Latest news with #Persuasion
Scroll.in
8 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
Bonnets, speech bubbles, ‘cheeky easter eggs': A sophisticated graphic biography of Jane Austen
This year is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth and she hasn't aged a bit as the cultural touchstone of classy romance. Her Pride and Prejudice anti-hero, Mr Darcy, perennially pops up in his breeches in Instagram memes, while Regency feminist, Elizabeth Bennet, has been brought to life by a host of contemporary actors. Along with new screen versions of Austen's Sense and Sensibility (starring Daisy Edgar-Jones) and a Netflix version of P&P, there have been adaptations of her classics, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Mansfield Park . And, there are numerous biographies and biopics, including a TV drama about Jane's sister, Cassandra, who burned most of Jane's letters . Now, there is also a graphic biography: The Novel Life of Jane Austen , written by Janine Barchas and illustrated by Isabel Greenberg. Together, they have co-created a storyboard for the domestic life that framed Austen's writing, encompassing her closeness to both Cassandra and her brother Frank, who joined the navy and liked to sew. Unlike a 'cradle to grave' biography, Barchas begins with a teenage Jane in London, with Frank touring an exhibition about Shakespeare and his work. We then follow her, in illustrative comic boxes and speech bubbles, through her publishing rejections, her breakthrough debut Sense and Sensibility, and her rise to become one of most beloved writers in the canon of English literature. The book ends beyond the grave, flashing forward to the present, in a scene where contemporary fans – Janeites – visit Jane Austen's House , the cottage in Hampshire where Austen lived when she revised and published her six novels. It's also a sign of subtle structural polish. Now Jane Austen is as deserving of her own gallery as Shakespeare was when we first met Jane as a young, unpublished author. Barchas – an 'Austenite', as Austen scholars are called – is the author of The Lost Books of Jane Austen , a study of the mass market editions of Austen's work. ( The Novel Life touches on Austen's posthumous appeal with a scene where readers buy Austen books for one shilling at a railway station after her death, aged 41.) Barchas also wrote Matters of Fact in Jane Austen: History, Location and Celebrity , which links Austen's characters to well-known locations and figures in her era. Barchas is the co-creator of the interactive digital exhibition, What Jane Saw , which invites us to visit two art exhibitions witnessed by Jane Austen: the Sir Joshua Reynolds retrospective in 1813 or the Shakespeare Gallery as it looked in 1796. The Novel Life , however, is a more definitive life story. It's also best read in print (although it is available as an e-book) to appreciate Greenberg's illustrations and graphic format. The Novel Life is a gentler, less dramatic style than traditional comics with six-pack superheroes or Japanese manga, similar to Greenberg's previous literary graphic biography foray, Glass Town , about the Brontë sisters. For The Novel Life , Greenberg has drawn a world in which Austen is whimsical, with expressive eyes looming under her signature bangs. She and her sister Cassandra appear in bright yellow or blue empire-line dresses. Most scenes are illustrated in a muted palette of yellow, blue and grey. This palette, Barchas reflects in the preface, represents 'the relative quiet of her (Austen's) life'. When Jane is thinking or writing, however, the pages transform into vivid shades of pink to symbolise her imagination and inspiration. In these pages, The Novel Life is at its best, showing that graphic biography can be both captivating and deceptively sophisticated. Is a graphic biography really a biography in the conventional understanding of the genre? It can upset the perceived rules. Anticipating this, in the preface, Barchas reminds us: 'Any biography of Austen, and there are many, exists at the intersection of speculation and research.' This book is at this intersection. While the dialogue is largely invented, it is grounded in Barchas' expertise and there is a glossary of sources at the end. Throughout, there are also nods to the archive. Barchas begins with a scene of Jane in 1796 writing a letter to Cassandra at a desk while staying in London – one of the few not burnt. A speech bubble quotes an extract from it: 'Here I am once more in this scene of dissipation and vice, and I begin already to find my morals corrupted.' There are also Post-it style notes, separate to the bubbles, offering extra biographical context for readers less familiar with the intricacies of Austen's story. A key scene happens when Jane, 22, receives her first rejection by a publisher for her manuscript 