Patrick Leigh Fermor: A Life in Letters Contributor(s): Leigh Fermor, Patrick (Author), Sisman, Adam (Editor), Sisman, Adam (Selected by) |
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ISBN: 1681371561 ISBN-13: 9781681371566 Publisher: New York Review of Books OUR PRICE: $17.96 Product Type: Paperback Published: November 2017 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Letters - Biography & Autobiography | Literary Figures - Biography & Autobiography | Adventurers & Explorers |
Dewey: B |
LCCN: 2017014756 |
Physical Information: 1.07" H x 5.5" W x 8.25" (1.27 lbs) 512 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The first extensive collection of letters written by war hero and travel writing legend Patrick Leigh Fermor. Handsome, spirited, and erudite, Patrick Leigh Fermor was a war hero and one of the greatest travel writers of his generation. He was also a wonderful friend. The letters in this collection span almost seventy years, the first written ten days before Paddy's twenty-fifth birthday, the last when he was ninety-four, and the correspondents include Deborah Devonshire, Nancy Mitford, Lawrence Durrell, Diana Cooper, and his lifelong companion, Joan Rayner. The letters exhibit many of Fermor's most engaging characteristics: his lust for life, his unending curiosity, his lyrical descriptive powers, his love of language, his exuberance, and his tendency to get into scrapes--particularly when drinking and, quite separately, driving. Here are plenty of extraordinary stories: the hunt for Byron's slippers in one of the remotest regions of Greece; an ignominious dismissal from Somerset Maugham's Villa Mauresque; and hiding behind a bush to dub Dirk Bogarde into Greek during the shooting of Ill Met by Moonlight. The letters radiate warmth and gaiety; many are enhanced with witty illustrations and comic verse, while others contain riddles and puns. Every one of them entertains. |