Derek Johns

A short book which, as the subtitle states, is a biography of the author, Jan Morris, from talking about her books.
I have read some of Morris’ more than 50 books, and have significant further books by her on my pile of to be read, so I found this a very engaging book, with many well chosen quotes from Morris’ works. My one criticism would be that the book should not have ended with the chapter on Morris’ sex change in the 1970’s, but rather celebrate those late books, Hav and Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere which, to me, sum up Morris’ ability to conjure a place, whether real or imagined.
The book tells us nothing that is not apparent from Morris’ books, but it is rather an indulgent treat to have it served up to the reader in such a lovely fashion, with a number of line drawings by Morris to accompany the text.… (mehr)

Before reading this book I didn’t know much about Jan Morris, beyond the fact that she was born, and lived until her early forties, as James Morris. While the gender reassignment, which was undertaken in 1972 when such operations were rare and drew far more attention (often intrusive and hurtful in nature) than is the case now, might be the single most significant event in her life, it does rather tend to obscure her achievements as a writer.

She is generally described as a travel writer but that rather misses the point, too. She doesn’t write about travel, but about destinations. The only book of hers that I had read was her 1975 novel, Last letters from Hav, which made it onto that year’s Booker Prize shortlist. It is a marvellous description of a fictional city state situated somewhere on the Turkish peninsula. Nothing much happens in the novel, but it holds the reader’s attention through its marvellous depiction of city life, across all social strata.

Derek Johns is clearly a close friend of Morris, and an adherent of her writing. He does not, however, allow that to push him beyond biography into hagiography. He shows a cheerful frankness about some of her less morally unassailable deeds (nothing heinous, I hasten to add).

Morris’s writing bristles with its own enthusiasms. Perhaps one of the most widely travelled of journalists, she has probably written about more of the world’s significant cities than anyone else, and she has developed a delightful knack of capturing the salient atmosphere in a few simple sentences.

Johns himself is similarly adept, and writes informatively and engagingly. I picked this up in my local bookshop by chance, and it proved a serendipitous choice.… (mehr)