This essay exploring the world of Peggy Guggenheim in Venice is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book…
View More Peggy Guggenheim Goes Off-BeatCategory: Cultural Explorations
I have a penchant for cultural explorations that combine history, literature, design, architecture and myriad angles relating to travel. These subjects inspire me as a writer. My sweep of historical cultural references is wide. One week may find me exploring Peggy Guggenheim’s romantic frustrations and my visit to her chosen home town of Venice while another week will find me on a literary adventure in Paris, one of my favorite cities.
I am fascinated with court cultures, such as lifestyles during the Tudor Era, especially relating to Henry VII, and any time-period relating to the Bourbon kings of France. I often combine these cultural explorations with design because I have been a design and architecture journalist for over two decades. Since it’s my beat, I often mine the industry for ways to combine these subjects with literature, which I call my literary design adventures. I hope you enjoy my worldly ramblings and my fascinations here on The Diary of an Improvateur.
Balzac as a Human Comedy
This essay channeling Balzac in Paris is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature similar literary adventures…
View More Balzac as a Human ComedyAnguished in Amherst
This essay channeling Emily Dickinson in Amherst is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature similar…
View More Anguished in AmherstShadowing Petrarch in Parma
This essay is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature similar literary adventures and traveling with intention. …
View More Shadowing Petrarch in ParmaMedieval Calamities in Paris
This essay about the calamities of Héloïse and Abélard is included in my book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature…
View More Medieval Calamities in ParisThe Architecture of Chivalry
This essay about the built legacy of Henry VIII is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book…
View More The Architecture of ChivalryThe Camera Becomes King on Safari
This essay about a legendary safari tracker is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière, which is available on Amazon. The 34 other essays…
View More The Camera Becomes King on SafariCafé Society as Cultural Interpreter
What do the Paris and New York City cafés that served as historical backdrops for some of the world’s most brilliant creatives say about the…
View More Café Society as Cultural InterpreterThe Nature of Noble Loyalty
It’s spring in London and the flowers are bursting forth on Cheyne Walk, which skirts the edge of the River Thames until it gives way…
View More The Nature of Noble LoyaltyThe Personality of Place
So, this is how it feels to experience a medieval Tuscan village that has existed on a hillside in some form for almost 1000 years!…
View More The Personality of Place