Memories And Vagaries
Cód:
491_9781443725545
MEMORIES AND VAGARIES by AXEL MUNTHE. Originally published in 1930. PREFACE TO THE THIRD ENGLISH EDITION: BENEVOLENT readers of The Story of Sew Michele have come forth with a gallant attempt to rescue this little book from oblivion. I fear I have not done very well for myself by consenting to a re print of these small sketches or stories, or whatever they are to be called. They were all written long, long ago by an inexperienced hand in rather indif ferent English. I flatter myself with the belief that, were I to sit down and rewrite them to-day, I would make a better book, at least to the majority of its readers. But there still exists a minority of booklovers with a sneaking weakness for sponta neous writing, who will, maybe, approve of my bold ness in leaving these stories just as they were writ ten, to take care of themselves as best they can. Readers of The Story of San Michele will come . across several old acquaintances here, all in their same old clothes, for they have nothing else to put on their backs. My friend Archangelo Fusco, the street-sweeper of Quartier Montparnasse the Sal vatore family Don Gaetano, the organ-grinder PREFACE with his shivering monkey Monsieur Alfredo with the MS. of his last five-act tragedy under his arm, are all here. Even Soeur Philomne, the sweet guar dian angel of Salle St. Claire in the Paris hospital, lives and dies in these pages. The same shabby old monks and priests are carrying through the cholera slums of Naples their respective madonnas and patron saints, all quarrelling among themselves. The same glorious sun is shining over Golfo di Napoli. Out of its sparkling waters rises the same enchanted island, where the same friendly people welcome the reader. Even the dogs in this book are wagging their tails in token of recognition. The beloved Tappio in the chapter When Tappio was lost in this book was the great-grandfather of the Tappio Miss Hall took for his daily walk in Villa Borghese, and who lay half - asleep in t
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