Free The Tomb In Seville: Crossing Spain On The Brink Of Civil War Ebooks To Download

                
              
Free 
The Tomb In Seville: Crossing Spain On The Brink Of Civil War Ebooks To Download
The last work of renowned travel writer Norman Lewis: a thrilling adventure through 1930s Spain on a pilgrimage to the tomb of a Spanish ancestorIn the 1930s, Norman Lewis and his brother-in-law, Eugene Corvaja, journeyed to Spain to visit the family’s ancestral tomb in Seville. Seventy years later, with evocative and engrossing prose, Lewis recounts the trip, taken on the brink of the Spanish Civil War.Witnesses to the changing political climate and culture, Lewis and Corvaja travel through the countryside from Madrid to Seville by bus, car, train, and on foot, encountering many surprises along the way. Dodging the skirmishes that will later erupt into war, they immerse themselves in the local culture and landscape, marveling at the many enchantments of Spain during this pivotal time in its history.
File Size: 1017 KB
Print Length: 160 pages
Publisher: Open Road Media; First Trade Paper Edition edition (July 30, 2013)
Publication Date: July 30, 2013
Language: English
ASIN: B00DU45UNK
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Best Sellers Rank: #655,473 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)   #50 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Europe > Spain & Portugal   #127 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Europe > Spain & Portugal   #256 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Europe > Spain & Portugal
Exquisite descriptions and a youthful disregard for danger mark Lewis' last book before his death at 95 in 2003. This final volume in a long and lauded career of travel writing and fiction looks back at the journey that got him started in 1934. It's actually a retelling of his first book, a mostly forgotten Wodehouse-inspired piece called "Spanish Adventure."The journey begins at the behest - and expense - of Lewis' father-in-law Ernesto Corvaja, a Sicilian of Spanish ancestry. In hopes of finding his family fondly remembered in Seville, he sends his son Eugene Corvaja and Lewis to Spain to pay their respects to the Corvaja tomb. However, Spain is on the brink of its bloody civil war between the fascists and communists.The young men cross the border from France, with some delays and difficulties, to bask in the tranquil flow of life in San Sebastian. In contrast to France, "No one was in a hurry, or carried a parcel, and there were no clocks." Despite a few minor inconveniences - disrupted phone service, a sightseeing drive cut short by armed guards, a sinister police visit to their hotel - the two are chiefly discomfited by the closing of the local cabaret and equally reassured by its abrupt reopening.The next day an official "State of Alarm" is declared, the trains stop running and both experienced "a sensation that the personality of this town had undergone a remarkable change. The people of San Sebastian, as we had agreed, seemed to set great store by matters of personal deportment." But, "at this moment San Sebastian seemed full of running figures and queues had formed at the doors of food shops with desperate would-be customers struggling to get in. Such was the confusion that even the paseos were abandoned.
I have heard Norman Lewis referred to as the first really modern travel writer, but I wonder if that is true. Whether or not he was the first, however, the sheer volume and quality of Lewis's work do mark him out. The Tomb in Seville was his last book and was published posthumously in the autumn of 2003; he had died several months earlier at the age of 95.Lewis was born in 1908 - in London, but to Welsh parents. Both were ardent spiritualists, and his upbringing (described vividly in his first volume of autobiography, Jackdaw Cake, was strange. As a young man he pursued various ventures, including the motor trade and motor racing, and was married, quite young, to the daughter of a Sicilian of noble Spanish descent, Ernesto Corvaja.In September 1934, his father-in-law sent him on a mission to Seville in search of the Corvaja ancestral tomb, which Corvaja hoped would be found in the cathedral. His son, Eugene Corvaja, travelled with Lewis. The Tomb in Seville is the account of their journey.There are some very odd things about this book, not least that it appeared not just posthumously but nearly 70 years after the journey it described. At the time, at least one critic expressed wonder that Lewis should still be writing so well in his 90s, but one wonders if this book was actually written much earlier. It may be that Lewis intended it as part of Jackdaw Cake, published nearly 20 years before - but then held it back for some reason, so that it remained unfinished business for decades. Certainly it has the air of something written much sooner after the event than 70 years.Equally odd was the timing of their journey.
The Tomb in Seville: Crossing Spain on the Brink of Civil War Spain: A Traveler's Guide to the Must See Cities in Spain! (Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Santiago de Compostela, Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Granada, Travel Spain) Sons of Privilege: The Charleston Light Dragoons in the Civil War (Civil War Sesquicentennial Edition) (Civil War Sesquicentennial Edition (University of South Carolina Press)) Amazing Pictures and Facts About Spain: The Most Amazing Fact Book for Kids About Spain The Cooking of Spain and Portugal, plus accompanying Recipes: The Cooking of Spain and Portugal (Time-Life Foods of the World) The Barber of Seville: IL Barbiere di Siviglia: Vocal Score Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Vintage Civil War Library) The Civil War (True Books: Civil War (Paperback)) Top Secret Files: The Civil War: Spies, Secret Missions, and Hidden Facts from the Civil War (Top Secret Files of History) The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina in the Civil War (Civil War America) The Civil War: A Narrative: Volume 3: Red River to Appomattox (Vintage Civil War Library) Photographic History of The Civil War: Vicksburg to Appomattox (Civil War Times Illustrated) (v. 2) The Battle of First Bull Run: The Civil War Begins (Graphic Battles of the Civil War) The First Republican Army: The Army of Virginia and the Radicalization of the Civil War (A Nation Divided: Studies in the Civil War Era) A Broken Regiment: The 16th Connecticut's Civil War (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War) Don Troiani's Civil War Cavalry & Artillery (Don Troiani's Civil War Series) Citizen-officers: The Union and Confederate Volunteer Junior Officer Corps in the American Civil War (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War) Don Troiani's Civil War Infantry (Don Troiani's Civil War Series) Don Troiani's Civil War Zouaves, Chasseurs, Special Branches, & Officers (Don Troiani's Civil War Series) 