'First Impressions' and is comforted by the loyal Cassandra. The note reads: 'Jane would carry out more than a decade and a half of revisions before she dared to offer the manuscript to another publisher, who released it in 1813 as Pride and Prejudice .' Because of their visual casualness, importantly the notes don't interfere with the intimate, engaging tone of the story. For Austen's committed 'Janeite' fan base, Barchas promises 'cheeky easter eggs ' in the preface. Janeites can delight in well-quoted lines from the novels that appear as dialogue or a character's thoughts. Look, for instance, for Jane reading at a dinner party from P&P : 'It's a truth universally acknowledged […]' and 'she is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me […]'. It's a truth universally acknowledged too that graphic biography can be confused with the graphic novel, now the third most popular literary genre in sales after general fiction and romance. But, dear reader, there's a tradition of life writing in the medium. The Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic biography/memoir, The Complete Maus , tells Art Spiegelman's father's story of the Holocaust to his son, Art, who struggled to understand his father. Maus portrayed Jewish people anthropomorphically as mice and Nazis as cats. It was described by The New Yorker 'as the first masterpiece of comic book history'. Other high points in graphic biography include Peter Bagge's Woman Rebel , the story of birth control campaigner Margaret Sanger, published in 2013. Not everyone will appreciate a work diverging so dramatically from the expectations of a traditional biography. And those who will most appreciate or scrutinise The Novel Life are, yes, the Janeites and Austenites. Regardless, Austen comes to graphic life in the mind and hands of Barchas and Greenberg. More generally, for those of us who like our biographies in vivid colour – literally – and enjoy experiments in nonfiction storytelling, it's a delightful reading experience, just like Jane Austen. Kerrie Davies is Senior Lecturer, School of the Arts and Media, UNSW Sydney. This article first appeared on The Conversation. The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography, Janine Barchas, illustrated by Isabel Greenberg, Greenfinch.
Time of India
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Inside the Historic Homes of Famous Authors That Are Open to the Public
It is said that 'each house has a story to tell.' One can know a lot about another person by visiting their house. Today, we have curated a list for literature lovers. Your dreams will finally come true- you can visit some of the legendary authors' houses and get a glimpse of the life they lived and what shaped their stories. Let's get into it and know some interesting info on our famous writers: Jane Austen's House Museum This is a 17th century cottage located in Chawton, Hampshire, which was home to Jane Austen from 1809 to 1817. This is the place where she wrote her six major novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Northanger Abbey. After her death, this house became apartments and a workman's club until 1949 but was then restored by the Jane Austen Society into a museum. Literature lovers get a glimpse of her daily life with the tiny writing table, her jewellery, and her manuscripts. Monk's House This house is located in East Sussex, England, and was originally a timber framed cottage, later purchased by Virginia Woolf in 1919. This was the place where Virginia wrote key works including Mrs Dalloway, a widely loved novel. The interior walls of the cottage display painted tiles and murals made by Vanessa Bell, her sister, and one bedroom has a tile inscribed 'VW from VB 1930.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Why Crypto CFDs May Suit Your Portfolio IC Markets Learn More Undo This is a must visit place for all literary geeks. Rabindranath Tagore's Ancestral Home This haveli is located in Kolkata, West Bengal, and was the ancestral home of the renowned writer Rabindranath Tagore. It has now been converted into a cultural museum where they showcase the Tagore family archives, artworks, personal belongings, and items reflecting rich Bengali culture. Visitors can also see the rooms and courtyards where Rabindranath Tagore wrote most of his famous poems and music, and drew inspiration for his reformist thought. Ghalib ki Haveli This haveli is located in Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi, and was the home of the 19th century Urdu‑Persian poet Mirza Ghalib. He lived and composed his poetry here, and after his death the building was greatly damaged but the Delhi government restored it in 2000. Today, if you visit it, you will find handwritten poems, portraits, a bust, and architectural designs of the 19th century. Shakespeare's Birthplace Everyone knows