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teon22's review against another edition
This is not so much a book of short stories about travel, as I mistakenly believed, as it is a collection of personal reflections on various historical and cultural facts of locales visited. If you are keen on German history, you will particularly enjoy the majority of these short vignettes (unsurprisingly as Magris was a professor and scholar of German). Europe is the focus with a smattering of chapters on China, Vietnam, Australia, and Iran thrown in as well.
These various reflections (I am intentionally calling them reflections and not stories because they are not fiction) were written during travels made from 1980s until the mid 2000s. His chapter written on the day the Berlin Wall came down is an interesting counterpoint to the popularly depicted narrative of that same day.
There were many topics covered that were completely new to me: the Scilly Archipelago, Ludwig II, the death of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, and Sorbian culture and languages to name a few. I definitely took my time with this book and fell into some Wikipedia rabbit holes in order to understand the references within many chapters.
In general, I found myself struggling to keep reading because some of the content just did not interest me. This was a book club read so I stayed the course but I cannot say I relished the read.
These various reflections (I am intentionally calling them reflections and not stories because they are not fiction) were written during travels made from 1980s until the mid 2000s. His chapter written on the day the Berlin Wall came down is an interesting counterpoint to the popularly depicted narrative of that same day.
There were many topics covered that were completely new to me: the Scilly Archipelago, Ludwig II, the death of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, and Sorbian culture and languages to name a few. I definitely took my time with this book and fell into some Wikipedia rabbit holes in order to understand the references within many chapters.
In general, I found myself struggling to keep reading because some of the content just did not interest me. This was a book club read so I stayed the course but I cannot say I relished the read.
frahorus's review against another edition
3.0
Magris ci narra dei suoi viaggi intorno al mondo, dalla Spagna di Don Chisciotte al Vietnam, dalla Germania divisa dal muro alla Cina che ama l'Italia.
"Il viaggio-scrittura è un'archelogia del paesaggio; il viaggiatore - lo scrittore - scende come un archeologo nei vari strati della realtà, per leggere anche i segni nascosti sotto altri segni, per raccogliere quante più esistenze e storie possibili e salvarle dal fiume del tempo, dall'onda cancellatrice dell'oblio, quasi costruendo una fragile Arca di Noé di carta, sebbene consapevole della sua precarietà."
"Il viaggio-scrittura è un'archelogia del paesaggio; il viaggiatore - lo scrittore - scende come un archeologo nei vari strati della realtà, per leggere anche i segni nascosti sotto altri segni, per raccogliere quante più esistenze e storie possibili e salvarle dal fiume del tempo, dall'onda cancellatrice dell'oblio, quasi costruendo una fragile Arca di Noé di carta, sebbene consapevole della sua precarietà."
sbgalois's review against another edition
4.0
Una bella raccolta di racconti, esperienze dell'autore, insieme libro di viaggio e raccolta di saggi brevi. Forse poco organico, ma intrigante come solo Magris sa essere.
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