEL BY THE BOOK
The best literary experiences at home and abroad
Part Two:
JOURNEYS BETWEEN THE PAGES
The pages of literature come to life in the following 11 locales, immortalized by
famed novelists.
UNPERSUADED:
Jane Austen in Bath, England
A NOVEL CHARACTER:
Charles Dickens in London, England
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY:
Franz Kafka in Prague, Czech Republic
FAMILY TIES:
Louisa May Alcott in Concord, Massachusetts
MYSTERIOUS MANSE:
Nathaniel Hawthorne in Salem, Massachusetts
ISLAND TIME:
Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Florida
CALIFORNIA DREAMING:
John Steinbeck in Monterey and Salinas, California
—MATTHEW PEARL
Author of The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow, The Last Dickens, and The Last
Bookaneer
www.matthewpearl.com
Introduction
FELT AS IF I’D GOT INTO A NOVEL while going about in the places I’d
read so much of,” Louisa May Alcott wrote in her journal after seeing
the sights of Dickensian London in 1865. Though it’s been more than
150 years since the writer penned those words, her sentiment still
strikes a chord with many a modern-day traveler—including us, two
lifelong voracious readers who share an equally passionate appetite
for exploration.
During one of our many transatlantic phone calls (Shannon lived
in New Jersey at the time and Joni had recently moved to London),
the conversation turned to our two great loves: reading and travel.
Shannon had just visited Louisa May Alcott’s home in Concord,
Massachusetts, with her family, while Joni was preparing for an
upcoming trip to Dublin—not by reading guidebooks but by delving
into the works of famed Irish scribes Wilde, Joyce, and Beckett.
It was during this conversation that the inspiration for Novel
Destinations struck. We realized that in our travels near and far,
we’ve not only looked to novels to provide a new dimension to our
travel experiences, but equally, we’ve sought out the literary places in
our travels that will give us a deeper perspective on the books we
cherish.
We suspect we’re not the only ones for whom the mere mention of
Ernest Hemingway’s Key West or Victor Hugo’s Paris is enough to
inspire a mad dash to book an airline ticket, pack a bag, and set off
for some novel exploration. After all, it’s through the eyes of authors
like these that many of us came to know the places we’re eventually
able to visit firsthand.
Whether it’s having afternoon tea at Bath’s Pump Room, which
Catherine Morland frequented in Northanger Abbey, seeing the
room where the Alcott girls (and their Little Women counterparts)
“took to the boards” to act out homespun theatrical productions, or
sipping a pint in the pub where James Joyce and Ulysses’ Leopold
Bloom once did the same, traveling off the page is a thrilling way to
see the world.
Even celebrated writers such as John Steinbeck felt the allure of
following in the footsteps of the authors they admired. Steinbeck
once dreamed of making like Jack London and sailing across the
Pacific on a freighter. As he later professed in his memoir, Travels
with Charley, “No two journeys are alike”—whether the final
destination lies within the pages of a favorite book or across the
expanse of the open road ahead.
In this chapter…
ALL THE WOR(L)D’S A STAGE: SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND
MORE PLAYFUL DESTINATIONS
ATMOSPHERIC LITERARY LANDSCAPES
SOUTHERN COMFORT
POETIC JUSTICE
LITERARY HOUSES ON THE PRAIRIE
CONTEMPLATIVE PLACES
LITERARY ADVENTURERS
VAMPIRES, GHOSTS, AND RAVENS
RUSSIAN RACONTEURS
FAMOUS LAST WORDS: LITERARY RESTING PLACES
VICARIOUS THRILLS FOR MYSTERY READERS: MURDER AND
MAYHEM
SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND
SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE THEATRE, LONDON
Credit 1
“England’s shrine to its national idol would never have been built if it
weren’t for an American guy from Chicago,” says Jon Edgley-Bond,
who leads tours of the theatre’s interior. He’s referring to Sam
Wanamaker, the actor and director who led the charge to reconstruct
the open-air Elizabethan playhouse where the Bard once plied his
craft. A stray cannonball spark ignited the thatched roof of the
original Globe during a production of Henry VIII, burning the
theatre down to the ground in 1613. (It was subsequently rebuilt, and
then destroyed by Puritans three decades later.)
