Axel Munthe "The Story of San Michele."
Munthe was a true Renaissance man a scientist and doctor as well as a poet who was a friend of Henry James, Somerset Maugham, and others. In this 1929 volume, he offers an account of San Michele, a house he built on the site of Roman emperor Tiberius's villa on the Isle of Capri of Italy's southern coast. His weaving of the story of the house with Italian history, mythology, and culture is reminiscent of 18th, and 19th-century travelogs.
"The Story of San Michele" is one of a remarkable life filled with fabulous experiences and ambitions. Axel Munthe was a fashionable physician in Paris who built one of the best-loved houses in the world, San Michele.
Written with intelligence and verve, this autobiography tells tales of buried treasure in Italy, legendary creatures in Lapland, and the cold countesses and kindly whores of Naples―enough material, as one critic put it, "to furnish writers of short stories with plots for the rest of their lives." "A frank and absorbing autobiography―packed with good stories, vivid scenes, and memorable portraits."
Paperback. 2002.
New book.
