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Sea and Sardinia

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Sea and Sardinia

By: D. H. Lawrence
Narrated by: Phil Benson
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About this listen

At the end of World War 1, D. H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda ("the queen bee"), exiled themselves from England and set up home in Sicily. On the spur of the moment, Lawrence proposed a short trip to Sardinia. Setting off before dawn, they embarked on a whirlwind tour, by train to Palermo, ferry to Cagliari, and by train and bus to Terranova, returning to Rome by ferry. Back in Sicily, Lawrence wrote Sea and Sardinia, one of the great travel journals of the 20th century, in six weeks and entirely from memory. Alternately enthusiastic and grumpy, but always effusive, Lawrence’s journal sparkles with observations of the day-to-day detail of travel and characters encountered on the way.

Public Domain (P)2020 Voices of Today Travel Writing & Commentary Italy Transportation
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Loved the language. Lawrence is a master. But why this narrator? Totally ruined it.

poor reading

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In January 1921, D.H.Lawrence and the 'Q-B' left Sicily for Sardinia. Six weeks later Lawrence penned his infamous travel book in which he puts forward a series of fanciful claims about the country he spent a total of nine days in. Lawrence is literature's number one mard arse, raging against everyone and everything. He has made moaning an art form. The late Kevin Jackson described him as 'the John Cleese of literary modernism' in an essay for 'Dawn of the Unread' and Geoff Dyer applied what can only be described as 'method writing' when he imitated Lawrence's restlessness in 'Out of Sheer Rage'. Lawrence, however, is also incredibly perceptive, intelligent and poetic, a writer quite like no other - though not for everyone.

Having read 'Sea and Sardinia' a couple of times I eagerly downloaded the audible version but was disappointed with the narration. It felt very much like he was reading the book and consequently misses out on the humour, agitation, and nuance of Lawrence’s writing. A Midlands accent would have been preferable too given Lawrence was from Eastwood, Nottingham or alternatively someone with a range of plummy accents like David Rintoul.

Seething and Sardinia

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This should have been an interesting read, but the monotone reader manages to make it boring. I can’t find the will to finish listening

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