William Shakespeare—he was a playwright famous for works such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello, which continue to be reinterpreted today. His birthplace residence is located in Stratford‑upon‑Avon, England, and is a 16th century half-timbered house. Here you will find the Falcon Inn chair, considered Shakespeare's favourite, and exhibits displaying his books. Brontë Parsonage Museum This house was owned by Patrick Brontë and became home to Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë in 1820. The Brontë Society converted this house into a museum, which now houses the world's largest collection of Brontë relics. Here one can see the dining room where the sisters wrote some of their most famous novels, Charlotte's bedroom, and Emily's study. Visitors can also look at the imaginative miniature books the Brontës made as children. R.K. Narayan's House Visitors can also visit the home of Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayan in Mysuru, Karnataka. He spent many years writing in this two-story building—this is the place where he wrote Malgudi Days and his other famous works. In 2016, this home was converted into a museum, where one can see his manuscripts and personal items, giving readers a glimpse into his life.
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Jane Austen adaptation branded 'subtle masterpiece' is available to watch now
The film was a success when it was released in 1995 A quintessential adaptation of a timeless Jane Austen novel is now available to watch, reports the Daily Express. Initially released in 1995, the film garnered widespread critical acclaim, with numerous critics hailing it as one of the finest Austen adaptations ever made. One IMDb reviewer titled their post: "A classic for all time." They continued: "Whoever says they just don't make the quality of pictures today that they used to hasn't seen or is ignoring this film." A second reviewer described the film as "a subtle masterpiece", stating: "I saw this movie in a cinema back in 1996 and since that June I have seen it about a dozen times." "It is true, that being an ardent lover of the so-called Romantic (as if the 13th century couldn't be Romantic or 17th, but these things are academic nonsense) period I can enjoy even minor pieces of period cinema, however this is most probably the best film set in the early 19th century." A third review, titled "Faithful, beautiful, enjoyable, one of the best film adaptations of period novels.", read: "Normally period adaptations need at least a few hours to do proper justice. And so it is usually the television versions that are better for those who like things faithful to text. Film versions usually truncate and romanticise/Hollywoodise which can be frustrating. "However, films have bigger budgets and better production values so are easier on the eye. However, this is a shining example of 2.5 hour film which packed so much detail in for a real complete sense of the novel, but also with great faithful performances, at the same time as being great to watch with all the production values and cinematography or a big budget movie. One of the better film adaptations of period pieces ever." Released amid a flurry of Jane Austen adaptations, the Hollywood hit Sense and Sensibility shared its release year with the BBC's heralded Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, as well as Persuasion featuring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds – not to mention the contemporary spin on Emma, Clueless, which became an instant hit. Based on the classic 1811 novel by Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility follows the Dashwood sisters, Elinor (played by Emma Thompson) and Marianne (Kate Winslet), who manifest two opposing approaches to love after facing sudden financial ruin. With their fortune gone, the Dashwood sisters are forced to navigate society in search of suitable husbands to secure their futures, encountering numerous unexpected developments along the way. The film boasted an impressive ensemble cast including the likes of Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Greg Wise, Gemma Jones, Dame Harriet Walter, James Fleet, Hugh Laurie, and Imelda Staunton. The esteemed British actress, Thompson, not only starred in the film but also penned the screenplay, earning her an Oscar for Best Writing. Both Thompson and Winslet bagged BAFTA Film Awards for their stellar performances in Sense and Sensibility. Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee was brought on board to direct the movie, marking his international breakthrough. He later won Oscars for Brokeback Mountain and The Life of Pi. Despite subsequent adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, including the BBC's 2008 miniseries, this version is widely regarded as the pinnacle among Austen adaptations.
