Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele
Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele' tells for the first time the riveting life-story of an extraordinary individual, who came to define the times he lived in. The precociously bright son of a Swedish pharmacist, Axel Munthe worked under Jean Martin Charcot, and in 1880, became the youngest doctor in French history. By the 1890s, he was world-famous for his healing powers, believed by some to be supernatural. He moved in the most colourful and exalted circles of fin de siecle Europe, counting amongst his friends Henry James, Howard Carter, Rainer Maria Rilke, Lady Ottoline Morrell and Count Zeppelin. Though physician to the Swedish court, where he became the lover of the Crown Princess Victoria, Munthe was more at home with nature than with people. He travelled through remotest Lapland, as well as across Europe, and his great love was animals, whom he went to great lengths to protect. In 1929 he published 'The Story of San Michele', an account of his life, shot through with his love for Italy and Capri, where he built a bird sanctuary and the house of his dreams, the Villa San Michele. The book became an international best seller, translated into 40 languages, and has become one of the classics of the last century. Bengt Jangfeldt is the first person to have gone through Munthe's diaries, letters and notebooks to produce this definitive account of one of 20th Century Europe's most vibrant figures. Written with the verve and exuberance of its subject, 'Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele' evokes a lost time, a life of passions, and a man who believed in every sense in the power of dreams.
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Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele
Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele' tells for the first time the riveting life-story of an extraordinary individual, who came to define the times he lived in. The precociously bright son of a Swedish pharmacist, Axel Munthe worked under Jean Martin Charcot, and in 1880, became the youngest doctor in French history. By the 1890s, he was world-famous for his healing powers, believed by some to be supernatural. He moved in the most colourful and exalted circles of fin de siecle Europe, counting amongst his friends Henry James, Howard Carter, Rainer Maria Rilke, Lady Ottoline Morrell and Count Zeppelin. Though physician to the Swedish court, where he became the lover of the Crown Princess Victoria, Munthe was more at home with nature than with people. He travelled through remotest Lapland, as well as across Europe, and his great love was animals, whom he went to great lengths to protect. In 1929 he published 'The Story of San Michele', an account of his life, shot through with his love for Italy and Capri, where he built a bird sanctuary and the house of his dreams, the Villa San Michele. The book became an international best seller, translated into 40 languages, and has become one of the classics of the last century. Bengt Jangfeldt is the first person to have gone through Munthe's diaries, letters and notebooks to produce this definitive account of one of 20th Century Europe's most vibrant figures. Written with the verve and exuberance of its subject, 'Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele' evokes a lost time, a life of passions, and a man who believed in every sense in the power of dreams.
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Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele

Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele

by Bengt Jangfeldt
Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele

Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele

by Bengt Jangfeldt

Paperback(Reprint)

$35.95 
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Overview

Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele' tells for the first time the riveting life-story of an extraordinary individual, who came to define the times he lived in. The precociously bright son of a Swedish pharmacist, Axel Munthe worked under Jean Martin Charcot, and in 1880, became the youngest doctor in French history. By the 1890s, he was world-famous for his healing powers, believed by some to be supernatural. He moved in the most colourful and exalted circles of fin de siecle Europe, counting amongst his friends Henry James, Howard Carter, Rainer Maria Rilke, Lady Ottoline Morrell and Count Zeppelin. Though physician to the Swedish court, where he became the lover of the Crown Princess Victoria, Munthe was more at home with nature than with people. He travelled through remotest Lapland, as well as across Europe, and his great love was animals, whom he went to great lengths to protect. In 1929 he published 'The Story of San Michele', an account of his life, shot through with his love for Italy and Capri, where he built a bird sanctuary and the house of his dreams, the Villa San Michele. The book became an international best seller, translated into 40 languages, and has become one of the classics of the last century. Bengt Jangfeldt is the first person to have gone through Munthe's diaries, letters and notebooks to produce this definitive account of one of 20th Century Europe's most vibrant figures. Written with the verve and exuberance of its subject, 'Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele' evokes a lost time, a life of passions, and a man who believed in every sense in the power of dreams.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781784537586
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 10/30/2016
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 400
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Bengt Jangfeldt is a Professor of Literature and best-selling writer in Sweden. He is the author of several books on Russian literature, and in 1998 was awarded the August (Strindberg) Prize, the Swedish equivalent of the Booker. The Swedish edition of 'Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele' was awarded the Swedish Academy's biography prize

Table of Contents


List of Illustrations     ix
The Dream 1857-1889
Empewow of Sina     3
Doctor Munthe     15
Letters from Naples     27
Avenue de Villiers     41
The Misses from Medstugan     55
The Soul of the Mountains     63
Arabia     77
A Semblance of Married Life     85
Exile on Capri     99
Victoria 1889-1930
Piazza di Spagna     119
The Crown Princess     135
The Dream of San Michele     151
A Demonic Talent     165
Tiberio     179
Hilda     197
The Queen     209
Red Cross & Iron Cross     223
Peace and War     235
Villa Svezia     249
The Story of San Michele     261
Death 1930-1949
The Bestseller     283
The Missing Chapters     305
The Doctor and Death     317
The War     329
Nostalgia     341
Post Mortem     353
Acknowledgements     357
Abbreviations     359
Unpublished Sources     361
Selected Bibliography     369
Index     373
Picture Credits     383
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