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Overview
In this richly descriptive and haunting narrative, Caryl Phillips chronicles a journey through modern-day Europe, his quest guided by a moral compass rather than a map. Seeking personal definition within the parameters of growing up black in Europe, he discovers that the natural loneliness and confusion inherent in long jorneys collides with the bigotry of the "European Tribe"-a global community of whites caught up in an unyielding, Eurocentric history.Phillips deftly illustrates the scenes and characters he encounters, from Casablanca and Costa del Sol to Venice, Amsterdam, Oslo, and Moscow. He ultimately discovers that "Europe is blinded by her past, and does not understand the high price of her churches, art galleries, and history as the prison from which Europeans speak."
In the afterword to the Vintage edition, Phillips revisits the Europe he knew as a young man and offers fresh observations.
Synopsis
In this richly descriptive and haunting narrative, Caryl Phillips chronicles a journey through modern-day Europe, his quest guided by a moral compass rather than a map. Seeking personal definition within the parameters of growing up black in Europe, he discovers that the natural loneliness and confusion inherent in long jorneys collides with the bigotry of the "European Tribe"-a global community of whites caught up in an unyielding, Eurocentric history.
Phillips deftly illustrates the scenes and characters he encounters, from Casablanca and Costa del Sol to Venice, Amsterdam, Oslo, and Moscow. He ultimately discovers that "Europe is blinded by her past, and does not understand the high price of her churches, art galleries, and history as the prison from which Europeans speak."
In the afterword to the Vintage edition, Phillips revisits the Europe he knew as a young man and offers fresh observations.
Publishers Weekly
An Oxford graduate born in the West Indies, 29-year-old Phillips (A State of Independence has suffered from racial discrimination ever since first coming to London as a child. In these short notes on a year's international wanderings, he speculates on the problems of minority peoples living amongst ``the European tribe,'' which has forced its languages and cultures on the world. In Casablanca, the poverty of the Moroccan people is at variance with his memories of the movie classic; in Venice, he reflects on Shakespeare's Shylock and Othello; on a Paris Metro platform his arm is grabbed by a young black man who has been pickpocketed by whites; and in Amsterdam, he visits the Anne Frank house. An Irish archbishop tells him that Flora Shaw, a Dubliner, gave Nigeria its name (after ``Niger-area''). Foreign workers in West Germany ``have no civil rights'' and ``do not officially exist.'' Customs officers in Norway hassle him at the airport. Phillips's findings are not especially new, but his eyes are sensitive and his pen is sharp. He deserves better editing. First serial to the New York Times Book Review. (July)