Time Magazine
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
'Persuasion' by Jane Austen Can Teach You How to Grow Up
To make a forced and artificial division, we might say that there exist Jane Austen novels of youth and folly: Emma and Northanger Abbey. The novels of coming-of-age and responsibility: Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice. And then there is Persuasion, a novel of adulthood. I call this division artificial because Austen's genius makes it so—one is perhaps tempted to say that the novels change when we return to them, finding new textures and insights that make them relevant to our lives at just that moment, but of course this is false. The novels do not change. We change, and as we grow, we become more sensitive to these novels, detecting layers of insight and relation for the first time that were always there. Yet, it does have a kind of logic, this idea that certain novels speak to us at different moments in our lives. When I was in my 20s, my favorite Jane Austen novel was Sense and Sensibility. I loved it for the way it made me laugh and made me think. I delighted in its comedy and the elegance of Austen's irony as she depicted Marianne's aesthetic snobbery and Elinor's exasperated affection for her mother and sisters. It was a bustling and charming novel of family shot through with Austen's typical attention to the importance of property. But something happened, and one day I woke up and found not that I loved Sense and Sensibility any less, but that I loved Persuasion most of all. Persuasion is the last novel that Austen completed in her lifetime. She wrote it in a phase of failing health and dwindling material security as her extended family's fortunes (never very robust) imploded in a failed financial venture. It is sometimes considered tacky or distasteful to think of art and commerce, or to think of how money might have shaped the lives and art of those artists who mean the most to us. It would be a very pretty picture indeed to imagine that money never once entered Austen's mind as she composed her novels. But that would require ignoring so much of her genius because in their way, all Austen's novels turn on questions of money, fortune, property, and prosperity—one finds in her characters' harmonious and happy endings a fusion of material and emotional fulfillment. Read More: In Exile, I Lost India But Gained a Home When I say that Persuasion is a novel of adulthood, you might think that I mean boring, or tedious, or lacking all the vivacity and spontaneity that animates Austen's other novels like Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice. I can understand how a person might be misled into thinking this. Some people are also likely to think that Mansfield Park is sanctimonious and high-handed, with a reputation for being an 'issue novel.' This is wrong, obviously. I might even say stupid. Because, for one thing, all Austen's novels are 'issue novels,' the issue being the evils of capitalism and private property. For another thing, Persuasion is as funny and wonderfully ironic as that most loved novel, Pride and Prejudice. The character of Sir Walter Elliot, for instance, is the target of much of the novel's irony and by extension its humor. One has the feeling that everyone in the room is deeply aware of his delusional vanity, but powerless to do anything about it, or, if not powerless, then uninterested or unwilling to change him. Watching Anne and the other rational characters deal with Sir Walter is sort of like watching a family deal with a cranky, somewhat addled elderly relation whose ways cannot be reformed and must simply be humored until they are out of earshot. This will of course remind you of Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. This is not by mistake. In Austen, characters belonging to previous generations often come in for a great deal of ironic treatment precisely because their lives are an extension of the social rules and laws that Austen is criticizing. They are avatars, and victims, of the world order that she has taken in hand to examine. Part of the fun of Austen's novels is her affectionate skewering of that world order. The answering note to its prevailing ironic treatment of Sir Walter is of course the melancholy and hint of regret that suffuse much of the novel's tone. We have come to Anne Elliot eight years after she's failed what she now realizes was the great test of her life: she turned down Frederick Wentworth at the persuasion of her deceased mother's dearest friend, Lady Russell. This premise is significant because it sets Persuasion apart from the other novels, whose climaxes