Although there may be others, just six for starters – historical, personal, cultural/traditional and natural – and I’ve updated with new information for you.– random order
– An Account of Corsica by James Boswell (published by Oxford University Press in 2006, edited by James T. Boulton and T. O. McLoughlin – first published in 1768)
– Corsica by Dana Facaros (2001)
– Granite Island, Portrait of Corsica by Dorothy Carrington (1971+1984)
– GR20 The Corsican High Level Route by Paddy Dillon (2001)
– Corsica by The Lonely Planet (5th edition, 2010)
– Edward Lear’s Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica – published in 1870 after his ten week visit in 1868
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Next to my own unexpected stay in Corsica in 1963, I was most influenced by Dorothy Carrington’s award-winning book Granite Island, Portrait of Corsica and her later study The Dream Hunters of Corsica. Her exploration of Corsican culture and customs by an “outsider” was unparalleled and Corsica became her adopted country. Lady Rose lived over half of her life in Ajaccio. In my novel MOTHER TONGUE, I have based the character of Professor Sylvia Nicoli on this fascinating woman. http://karenstephen.com/mother-tongue/dorothy-carrington/
Yes Karen, she was a notable personnage here in Corsica and wrote wonderful books. Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of meeting her in person, but, have met many who had. Her name would most certainly be amongst my choices, as you have seen. Thank you kindly for dropping in Karen.
While meandering through Facebook I was pleased to find your site. I’m a former college administrator who is now a Media Specialist (a fancy name for Librarian) in a small school in South Carolina. I was surprised to see the title page to “An Account of Corsica…”, which I recently downloaded the English translation for free from Project Gutenberg, along with other guidebooks from the 1800s. These are Forester’s “Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia, Gregororvius’, “Wanderings in Corsica: Its History and Its Heroes”, Gertrude Forde’s, “A Lady’s Tour in Corsica Vol. 1 and 2, and Black’s. These give wonderful insights into Corsican life and history. I plan to visit Corsica this summer to visit friends I made through Facebook. I met them through my fascination with the “Isle of Beauty”. As an educator, I’m interested in your idea to more aggressively teach the English language in Corsica. I’ll continue to enjoy your wonderful site. Dr. Jim Dreyfuss
Yes, there are several books of great interest, I could only name but a few I’m afraid, and it is quite subjective too. A bright idea to plan a trip here, I must say (maybe you would like to join my Facebook page too, linked to the site and where I post music, images, articles etc,.) – it is a very fascinating island, I assure you, deep with heritage, culture and traditions. The English language is certainly discussable. Keep in touch, and thank you kindly too.
Pamela, I made it to Corsica during June of this summer, 2015. I stayed in Ajaccio and Lunghignano with a lovely Corsican family. The father and I met through Youtube music postings, , and became friends through email correspondence and facebook postings. After a year of correspondence he invited me to visit, I did, and we are now, “brothers”. I made a number of Corsican friends during my stay. Isn’t this a wonderful story of international friendship? I am gathering thoughts and notes now to send this story to one of Corsica’s newspapers. Jim
Hello Jim !
Nice of you to pop in. So, you did make it to Corsica after all. Surprised you didn’t look me up when you were staying in Ajaccio, what a pity. Am sure your thoughts and notes will be interesting to read Jim. Best to you, Pamela
Another great book is Edward Lear’s Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica. Published in 1870 after his ten week visit in 1868, it contains some 80 sketches and vignettes. You can plan a route round the island following his itinerary and it is possible to stand where he stood and see 78 of the scenes, mostly unchanged.
Thank you Elizabeth for this very interesting information, I will certainly check it out.
I own more than 200 books on Corsica, and my comprehensive listing (an annotated bibliography of books dealing with Corsica published in English) is on http://www.corsica-isula.com
Frank Muir wrote to me years ago that his favourites were Gregorovius for history, Dorothy Carrington for understanding of modern Corsica and Renwick for a good read.
John
Thank you John for your insight, and I hope you will add my site to your Corsican sites! I will take pleasure in discoving your choices, my best, Pamela