Poet Henri Michaux boarded a ship for Ecuador in 1927 as "a man who knows neither how to travel nor how to keep a journal." The result is a work of pointed observation and sensual, even hallucinogenic, poetry and prose.
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Poet Henri Michaux boarded a ship for Ecuador in 1927 as "a man who knows neither how to travel nor how to keep a journal." The result is a work of pointed observation and sensual, even hallucinogenic, poetry and prose.
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Good-Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD Standard-sized.
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Good. Good condition. Acceptable dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included.
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Seattle. 1970. University Of Washington Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0295785837. Translated from the French & With An Introduction by Robin Magowan. 132 pages. hardcover. keywords: Travel Ecuador. FROM THE PUBLISHER-The author of this extraordinary volume describes himself as ‘a man who knows neither how to travel nor how to keep a journal. ' Yet Robin Magowan calls this diary of Michaux's travels to South America ‘the first wholly modern travel book. ' One of the earlier works of the noted French poet, it has also been called one of his best. ECUADOR traces a journey Michaux took in 1927-28 from Amsterdam through the Panama Canal to Quito, down the Amazon to Para, Brazil, and back to France. Mingling prose and poetry, it combines minute observations of people, trees, horses, insects, and mountains with the mystical aspect of an inner pilgrimage. This is its first translation into English. ‘Much of the originality of Ecuador, ' writes Robin Magowan, ‘lies in Michaux's awareness of the fact of incompleteness, his and everything else's. ' Travel is a form of education, a means of attaching oneself to real objects-mountains, sea, natives, a horse, a boat, a dead monkey-but ‘the traveler has to be constantly on his guard not to be taken in by thc bogus magic of fogs. ' At the same time travel is a means of detaching oneself from all that is static and unexamined in one's make-tip. Of special interest is a portrait, included among later ‘recollections, ' of the Andean Indian, in whom Michaux sees an inner strength greater than that of any people he has ever known. The Indian's cabin ‘exudes darkness, a well-padded, smoke-crammed darkness. ' He gets drunk by assaulting the drink-'eyeing it, pushing it, jostling it, mauling it-with a courage, a coolness, an impassivity, and most of all, a singleness of purpose that takes your breath away. A historically important book, Ecuador is meant for travelers and readers alike. As Magowan writes, there is much in it ‘for the man looking for something to put inside himself and grow from.'. Robin Magowan, assistant professor of English at the University of California at Berkeley, is the author of Voyages, a volume of poetry, and many travel pieces, articles, reviews, and other poems. Original title: Ecuador, 1968-Editions Gallimard. Portions of this translation and of the Translator's Introduction appeared originally in The Chicago Review, Far Point, Cloud Marauder, and Poetry Northwest, and are reprinted here with their permission. inventory #5633.
