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Learning Through Literary Tours

© Ella Robinson

It was a warm summer day. The sun streamed through the parlor windows as I stood looking at a picture painted by Zelda Fitzgerald. The pinks, lavenders, and greens washed together to form a delicate ballerina. Suddenly, the screen door at the back of the house creaked, then slammed. For just a moment I believed I heard little girl giggles and the heavy footfalls of the tall, attractive man who influenced American literature more than 60 years before.

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and their daughter, Scottie, lived in the Montgomery, Alabama, home for only a short time in the 1930s. However, the echoes of the flamboyant couple are still obvious. The first floor of this home-turned-museum is decorated with period furniture, and there is an old typewriter similiar to the one that Scott and Zelda used for their writing. Correspondence is preserved under glass and readily available for tourists to examine. Visitors will find a knowledgable docent standing quietly by, ready for any questions.

Here, only blocks away from Zelda's childhood home (no longer standing), Scott worked on his novel Tender Is the Night, and Zelda began writing her only published book, Save Me the Waltz.

Throughout the United States and in many other countries, there are homes, museums, and other tour sites that honor men and women who shaped literature and, to some extent, influenced the way we live today. People who tour these historic sites are better able to understand where a writer was coming from and the message he was trying to convey through his works.

Literary sites have powerful and provocative stories to tell. At homes and museums, tours are enriched by knowledgeable docents who recall events that shaped the author's life and writing. There are other interesting historic literary sites to visit that do not employ docents. For those, a little background reading will make a more enjoyable and educational trip. That is the purpose of this Suite101.com Literary Tours site.

Here you will find links to homes, museums, hotels, parks, monuments, burial sites, and other interesting places throughout the world with a literary connection. I have also included catagories for biographies and news articles that will help you plan for a literary tour.

You may choose to explore a particular region and discover its literary heritage, or you may wish to focus on one author such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. However you plan your literary journeys, with a little prior planning, you can have a great time. Foremost, read plenty of information about the site and area where you plan to go. A few of the many good literary tour books are listed at Book Notes.