Research Catalog

Title

The last old place : a search through Portugal / Datus C. Proper ; introduction by Jan Morris.

Author

Proper, Datus C.

Publication

New York : Simon & Schuster, c1992.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

254 p. : ill., map; 22 cm.

Summary

Account of the author's travels through Portugal searching for the old ways and customs.

Subject

• Portugal > Description and travel
• Portugal > Social life and customs
• Proper, Datus C. > Journeys > Portugal

Note

• "A Destinations book."

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-241) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Love as a multiple-choice question. The goats' music. Killing what you love. Scores and trophies. Impaling Hemingway. Wild strawberries. A happy blackbird. A fulfilled dog. Trout as Nereids. Nereids as Nereids -- 10. A Church Called Battle. A mythic, real, be.
• Introduction / Jan Morris -- 1. Lost Souls. Nymphs of the Tagus. Indiana Jones versus d'Artagnan. Wriggly lunches. Out-of-body experiences and how to recover from them. Adriano's top stratum. Husbandry versus display. You smell good, Lisbon. The blackbird's cage. American detective solves gruesome case -- 2. The Last Old Place. The deeds I tell of are real. Picturing Portugal. Why it exists as an independent country. A heroic affront to bankers. Time as a third dimension. The discoveries as myth. Camoes as their author. Love is a fire that burns unseen -- 3. Lisbon. How to achieve Commiseration without needing it. The Portuguese woman analyzed. How to recognize Americans abroad. The fish market. Yolks versus whites. Eat in Portugal: sing in Ireland. The man-on-horseback ratio. Peripheral vision and naked ladies. Casino of the living dead. Escaping the cage. The hunter-gatherer's Portugal. Strawberries and wine --^
• 4. The World Beyond Fear. Adriano as hero-driver. Gypsies. A cure for sneezing. Field guide to the fauna of southern Portugal. A clash of pruderies. A Sacred Promontory. Fishermen as its guardians. Prince Henry the Navigator (and vestal). The English connection. The discovery of science. Sailing off the end of the world. Finding India on purpose and America by mistake. Colonization by procreation. Conquests to shame Don Juan. The dream time. The exploring urge today --^
• 5. Migrants. A beach bereft of clothing. Dream boats. British, Danes, Dutchmen, and other English-speakers. Partridges, modesty, and wine of the country. Salazar as Hobbes and Reagan as Locke. A violent fruit. Human versus canine humor. Men are merriest when they are from home. St. James at the partridges! The bravest of the Christians. Hedgehogs don't fly. Voyage through the alimentary canal. A snack of snipe. A Pleistocene fantasy. Fondling a becasse. Shooting yourself. A man of the revolution in search of his violence --^
• 6. Walls. Giraldo the Fearless. Bars sunny and dark. The motorcycle as donkey and charger. Beja. The Battler conquers senility. A lamentable shortage of Moors. Being lazy in a clean house. Bread, peace, happiness, and love. The revolution of 1974. Communist steaks. Physicians without liability insurance. Soap operas. A coherent newspaper. Saved by Communists. Looking at meninas. Monsaraz. Nuno Alvares slept here. A good-smelling church. Evora. Giraldo shows how to cope with walls. The decay of sex. A human sacrifice --^
• 7. Sunlight. Chasing goddesses. Temple of Diana. The Cro-Magnon migration. Time when myths began. The invention of wealth. Moors and agriculture. Hoes versus falcons. The oldest profession. Olives fresh and cured. Sleeping with a lamb. The Hunter's Sun. Death without fear. Bringing the goat. Grasslands and oaks. Lost at the crossroads of history. An Alentejo wilderness. The Pleistocene connection. The quality of light is not strained. A search for Noble Savages. They resist discovery. Running water won't kill you. A liberated female. The mount of lunch. Salt cod and rosmaninho. Cork oaks dripping light --^
• 8. Home. The American image of Portugal, and vice versa. Shiftless transmissions as original sin. Innocence and decadence. A roadhouse with real food. Home as landscape. Ancestors at the hearth. Laps and warm arms. A bread oven and a mother's hands. Fly fishing and religion. Dona Maria Rosa. The countryside as a British invention. Cultural independence. A wholesome and merry walk at our own ease. High Cooking. The Escargot Line. Democracy versus good food. Music and dreams -- 9. Water Nymphs. Limpid streams. Dashing into the water fully dressed. Bowdlerizing the national epic. What happens when Nereids put on weight. Suckling pigs. Fishing and passion. A miller's tale. A troll. Flowers from stone.

ISBN

0671782266 :

LCCN

^^^92022628^

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library