tend to involve a false or thwarted proposal, and culminate with a marriage or marriages. Anne Elliot has turned down not one but two marriage proposals. Her younger sister is married to the second man she rejected. Her elder sister was herself jilted by a cousin set to inherit the family estate. The mother is dead. The father is useless, and while they still have the property, their money is rapidly depleting. One sees the ghosts of other Austen novels, naturally, particularly Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, but to me, the plot of Persuasion is significantly different because it is about someone facing her future while coming to grips with her past. This backward tension is what gives the novel its uniqueness among Austen's works. Indeed, Austen dedicates several of the opening chapters to laying out the whole sordid mess of Anne's predicament—both that of her family's financial ruin and also the matter of how she came to be persuaded to give up Wentworth in the first place. And what such a choice cost her. Persuasion is absolutely haunted by the past, to a degree greater than all Austen's novels. For all the humor and comedy of her efforts to convince the very image-conscious Sir Walter of the necessity to 'retrench' and her younger sister Mary's narcissistic terrorizing of her in-laws, there is an inescapable aura of someone moving through the after of her life. Anne is only 27, a crucial member of her family, and yet, she feels as though, having failed that test of Wentworth's proposal, her chance at happiness is gone and that all that remains for her to do is to negotiate the quiet unhappiness of her life. There is nothing left but to find a way to manage it all. That's really sad! Yet, the novel, like life, persists. Anne goes along, serving her family, playing music at the gatherings at Uppercross, where she is much loved by the Musgroves, the family into which her sister Mary married, being a companion to Lady Russell, and serving as a dispenser of practical and good advice. And one day, Wentworth returns, unexpectedly, and she must contend both with old feelings and a new understanding of what her actions did to his life, too. In Persuasion, we have a novel about what happens when you survive the event of your life and must go on living anyway. Who hasn't made a choice that we wish we could take back? Who hasn't had to face the cold, harsh light of the morning after and realize, with horrifying clarity, that we've made the wrong call? There is shockingly little literature about not just that moment but the life that follows. This is partly because regret tends to be hard to dramatize, at least in a way that is not boring or bad. Read More: Trump's Orwellian Erasure of Women But this is where Austen's genius comes in. Because Anne is never really allowed to wallow. She first has to solve the issue of Sir Walter's money problems, so she and Lady Russell convince him to rent out Kellynch-hall. Their letting of Kellynch is what brings Admiral and Mrs. Croft to Kellynch, which naturally leads to Mrs. Croft inviting her brother, Frederick Wentworth, into the neighborhood. Because Kellynch is so near to Uppercross, and because of the relations between the Musgroves and the Elliots, the Crofts are invited to Uppercross, where Anne is staying with her sister Mary. And in this way, this series of small acts and consequences, Anne and Wentworth are brought together. I have a somewhat controversial opinion that is perhaps not controversial at all. I think that Anne and Wentworth would have made a happy though unremarkable couple if they had stayed engaged all those years ago. Or perhaps, they might have even been unhappy after a time. The Wentworth we encounter at the start of the novel would not have, I believe, been capable of such a revelation as we find at the end of the novel. Indeed, that is the whole point. That the book chronicles the journey each must take toward becoming the sort of person they needed to be in order to find their way back to each other. Anne needed to grow beyond being a dutiful, persuadable young woman. Wentworth needed to find some humility to temper his natural prideful streak. The people they are at the end of the book did not exist eight years previous. They were different people. And now we find two people who are gentler, kinder, more forthright with each other. They are precisely and exactly where they need to be. Adapted from the Introduction by Brandon Taylor to PERSUASION by Jane Austin out in trade paperback on July 21 from Vintage Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2025 by Brandon Taylor. All rights reserved.
