The Place Where Souls Are Born
(THOMAS KENEALLY)
Keneally''s The Place Where Souls Are Born is,
ostensibly, an account of a trip to the American Southwest, a counter-clockwise
circuit through Colorado, Utah,
Arizona and New Mexico. The focus is on the wilderness
areas, the history and the American Indians, with the Anasazi as a kind of
keystone.
Although entertaining and easy to read, I found it rather unsatisfying. The
narrative is vaguely chronological, but contains so many historical and
ethnographic digressions and abrupt jumps that one never has the feel of being
on a real journey. Keneally is also extremely selective about the way in which
he appears in his own narrative: we read about his awe at the immensity of the
Colorado canyons, but we never find out how much time he actually spent on his
trip; his wife and daughter, who traveled with him throughout the trip, make
only cameo appearances; he mentions in passing that he was commissioned to
write the book, but doesn''t mention whether his trip was paid for or not; and
so on. He seems to be trying to combine the authenticity of personal experience
with the objectivity of history, while at the same time catering to readers
with short attention spans; he is arguably more interested in impressing his
audience than in doing justice to his subject material.
I suppose that this sort of criticism can be leveled at most travel writing,
and perhaps I''m being unreasonably harsh ? or perhaps I''ve just been reading
too much postmodern criticism of ethnographic writing. In the end it is a
matter of taste: as far as books on the Southwest go, I''d rather read either
Tony Hillerman''s novels or Edward Spicer''s history, and as far as Keneally goes
I greatly prefer his novels.
Resumos Relacionados
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- Reading Oprah(how Oprah's Book Club Changed The Way America Reads)
- Sophie's World
- On Writing
- Different Types Of Books
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