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Overview
"Refreshing, original and eminently readable" (The Literary Review), Loneliness and Time is a pioneering study of travel writing as a literary form and of travel as a cultural phenomenon. Mark Cocker offers a fertile mixture of biography, history, and literary criticism in his portraits of some of the most prominent twentieth-century British explorer-writers - including Wilfred Thesiger, Laurens van der Post, Gavin Maxwell, and Lawrence Durrell - and of the places - Greece, Tibet - that obsessed them. In scrutinizing the deep drives that impelled these men to the outer reaches, Cocker makes clear the immensely powerful idea of the journey as quest, as pilgrimage, and how it has come to carry mythological and spiritual import. In each portrait, the journey's meaning is unearthed layer by layer, and we see not only how it operates in the lives of the travelers themselves but its importance to the modern industrial and largely secular societies from which these figures emerge. Cocker shows how foreign landscapes and their inhabitants have been used by travel writers as a means to self-definition as well as a source of image, fantasy, even self-image. Loneliness and Time illuminates the appeal of travel - the desire to explore the unfamiliar and the strange - that captivates us all.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Cocker, biographer of the naturalist Richard Meinertzhagen, has formulated a loosely organized and highly academic inquiry into 20th-century travel writing by examining and contrasting a variety of books written by explorers. Included are Lt. Col. Frederick Marshman Bailey ( China-Tibet-Assam , 1945), whose observations on his experiences in Asia typify the school of travel writing that emphasized the accurate recording of facts; Laurens van de Post ( The Lost World of the Kalahari , 1958), who viewed his treks in Africa through mystical and philosophical eyes; and Lawrence Durrell ( Prospero's Cell , 1945), who described Greece as an idyllic and eternal society. Cocker offers insights into the usefulness of travel as a journey into the unconscious and a return to the freedom of childhood. His scholarly work will appeal primarily to those with a strong interest in the subject. Illustrations. (Apr.)Library Journal
Anyone who enjoys travel books will appreciate this behind-the-scenes look at travel writers and their craft. Cocker provides an in-depth look at the genre while profiling many writers of the 20th century. Whether one is an admirer of such luminaries as Lawrence Durrell, Wilfred Thesiger, Eric Newby, or Gavin Maxwell, the reader will be intrigued by Cocker's study of various writing styles, and his examination of the many different approaches to a similar subject. Cocker liberally includes quotes from the important works, and provides a variety of anecdotes, showing how the writers' personal lives influenced their writing. The pages of notes, lengthy bibliography, and useful index attest to the author's extensive research. Though not light reading, this book is an informative analysis of a popular genre. Recommended for large travel collections.-- Jo-Anne Mary Benson, Osgoode, OntarioBook Details
Published
April 1, 1993
Publisher
New York : Pantheon Books, c1992.
Pages
288
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780679422426