I haven't read the book and I am somewhat confused by the author's profile because he appears to say that he was gay, which he says was not easy in 19I haven't read the book and I am somewhat confused by the author's profile because he appears to say that he was gay, which he says was not easy in 1975, and married, and has remained married, since 1978. So, is/was he gay? How does his married life relate to being gay?
It wasn't easy being gay in 1975, I was 17 and at school in Ireland and I can assure you that I was years away from being out and proud, but there is something in this story doesn't make sense....more
I read this book back in the 1970s when I was a teenager and while it was fun and interesting I thought even when I was fifteen or sixteen that it wasI read this book back in the 1970s when I was a teenager and while it was fun and interesting I thought even when I was fifteen or sixteen that it wasn't much better than popular history. I can't see any reason for anyone to read it now but then there are an awful lot of really bad popular histories dealing with Russia, particularly dealing with the 3oo years of Romanov rule.
Most importantly the 'Kremlin' angle doesn't extend beyond the title and a rather portentuous induction and afterwards. I am pretty sure that the book doesn't deal, even in a cursory way, with the post revolution return by the Bolsheviks/Soviets to the Kremlin.
If you want a history Russia centred on the Kremlin, and seriously looking at the physical alterations in its palaces, churches and monasteries, then read 'Red Fortress: the Secret Heart of Russia's History' by Catherine Merridale.
I have given it three stars because this book was OK in 1963 but it is only of antiqcue interest now....more
I must begin by telling you what type of book 'Naples Declared: A Walk Around the Bay' by Benjamin Taylor is. It is not any of the things I have shelvI must begin by telling you what type of book 'Naples Declared: A Walk Around the Bay' by Benjamin Taylor is. It is not any of the things I have shelved it as, history, memoir, travel, though it contains elements of all of those things. It is old fashioned in many ways, and I think it is no coincidence that the one author Mr. Taylor dwells most lovingly on is the English writer Norman Douglas who is now forgotten except for the disapproval his personal life now attracts (please see my footnote *1 below). It reminds me of many 'travel/memoirs' I read as a teenager in the early 1970s. Most were published in the early 1960s or even 1950s but they were on the shelves of my local library and though I can remember many stories from them I can recall no titles or authors. There is only one such book that I can recall in detail 'The Stones of Florence' (1958) by Mary McCarthy and it will stand in for all those forgotten titles as a template of what 'Naples Declared' is.
'The Stones of Florence' by Mary McCarthy was a romp through five centuries of Florentine history and art seen through the personal perspective of the author's time living in and exploring the city. It was, like many of these types of books back then, a 'travel' book but not a book to aide a traveller. None of these books were meant to be 'guide books', the very idea of them being thought equivalent to a 'guidebook' would have appalled their authors. These books were an idiosyncratic boulebais of information designed to enlighten and entertain those who knew their classics, history and art but were unable to 'travel' the way authors of these books did. It was vicarious enjoyment of an ideal lifestyle they offered to their stuck at home readers.
That, in essence is what 'Naples Declared' is. The insertion of photographs of buildings, places and art works, is reminiscent of the lavishly illustrated edition of the 'Stones of Florence' in my father's library but in Taylor's book they are tiny and often frustrating. Nowadays that doesn't matter so much because it is so easy, when a place is mentioned like, for example, the Charterhouse of San Martino, to consult the internet and find wonderful photographs of the monks burial ground and the marble skulls that decorate their enclosure.
If Mr. Taylor's book has a failing it is that he keeps himself too much in reserve. We need more of his own input, feelings, observations and prejudices. Also the books relative brevity and scantity supporting references have allowed some inaccuracies to creep in. The Fritz Krupp scandal rose not so much from Krupp's activities in Capri but because he imported several Caprisian youths to Berlin were he had the cooperative management of the luxious Aldon Hotel 'employ' them so they would be on hand whenever he could escapr from Essen. As for Jacques d'Adelsward-Fersen he was a mediocre writer but why Mr. Taylor describes his 'boyfriend' Nino Caeserini as 'out-for-the-main-chance' is hard to understand because he was actually very loyal and supportive.
I enjoyed 'Naples Declared' for what it was and I would have liked more of it.
*1 Least anyone imagine I would find in his paedophiliac relationships justifications for such behavior now let me say I don't but retrospective condemnation without context or understanding pointless. To understand Douglas read 'Unspeakable: A Life Beyond Sexual Morality' by Rachel Hope Cleves (2020) or the earlier 'Norman Douglas: A Biography' by Mark Holloway....more
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