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The Alhambra: A Series Of Tales And Sketches Of The Moors And Spaniards

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David Wales

11 Hours 0 Minutes

LibriVox

January 2011

Audio Book Summary

This is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories by Washington Irving. Irving lived at the Alhambra Palace while writing some of the material for his book. In 1828, Washington Irving traveled from Madrid, where he had been staying, to Granada, Spain. At first sight, he described it as "a most picturesque and beautiful city, situated in one of the loveliest landscapes that I have ever seen." He immediately asked the then-governor of the historic Alhambra Palace as well as the archbishop of Granada for access to the palace, which was granted because of Irving's celebrity status. Aided by a 35-year old guide named Mateo Ximenes, Irving was inspired by his experience to write Tales of the Alhambra. Throughout his trip, he filled his notebooks and journals with descriptions and observations though he did not believe his writing would ever do it justice. He wrote, "How unworthy is my scribbling of the place." A commemorative plaque in Spanish at the Alhambra reads, "Washington Irving wrote his Tales of Alhambra in these rooms in 1829". The book was instrumental in reintroducing the Alhambra to Western audiences. (Summary by Wikipedia and David Wales)

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Reviews

  • Martha Hofmeister

    For a 200 year old book, this holds up well. Maybe I am biased by my recent trip to Southern Spain, where I stayed at the parador on the grounds of the Alhambra and in Seville, also touring Cordòba and Toledo, but Irving's descriptions and turns of phrase summon up a lovely, conflicted land full of kings and commoners and ghosts. A classic--in the good way.

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  • Anonymous

    Great book- had to be - as otherwise there is no way I could have endured the pain of the narrator’s butchery of the Spanish language throughout. Sad, because his voice is soothing and his reading exemplary but shameless that he has not even the most basic command of a language that is not only often quoted in the story but we are made to endure the repetition of the title before each of its 30-some chapters - and his mispronunciation of Alhambra over and over again - Spanish 101 : the “h” is silent, buddy … ugh ! Readers, pick a different publication of this title. Narrator, stick to English.

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