Buzz Feed
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
28 Homes Of Famous People You Can Actually Visit
If you love history, one of the coolest things you can do is visit the ACTUAL homes of historically famous people and walk the very floors they did — it's the closest thing you get to time travel without a plutonium-packed DeLorean! So, here are 28 of the most must-visit historical homes in the world (I've been lucky to visit a few of these, but hope to see them all before I'm pushing daisies): Jane Austen In Chawton, Hampshire, you can visit the 17th-century cottage where Jane Austen lived the last eight years of her life, writing the classic books Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion. Inside, you can explore rooms — like Austen's bedroom seen below — which are filled with her personal artifacts. You can even see her writing table! (Such a small table to write so many classics on.) For more information, go here. Prince In Chanhassen, Minnesota — just outside Minneapolis — you can visit Paisley Park, the 65,000-square-foot complex where Prince lived and recorded music from 1987 through his death in 2016. There's now a museum there dedicated to all things Prince, including rooms named for the movies/albums Under the Cherry Moon and Graffiti Bridge. This room, meanwhile, looks 100% like what you imagine Prince's home would look like: Learn more about visiting/how to get tickets here. Frida Kahlo In Coyoacán, a historic neighborhood in Mexico City, you can visit Frida Kahlo's Blue House (La Casa Azul). It's where she was born, painted many of her most famous works, and spent her final years. Inside you'll find her corsets and prosthetics, personal diaries, and rooms she shared with her husband and collaborator Diego Rivera. You can even see her artist's studio with her wheelchair still at the easel! See more info here. Abraham Lincoln Before he was president, Abraham Lincoln was just a lawyer and dad living in a modest two-story house in Springfield, Illinois. That home — now a National Historic Site — is open to the public, and it's one of the most moving places you can visit as an American. The home has been meticulously restored to look exactly as it did in the 1860s, complete with original furnishings, wallpaper, and floors that creak under your feet like they probably did under Lincoln's. The surrounding neighborhood has also been preserved, so you can even walk the same sidewalks Lincoln did! Go here for more info. Also, in Washington, DC, you can visit the back bedroom of the Petersen House, a boarding house across the street from Ford's Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln died after being shot on April 14, 1865. Some background: After John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln during a play, the wounded president was carried across the street to this modest red-brick townhouse. He was too gravely injured to be moved far, so they placed him in the back room — a simple, cramped space with just a small bed, a washstand, and chairs for those keeping vigil. Lincoln never regained consciousness. The room has been restored to how it looked that night, down to a replica of the exact bed Lincoln lay in (the original is at the Chicago History Museum).For more info, go here. Joan of Arc Above is Milla Jovovich in the movie The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. How's this for wild? You can visit the home of Joan of Arc in Domrémy-la-Pucelle, France. Joan of Arc was born in the four-room, stone house around 1412. Here's what it looks like on the inside. (Also worth mentioning: Next to the house are interactive exhibits that delve into Joan's life and legacy.) For info on visiting hours, ticket prices, and all that good stuff, go here. Vincent van Gogh In Arles, France, you can visit the hospital where van Gogh was treated after he infamously cut off his ear in 1888. He spent 53 weeks there, and its courtyard garden inspired many of the 100+ pieces he created onsite. Check out the photo above — it looks like one of his paintings, huh? Visitors can walk the gardens and then take a look at the room where van Gogh stayed — and painted. For more information, visit here. One more on van Gogh — in Cuesmes, Belgium, you can visit the house where van Gogh lived from August 1879 to October 1880, a pivotal period in his life as he transitioned from a preacher to an artist. More info here. French painter Claude Monet Claude Monet's house in Giverny, France is a pastel-pink dream — a lot like his paintings — and where he spent the second half of his life painting obsessively, especially in the gardens he designed himself. Here, my friends, are those gardens: Inside, Monet's bright kitchen, cozy salon, and blue sitting room are all restored to his exact tastes. For more info, go here. Paul McCartney (the only living person on this live, Paul!) If you go to Liverpool, you're likely there because of the Beatles, and one of the coolest things you can do is visit John and Paul's childhood homes! Below is Paul's home at 20 Forthlin Road, where he lived from age 13 