Just as Well I'm Leaving

Download or read book Just as Well I'm Leaving written by Michael Booth and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2005 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A funny, moving travelogue following in the footsteps of Hans Christian Andersen. Without Hans Christian Andersen there would be no Alice in Wonderland, no Roald Dahl and maybe even no Harry Potter (and he has outsold them all), but few realise that the man who invented children's literature was also a pioneering travel writer. Having been dragged against his will to live in Denmark, Michael Booth discovered one of the great secrets of travel literature - Andersen's A Poet's Bazaar - a fascinating travelogue through a Europe on the cusp of revolution, by an author who, though a genius, was clearly a towering neurotic and proto-drama queen. He discovered, too, his chance to escape Denmark. In 1840 Andersen was also desperate to flee, writing as he sailed: 'It is just as well I am leaving, my soul is unwell ' In Germany he was enraptured both by steam travel and the fiery Franz Liszt.