After reading Tinney Sue Heath’s historical fiction novel, A Thing Done,
set in 14th century Italy , I thought that it is curious and stimulating to get
to know how people living in distant countries see your own. This is why I
wanted to interview the author and ask her the reasons for her loving my
country, especially medieval Italy, so
much.
Giveaway! Read the interview, then take your chances to win one of the two e-book copies of A Thing Done. (see the rafflecopter form below the post)
First of all, welcome to Fly High, Tinney, and for accepting to answer my
questions. I’d like to start asking you,
what is the fascination of Dante's Italy to a person with such a different
background? For us Italians it is compulsory to study Dante Alighieri and read
his “Divina Commedia” at high school.
But you? How did you come to discover the greatest Italian poet, his work and his Florence?
Thank you. I'm delighted to be here. Your question made me smile, because when I
first learned about your blogs, I wondered what attracted an Italian to Jane
Austen! I first encountered Dante in
high school. In my case it was not because
everyone studied his writings, but because I was fortunate enough to read them
in a Great Books class I had chosen to take.
There I also read Boccaccio and Machiavelli. I loved the art of the Italian Renaissance,
and my tastes in opera and other classical music also tended toward the
Italian, but it was Dante who focused my interest on pre-Renaissance Florence
and Tuscany. After all, it seems he put
most of his neighbors in the Inferno, and he made 13th century Florence
sound like such an interesting place.
.jpg)
