“City of the Soul” reveals the image of Rome in travel writing

(29 January 2016) The existing literature on the city of Rome, its history and its beauty is immense. The Eternal City as lived and told by writers is an important topic, one that will be amply discussed on February 4 at the Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm. The conference, organized by the Institute in collaboration with the Swedish Institute in Rome and Svenska Rominstitutets vänner, is an opportunity to learn more about Sabrina Norlander Eliasson and Stefano Fogelberg Rota’s book entitled “City of the Soul: The Literary Making of Rome Hardcover” (released in October 2015, 205 pp). Introduced by the editors of the volume, the meeting will see the participation of Anna Blennow and Johann Eriksson: “thirteen scholars, Swedish and not, look into the image of Rome in travel literature, in the centuries preceding and following the Grand Tour,” explains the ICI website. The travelers include: Joachim Du Bellay, Bengt Oxenstierna, Marie-Anne e Louise Angélique de la Trémoille, Nile Bielke, Carl Fredrik Fredenheim, Johan David Åkerblad, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Stendhal, Henry James and Claes Lagergren. The plurality of perspectives, enriched by the different nationalities of these amazing travelers, leads to the creation of a very distinct image of the Eternal City and its literary transposition. (Red)