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| Document Type: | Book |
|---|---|
| All Authors / Contributors: |
Robert Irwin |
| ISBN: | 0674015681 9780674015685 9780674060333 0674060334 |
| OCLC Number: | 54974589 |
| Notes: | Includes index. |
| Description: | vii, 213 p. : ill. ; 19 cm. |
| Contents: | The fairy-tale palace? -- Poisoned paradise -- A palace to think in -- The romance of the Moor. |
| Responsibility: | Robert Irwin. |
| More information: |
Abstract:
The Alhambra, which resembles a fairy tale palace, was constructed by slave labour in an era of economic decline, plague and political violence. Its beautifully decorated halls witnessed many murders. The Alhambra's influence on art, and on literature, Orientalist painting and Granada cinemas, Washington Irving and Borges, has been significant. Robert Irwin helps us to understand that story fully."--BOOK JACKET.
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Publisher Synopsis
The only Muslim palace to survive in the West, the Alhambra, a beautiful collection of buildings and gardens set against the mountain backdrop of Granada, has been fixed in travelers' imaginations since the 19th century works of American novelist Washington Irving made the site famous. Unfortunately, much of what we know and think about it remains more romanticized fiction than fact. Here, Irwin (a novelist and noted Islamicist) helps set the record straight. As he explains, the Alhambra has been highly--and often inaccurately--reconstructed over the centuries, changing and expanding with the shifting notion of how this collection of buildings had been originally used. No matter how beautiful, he asserts, today the Alhambra is a mere shadow of its former glory, when it dripped with beautiful tapestries and exquisite carpets. Irwin's direct and witty style makes this slim volume a joy to read, and his chapter on the depiction of the Alhambra in Western literature is especially useful.-- Read more...
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Related Subjects:(8)
- Alhambra (Granada, Spain)
- Granada (Spain) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
- Alhambra (Grenade, Espagne)
- Grenade (Espagne) -- Constructions.
- Architecture
- Histoire
- Grenade
- Granada -- Alhambra.
User lists with this item (2)
- Catalog SMH List(465 items)
by sankeym updated 2012-01-08
- Alhamabra(6 items)
by toddy2 updated 2009-10-20