through becoming world-famous. In the next two photos you can see Paul recently visiting his old home while filming Carpool Karaoke. This is the kitchen. And here he's playing "When I'm Sixty-Four" in the very room that he wrote the song at age 16! I've been to this one, and on the tour they said Paul and John would often hunker down in this room and write songs like "She Loves You." And yes, I played a chord on the piano, LOL. For more info, go here. John Lennon You can also visit the home John Lennon grew up in with his Aunt Mimi. Strawberry Fields (then a children's home run by the Salvation Army) is visible from the backyard, which is interesting to know, considering how it inspired him later. This place was also a thrill to visit. Here's the living room as it looked when young John lived there. And here is his bedroom, complete with posters of Brigitte Bardot (his teenage celebrity crush) and Elvis Presley. You can even see the toilet where John undoubtedly bid adieu to some beans on toast, LOL. For more info, go here. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. In Memphis, Tennessee, you can visit Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered on the balcony. It is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum, which was built in and around the motel. The civil rights giant often stayed in Room 306 when he was in Memphis, and his trip in early April 1968 was no different. Following his assassination, his room was left untouched. Find more info here. William Shakespeare In the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, you can visit the very home that Shakespeare grew up in! Shakespeare was born here in 1564 and spent much of his youth in this half-timbered house, which doubled as his father's glove-making workshop. The building has been carefully preserved with original 16th-century features intact. Find more info here. I've visited this one — here my wife and I are in the garden behind the home — and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Just a few minutes away is the picturesque cottage that Anne Hathaway — Shakespeare's wife — grew up in. The home is over 500 years old and features original furniture, cozy timbered rooms, and nine acres of blooming gardens. (We went here also, and it's a must-see, too!) Find more info here. Johnny Cash You can visit Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Dyess, Arkansas. The Man in Black lived in the five-room farmhouse from age 3 until his high school graduation in 1950, and it has been restored to be like it was in the 1930s, complete with original furnishings and artifacts provided by the Cash family. Here's some of the charming interior...I'm guessing Johnny plunked away on that piano a bit, huh? For more info and tickets, visit here. Mahatma Gandhi In New Delhi, you can visit the 12-bedroom mansion where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and where his tragic assassination took place on Jan. 30, 1948. Today, it stands as both a memorial and a multimedia museum dedicated to Gandhi and his life. Gandhi's bedroom has been preserved exactly as it was at the time of his assassination. In it you can see his walking stick, glasses, spinning wheel, sandals, utensils, a rough stone for washing, a simple mattress on the floor, and a low wooden desk. More info here. Rosa Parks This one isn't a home, but it deserves a spot on this list. In Dearborn, Michigan, at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, you can visit the actual Montgomery City Lines bus (#2857) where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on Dec. 1, 1955, igniting the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The bus (seen below) has been restored meticulously to its 1955 condition. What makes this experience unforgettable? Visitors can actually board the bus, walk the narrow aisle, and even sit in the very seat Rosa Parks occupied that day — just as President Obama is below. Learn more here. Paul Revere If you're in Boston, you can visit the home of Paul Revere — you know, the guy whose midnight ride warned the British were coming! Located in Boston's historic North End, the Paul Revere House is the oldest remaining structure in downtown Boston (built around 1680). I've been to this one and I have to say, I was impressed with how livable his place seemed for the 17th century. Like, look at this room below. Not so bad, right? For more info, go here. Elvis Presley Located in Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland was Elvis Presley's mansion from 1957 until his death in 1977 — and it's exactly as over-the-top as you'd expect from the King. The "Jungle Room" alone (green shag carpet on the floor and ceiling) is worth the price of admission. Visitors can see Elvis's private jets (yes, plural), a car museum packed with Cadillacs and Harley-Davidsons, and the Meditation Garden where he and several family members are buried. For more info, go here. Emperor Augustus In Rome, you can visit the House of Augustus on Palatine Hill — the home of Rome's first emperor, Octavian (later Augustus), who