A Time In Rome

Elisabeth's Bowen account of a time spent in Rome between February and Easter is both an introduction for visitors and an attempt to capture the "mood" of the Eternal City. It is no ordinary guidebook but an evocation of a city - its history, its architecture and, above all, its atmosphere.

She describes the famous classical sites, conjuring from the ruins visions of former inhabitants and their often bloody activities. She speculates about the immense noise of ancient Rome, the problems caused by the Romans' dining posture, and the Roman temperament, which blended "constructive will with supine fatalism". She envies the Vestal Virgins and admires the Empress Livia, who survived a barren marriage. She evokes the city's moods - by day, when it is characterized by golden sunlight, and at night, when the blaze of the moon "annihilates history, turning everything into a spectacle for Tonight".

Elegant and amusing, A Time in Rome is an unusual portrait of this glorious city into which Bowen has woven her personal meditations on religion, politics, love and life.

"Rome is a continuity, called 'eternal'. What has accumulated in this place acts on everyone day and night, like an extra climate", Elisabeth Bowen