Product Description

The sunlight and calm of the French Riviera have been a magnet for writers since the fourteenth century. The Cote d'Azur has provided the inspiration and setting for some of the greatest literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. "The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers" is a reader's journey along this fabled coast, from Hyeres and St. Tropez in the west to the Italian border in the east, introducing the lives and work of writers who passed this way, from distinguished Nobel laureates to new authors who found their voices there. Ted Jones's encyclopaedic work covers them all: writers such as Graham Greene and W. Somerset Maugham, who spent much of their lives there; F. Scott Fitzgerald and Guy de Maupassant, whose work it dominates; and the countless writers who simply lingered there, including Louisa M. Alcott, Hans Christian Anderson, J. G. Ballard, Samuel Beckett, Arnold Bennett, William Boyd, Bertholt Brecht, Anthony Burgess, Albert Camus, Bruce Chatwin, Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Ian Fleming, Ernest Hemingway, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, Rudyard Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, A. A. Milne, Vladimir Nabokov, Dorothy Parker, Sylvia Plath, Jean-Paul Sartre, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Louis Stevenson, Anton Tchekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Evelyn Waugh, H. G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, P. G. Wodehouse, Virginia Woolf and W. B. Yeats - and many others.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #250983 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Review
"The ultimate travel book for anyone who likes sun and literature. I found it irresistible."Peter Mayle"There are two views of the French Riviera. One says it is an overdeveloped blot on the landscape; the other that it is the epitome of style. If you veer towards the latter, and enjoy literary history, this book is for you. Drawing on the stories of more than 150 writers, Jones does a great job of buffing up the legend." Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times, Books of the Week"Thoughtful, entertaining and vivid, Jones's The French Riviera sweeps us along the coast... Cap Ferrat comes to life. Jones's book is sad only because it reminds us of how much of the Riviera's tranquil beauty has been sacrificed. The list of literary lovers of the Riviera almost beggars belief. It is delightful to have their eloquent, acerbic, lyrical responses collected here, in a book that deserves to become a favourite with all travellers." Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times"There is much to relish. The author is assiduous in recording who wrote what where and when, in seeking out memorial plaques and mourning lost landmarks."E.S.Turner, Times Literary Supplement'A vivid guide to the Cote d'Azur in the eyes of some of the greatest writers of their time.'Jane Mays, Daily Mail"Certainly among the best of recent books on the area. Jones has done a lot of research and presents his results in a clear and lively style. The book will appeal obviously to those with literary interests but it's also designed to please those who enjoy Sunday paper-style gossip (broadsheet, of course)."Patrick Middleton, The Riviera Reporter"unsurpassed in literary name-dropping" David Armstrong, San Francisco Chronicle"Some travel guides offer the basics. Others, such as Ted Jones' The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers, weave the works of other literary giants into a narrative that gives a sense of history of a place. Jones' book provides glimpses of works by writers such as Agatha Christie, Joseph Conrad, Ian Fleming, Aldous Huxley, Ernest Hemingway, Victor Hugo and James Joyce and their feelings about the French Riviera." Salt Lake City Tribune"With a cast of more than 150 authors, the book is an incredible tour-de-force. Though taking several years of diligent research to complete, Ted guides the reader on a remarkable journey, where the lives and loves of so many writers unfold before us along the sun-drenched shores of the French Riviera." www.amb-cotedazur.com"Part travel-guide, part biography, the elegant text retraces the footsteps of some of the world's greatest literary geniuses. Enough to tempt even the strongest willed to book a ticket. Snap up a copy of Ted's book... The literary world's answer to Heat magazine, Ted uncovers endlessly fascinating material" Slough & Windsor Express"The palm-fringed beaches of Cannes, Nice, Monaco and the other magical Mediterranean coastal towns and villages of sun-swept southeastern France are lovingly described by travel journalist Ted Jones." Frequent

From the Author
After visiting the Riviera for more than 20 years, I had become fascinated by its literary heritage. (Some would say 'obsessed'.) From the avenue Edith Wharton via the boulevard Somerset Maugham to the avenue Katherine Mansfield, almost every town and village proudly displays street names and plaques commemorating its association with some past writer. Yet when I tried to find some sort of literary guide to the region, there wasn't one. So I wrote this book. I hope I've done them justice.

About the Author
Ted Jones is a writer and journalist who specialises in travel and the arts. He divides his time between Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera, and Windsor, England.

Customer Reviews

A great book for travellers and book fans
At first I was sceptical about this book. As someone who knows the South of France quite well, and an avid reader, my expectations were high, but this book didn't disappoint me, to say the least.

I expected it to be informative rather than entertaining but it turned out to be both. It's filled with anecdotes which I had never heard before. Virginia Woolfe's description of an afternoon on the rocks in Cassis is not something that would have made The Hours, but it's just as interesting to travellers, Cote d'Azur fans and bookworms.

The format is original and works well. The author starts with a short introcution to the Cote d'Azur and dives in from the west at Hyères, taking the reader on a literary journey to the Italian border via all towns along the coast (via a few villages in the hills).

Keep my trademark cynicism with me, I started reading casually with the intention of getting to Cannes and Nice and the towns I knew from my travels. What I soon found out was that towns like Grasse, Antibes and Menton figure in the rich literary history. For example, I didn't know that Robert Louis Stevenson knew the area well and wrote: "Mentone is one of the most beautiful places in the world and has always had a warm corner in my heart, since I knew it eleven years ago.

Even after Nice, where I thought the book would drag as the towns faded out, it actually became more interesting as lesser know facts emerged, such as Somerset Maugham's long association with Cap Ferrat or Karl Marx's thoughts on the casino at Monaco.

The author's had a great way of putting things (like describing tubercular authors "haemorrhaging their way along the coast") and the book also includes mini-biographies of the authors and a map of the coast. The title may be a little off-putting to non-scholars like myself, but in fact the book is a light and entertaining guide, unlike many author's biographies. It's part travel reading, part history, part biography and full of anecdotes told against the unique backdrop that is the Cote d'Azur. I highly recommend this book as a great read for travellers, and fans of both fiction and non-fiction.

Inspiration on the Riviera
Ted Jones' review of writers who spent time in the very South of France, is a masterly and unique approach to a subject previously unexplored in any coherent depth. The writer is clearly a man with a passion for literature (and the South of France) and an enthusiastice desire to place the writers in their context, realising that in order to understand their writings it in necessary to understand the influence of the places in which they have lived.
Particularly impressive was his attention to detail, and one can imagine the years of painstaking research, obviously carried out with enormous pleasure, to discover previously hidden aspects of intimate events in the lives of well-known writers.
Anyone interested in those associated with the Riviera will revel in this literary companion. It is an essential and perceptive guide to include in ones luggage.

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The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)

Whether you are already living on the Côte d'Azur (or in it's surrounding hills), planning to go there, dreaming about going there or simply eager to know what writers got up to when they were there themselves, The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers by Ted Jones is indispensable. The number of writers who dipped their toes in the gentle waves of the Mediterranean or wandered the pine and thyme scented hills above, is vast and diverse - and they must almost all be within the pages of this book. So settle in a sun lounger or armchair, with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee and join them in their adventures, love affairs and mishaps. Just know it will be very difficult to leave them. From: London Lass