So much of our travels can be enjoyed through the prism of literature. Some writers are intrinsically connected to a destination and you can still visit places associated with them. Just a very few examples:
Miguel Cervantes with Alcalá de Henares, Spain
Agatha Christie with Devon, England
Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen) with Kenya
Ian Fleming with Jamaica
Gabriel García Márquez with northern Colombia
Thomas Hardy with Dorset, England
Ernest Hemingway with Key West, Florida
Franz Kafka with Prague
James Joyce with Dublin
R.K. Narayan with Madras (Chennai), India
Pablo Neruda with Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, Chile
Tennessee Williams with New Orleans
The literary travel possibilities are nearly endless - have a read!
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http://thebesttravelnovels.blogspot.com/ This is the link to the blog.
My friend Alex and I just did a pretty mad thing. On May 21 (the day the world was supposed to have ended, remember?), we completed in 15 hours a run from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the South Rim...and back. It involved 42.2 miles and a net elevation of 10,360 feet. One of the most wonderful things I've done, but in parts the most hellish, too. The five miles from Roaring Springs back to the North Rim was a gruelling hike that I thought would never end, but with hindsight (as I believe is the case with most travel), the endeavour becomes even more wonderful.
Which leads me to my question. I have just finished reading Travelers' Tales: Grand Canyon--Tales From Below the Rim, but it is inconsistent, mainly as there are many contributors and a little too much flowery language..."I left the canyon, but the canyon never leaves you...", that kind of awfulness.
So, does anyone have a recommendation of a book on the Grand Canyon that really passes the test of time and good literature?
Currently reading Norman Lewis' collection of travel essays, A View of the World. Lewis, who passed away at the age of 95 in 2003, is one of the finest, if not the finest, travel writers ever to come out of the United Kingdom, and there is some competition there. Try and pick up a copy of this for writing on banditti in Sardinia; Cuba in the age of Hemingway, Fleming and Castro; Naples; Ibiza; taking Cossacks back to Central Asia to a very grim future during World War II...and after all his adventures he went back to a small farmhouse in rural Essex.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1436803/Norman-Lewis.html
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Recently got back from a trip to Valencia.
The most famous writer from there--at least one I have heard of--is Vicente Blasco Ibanez, who many people would be forgiven for not having heard of, Most have heard of his most famous novel, The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (Los Cuatros Jinetes de Apocalipsis).
He has a fairly wide road named after him in Valencia, and it is this road that the Valencia authorites want to lengthen so that impatient people can get to the Mediterranean Sea one minute quicker than they would have done otherwise, but the problem is to many that in order for this to be done it will have to wade through and destroy an area of the Roma/fishing village of Cabanyal, which I walked through for a wonderful two hours. Yes, it's crumbling, but money better spent than spent on needless roads could make the area amazing.
Have a look at this site for more details:
http://vidalondon.net/2010/10/10/valencians-fight-to-save-cabanyal
Ibanez is perhaps a little wordy and dense for modern tastes (not yours of course, you read everything), along the lines of my favourite Spanish writer from that generation, Pio Baroja y Nessi, but worthwhile nonetheless.
Valencia is always worthwhile, especially is areas of Cabanyal, El Carmen and Russafa, which is the wonderful Slaughterhouse bar/bookstore, quite the place to be.
http://slaughterhouse.es
Lastly, I wrote something a little more comprehensive on Valencia at
http://allhallovians.blogspot.com
As always, happy reading, happy travelling
-Eric Hoffer
And yes, Sam, I will...or did. The article is below.
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