Today the new Globe—thatched roof and all—has been faithfully
restored to its Tudor-style glory on the south bank of the River
Thames. Modern-day “groundlings,” much like their counterparts
400 years ago, can pay a mere pittance (then just a penny and today
only £5) to stand in the pit surrounding the stage during
performances. Some would argue groundlings have the best “seats”
in the house, but those with weary legs can watch the action unfold
from the wooden balcony stalls in the O-shaped amphitheater.
Performances run during summer months only, but an informative
exhibition on the Globe’s history is open year-round in conjunction
with tours of the theatre. Also open year-round is the Sam
Wanamaker Playhouse. The replica Jacobean playhouse stages
works of the period as they would have originally been performed—
lit by flickering candlelight. The small, wood-paneled space, with two
snug galleries embracing the pit and stage, brings spectators up close
to the performers.
THE MYSTERIOUS MARLOWE: Born the same year as the Bard, fellow
Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe wrote blank verse dramas such
as Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus, which provided inspiration for some of
Shakespeare’s early works. The good-natured rivalry between the two was cut
short when Marlowe was mysteriously murdered in 1593. Since then, it has
been speculated that Marlowe faked his death and was the real author of the
plays today attributed to Shakespeare. Marlowe is commemorated on the
stained-glass window in Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner, with a
question mark beside the date of his death.
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, ENGLAND
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust • Tel: (44) 178 920 4016 • www.shakespeare.org.uk
SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHPLACE
Credit 2
Henley Street
Charles Dickens and John Keats were among the early sightseers to one of
England’s first tourist attractions. A facsimile copy of a visitors’ book with their
signatures is on display, while a glass windowpane bears the etched signatures of
other literati, including Thomas Carlyle and Sir Walter Scott.
See here for information on Holy Trinity Church, the Bard’s final resting place.
HALL’S CROFT
Old Town Street
THE PLAY’S THE THING: Dating back to 1879, Britain’s Royal Shakespeare
Company (www.rsc.org.uk) stages several productions a year at its three
Stratford theatres: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, located on the banks
of the River Avon; the adjacent Swan Theatre, a modernized circular
Elizabethan-style venue; and The Other Place, a 200-seat studio theatre. In
addition to playgoing, visitors can take in the view from atop a tower or learn
about the theatre world on various tours—including one given after dark.
Other Places to See Shakespeare
LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS (www.shakespeare.org)
A former artists’ colony in the Berkshire Mountains, Lenox has
been home to the Elizabethan-modeled Shakespeare &
Company ensemble since 1978. The company operates year-
round and stages performances in numerous venues, including
the tented Rose Footprint Theatre, a partial reconstruction of
Shakespeare’s first London theatre.
Credit 4
26 Lower Abbey Street • Tel: (353) 18 78 72 22 • www.abbeytheatre.ie
James Joyce’s only play, Exiles, was turned down by W. B. Yeats acting on behalf
of the Abbey Theatre. To experience Joyce’s Dublin, see here.
Credit 5
Due to the similarities of the fictional Tyrone family in Long Day’s Journey Into
Night to his own family members, O’Neill stipulated that the play, penned in 1942,
should not be published until 25 years after his death. His third wife, Carlotta, later
controversially claimed he had a change of heart and she had the play published
in 1956, just three years after the dramatist died.
East of San Francisco, in the San Ramon Valley, the National Park
Service preserves Tao House, where O’Neill and his third wife,
Carlotta, lived in relative seclusion from 1937 to 1944. The itinerant
O’Neill—who had lived in more than 35 places by the time of his
move to Danville—called the remote refuge his “final home and
harbor.” The O’Neills built the two-story, three bedroom house from
the ground up, combining Spanish and Oriental influences and
furnishing it with Chinese antiques like the playwright’s teak bed—a
former opium couch. Several of the dwelling’s architectural features,
such as its serpentine walkway to ward off evil spirits, reflect
principles of Taoism, a philosophy that greatly influenced O’Neill’s
work. He penned many of his most critically acclaimed plays,
including Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Iceman Cometh, and
Moon for the Misbegotten, at Tao House before his degenerative
neurological condition necessitated a move to San Francisco for
medical care.
The Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site is a gated property not
open to private vehicles. Transportation is provided via a free shuttle
service from Danville and includes a guided tour of the house.
(Advance booking required except on Saturdays.)