Bøger af Marguerite Blessington

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789-1849), was famous for her charm and wit, which are reflected in this three-volume travel narrative, first published in 1839-40. The work contains vivid pictures of Italian cities, and Blessington also reminisces about meetings with Lord Byron, who became a close friend.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789-1849), was famous for her charm and wit, which are reflected in this three-volume travel narrative, first published in 1839-40. Volume 1 contains anecdotes from France and Switzerland and ends with the author's encounter with Lord Byron in Genoa.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789-1849), was famous for her charm, wit, and beauty, the latter reflected in Sir Thomas Lawrence's famous portrait of her in 1822. Blessington had an unhappy childhood, and was forced into her first marriage at the age of fourteen, but had developed a love of reading and story-telling. With her second husband Charles John Gardiner, first Earl of Blessington, she lived for several years in France and Italy. In this work, originally published in two volumes in 1841, the author describes her impressions of nature, people and daily life in different French localities (Nîmes, Arles, St Rémy) with enthusiasm and good humour. Blessington writes especially about Paris, her permanent residence during 1828-30, describing the world of the British expatriate community as well as the cultural life and recent political upheavals which had brought Louis-Philippe to the throne.

When the Countess of Blessington (1789-1849) met the poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) in Genoa in 1823 she noted that 'the impression of the first few minutes disappointed me'. Despite this precarious start, they struck up a friendship and met nearly every day for two months. Byron had been living in the Italian port city since the previous autumn and Blessington and her family had arrived in April 1823. Her account of their conversations was not published until 1834, a decade after Byron's death. Blessington expresses candid opinions about the poet in this work, writing that Byron 'is a strange melange of good and evil, the predominancy of either depending wholly on the humour he may happen to be in'. Through her frankness, the author - herself a well-known writer who hosted a distinguished literary salon - also reveals much about herself and the literary world she and Byron inhabited.