lived here from around 30 BC until his death in AD 14. It was only opened to the public in 2014 after major excavation and conservation efforts. Inside the restored rooms, you'll find some of the best-preserved frescoes from ancient Rome. Amazing, huh? Find more info here. Charles Dickens If you've ever wanted to literally step into a Victorian novel, you need to visit 48 Doughty Street, London. There you'll find the Charles Dickens Museum located in the the author's former home. Dickens lived here in the early 1830s while writing Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. You can see the actual desk where Dickens wrote some of his most iconic work, his handwritten letters, and even the couch where he died (seriously). For visiting hours and all that good stuff, go here. Sigmund Freud How does it make you feel that you can visit the final home of Sigmund Freud? Located in Hampstead, England, Freud lived and worked there from 1938 until his death in 1939. Inside you can see the iconic psychoanalytic couch on which he treated patients — beautifully preserved as the centerpiece of his study. To learn more, go here. Ernest Hemingway In Key West, Florida, you can visit the Spanish Colonial‑style house where Hemingway lived and wrote during the 1930s. The home was built in 1851, and dozens of six‑toed cats — descendants of Hemingway's beloved Snow White — roam the garden. Classics written here include: For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and To Have and Have Not. More info here. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart In Salzburg, Austria, you can step inside Mozart's birthplace — a modest townhouse where the legendary composer was born on Jan. 27, 1756 and lived until age 17. This three‑story museum features rooms filled with historical furnishings, portraits, handwritten letters, and even Mozart's childhood instruments — including a violin and clavichord that the prodigy played as a kid. Bob Dylan In Hibbing, Minnesota, you can visit the childhood home of Bob Dylan, where he grew up with the less star-friendly name of Robert Zimmerman. It's an unassuming two-story house on a quiet street, but for Dylan fans, it's a holy site. Inside you can imagine yourself living back in the '50s and '60s, and see the living room where he practiced piano and his bedroom (below) where he played records. Tours aren't available every day, so you definitely want to research before you go. For more info, go here. Nelson Mandela In Soweto, South Africa, you can visit the house where the anti-apartheid activist and former South African president Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 to 1962, before his arrest and decades-long imprisonment. The home is now a national heritage site and museum, offering a powerful, personal look at the life of South Africa's most iconic freedom fighter. For more info, go here. Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy If you've ever read War and Peace or Anna Karenina, you might want to visit Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy's estate and now a hauntingly preserved museum, located about 120 miles south of Moscow. You'll see his writing desk (very cool), and be able to walk the grounds, which are peaceful, forested, and deeply connected to the Russian countryside he so often wrote about. Go here for more info. Ming and Qing Dynasties Above is a portrait of the Hongwu Emperor (1328–1398), the founder of Ming dynasty. Located in Beijing, this massive complex known as the Palace Museum (aka the Forbidden City) was home to 24 emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties over nearly 500 years — including big names like Emperor Kangxi, the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history, and Empress Dowager Cixi, who basically ruled China from behind the curtain for decades. The complex spans over 180 acres and contains 980 surviving buildings — all ornately detailed. The Forbidden City was off-limits to the public for centuries (hence the name), but today it's one of the most visited museums in the world. Learn more here. George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix Let's end on something totally unexpected. In London, you can visit the Handel & Hendrix museum, which preserves the homes of baroque composer George Frideric Handel (who lived there from 1723–1759) and rock legend Jimi Hendrix (who lived there from 1968–1969), which rest side by side. Yes, Handel and Hendrix (separated by time) were next-door neighbors! In Handel's flat you can walk through the restored rehearsal chamber, composition room, and dressing room/bedroom where Handel created Messiah and other iconic works. Original documents, manuscripts, period instruments, and decor faithful to the 18th-century setting add to the fun. Next, you can see Hendrix's bedroom, featuring original furniture, a guitar, turntable, and treasure trove of personal items including posters and records. Know any cool places like this people can visit? Let us know in the comments or in the anonymous form below and maybe we'll do a sequel post!
