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Lädt ... Down the Yangtzevon Paul Theroux
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. I am a big fan of travel writing. At its best, this genre can transport the reader to an unknown place thousands of miles away and into the hearts and minds of the people who call it home. Whether or not I have visited the locale before, I always enjoy reading the impressions of a really perceptive outsider and considering how those thoughts link with the place’s past and what they may imply about its future. By many accounts, Paul Theroux is a marvelous travel writer, both in fictional (The Mosquito Coast) and non-fictional (The Old Patagonian Express) forms. Perhaps that is why I was so disappointed reading Down the Yangtze. Based on a river cruise he took in 1980, the author spends an inordinate amount of time describing his experiences getting drunk and playing cards with the other passengers on board—mostly elderly American millionaires—but very little effort to connect with the people who actually lived there. This can only be regarded as a lost opportunity and one that led Theroux to miss some profound cultural changes that were happening in the country at that time. Consider, for instance, this conclusion: In Shanghai, as in other cities in China, the air was bad, it stank…There is little sign of money, no sign of wealth…One can only compare this to the anarchy and distress of India…For these billion people, this is probably the only system that would work. Under capitalism, five percent would be conspicuously rich, and the rest rather poor or very poor, the starving and begging society of China’s past. or this one: Any change in China would be for the worst, which is a pity because it seemed so bad when I sailed through it…It worried me that China might never be better than it is now. Is it possible for someone to be more wrong about the changes that have taken place in China over the past three decades? Although he seems to admit as much in a hastily written Author’s Note appended to the main account, one wonders if such an apologia would have been necessary at all if Theroux had just gotten off the boat a little more often when he had the chance. Zeige 2 von 2 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Gehört zu VerlagsreihenPenguin 60s (53)
An account of Theroux's 1979 trip down the Yangtze river at a time when hard-line Maoists were in power. Theroux observes China's towns, cliffs, rapids, shrines and people, as well as the relationship between his fellow travellers, American tourists, and the Chinese. He concludes that in this country, things may never get better than they already are, and sees it as a country that may hold clues to the possible future of mankind. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)915.10458History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography of and travel in Asia China and KoreaKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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Theroux schrijft hele mooie hele dikke reisboeken. Dit dunnetje is dus even wennen, Penguin gaf 60 van dit soort pockets uit ter gelegenheid van het 60-jarig jubileum. Ik zie nergens staan of het een hoofdstuk is uit een van zijn boeken of een speciaal uitgegeven titel. Volgens een korte zoektocht in Google heeft het in een blad gestaan en dus in deze speciale uitgave.
Het verslag van een reis door China kun je Theroux goed toevertrouwen. Dat hij het net zo veel over zijn medereizigers heeft als over het land, is ook geen verrassing. Sterker nog, dit soort reizen moeten ertoe hebben geleid dat hij later alleen op pad ging naar nog obscuurdere bestemmingen. Laten we het er op houden dat hij niet zo’n fan is van vele landgenoten.
Daarmee is dit boekje, ook al is het een kort tussendoortje, wel vintage Theroux. Een beetje mopperen, veel interesse, mooie observaties en bijzondere conclusies. Met erg veel plezier gelezen.
Citaat: “I said that it seemed that very little had changed on the Yangtze. People fished in the old way; they sailed and rowed and towed wooden junks; they watered their fields carrying buckets on yokes; and right back there at Jiujang, women were washing clothes, clubbing bundles of laundry and trashing it in the muddy water. They crossed the river is rusty ferries and still drowned by the score when the river was in flood.” (p.44) ( )