Dreams of the Return

Lavishly illustrated with his own photos, Alan Bern's DREAMS OF THE RETURN captures the beauty of Italy, especially the South, accompanied by classic poetry presented in its original Italian and in English-translated by the author.

In DREAMS OF THE RETURN, author/photographer Alan Bern turns his lens to Italy-in particular the South-bringing to life landscapes both storied and luminous through his own photographs and through classic Italian poetry, delivered both in its original form and in his own translations. The journey is lyrical, immersive: it's not merely a travel guide, but a portrait of longing, place, memory, and beauty.

This poetic and visual odyssey will transport the reader to a land steeped in history and romance. Travel well with this guidebook for the mind, heart, and spirit. To be savored alongside pizza margherita and red wine, with a sweet finish of roccoco napoletani and a robust espresso infused with Sambuca.

"[Bern's] writings are diverse, blending Italian and English language as they pepper philosophical and geographic atmosphere with dialogues that reinforce changing places and perspectives. "

Midwest Book Review

A haunting bilingual assemblage of Italian glimpses in the mind of an American... a page turner, read with the pleasure of having no idea what will come next."

Peter Dale Scott, author of Dreamcraft

Gorgeous collection. The word transcendent comes to mind. The images and the text flow so well together."

Virginia Watts, author of Echoes from the Hocker House

"Bern is a modern, Jewish man living in Berkeley, California, but the drive towards understanding brings him to ancient Italy, to Catholicism, to the poetry of Dante, to the very language Dante spoke. Here, translation is not so much revelation of the other as it is revelation of the self in another guise."

Jack Foley, poet and critic, author of Collisions

"How lucky for Bern to have had his Italy; how lucky for us that we have his memory of Italy in this lovely book."

Steven Rood, author of Music Behind a Stone Wall

"I finished the book transported, wanting to return to Italy myself-to revisit the passion and complexity of a country that Bern captures with such tender devotion."

Carol Jenkins, Painter