Nanning, China, 14-Oct-2010
Last night I began reading “The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction Writers“, by Robert S. Boynton – the subject matter is self-explanatory from the title. I’m hooked. I’ve only gotten past the intro, preface and first chapter and have already lost count of all the notes scribbled into the margins.
The first chapter is a conversation with Ted Conover, who’s probably best known for riding the rails with hoboes in his 1984 book Rolling Nowhere and his 2000 work Newjack which chronicles the daily lives of prison guards at New York’s Sing Sing. The latter required full immersion: he applied for and got a job as a guard.
I found this exchange, on immersing oneself into a new place, of particular interest:
Q: Do you have any reporting routines you follow when you arrive in a new town?
A: I pay a lot of attention to place in my writing, so when I arrive in a new town I try to do what Lawrence Durrell recommended in his essay, “Spirit of Place”, which is to get still as a needle, as he puts it.
Boynton then thankfully adds the Durrell reference:
“It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values. You do not need a sixth sense for it. It is there if you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose; you will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question in the same whisper. ‘I am watching you — are you watching yourself in me?’
Most travelers hurry too much… the great thing is to try and travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open, and not too much factual information. To tune in, without reverence, idly — but with real inward attention. It is to be had for the feeling… you can extract the essence of a place once you know how. If you just get as still as a needle, you’ll be there.”
The stack of immediate essential reading just got a bit higher. It’s time to seriously consider a kindle.
I can see what you mean about the Kindle – that was an thought-provoking and intensely interesting post, Bob, thanks for the lesson
My reading list just keeps growing (and growing) these days. In a few months I’ll be hitting the road for a while and I don’t see how I’ll manage without an ereader of some sort.
Even without an expanding reading list, any extended travel these days without a Kindle-type device just makes no sense! Hope you’ve got it all organised
Such wisdom in those words, ‘travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open.’
z
That was exactly the line that caught my imagination.
it’s so easy for some of us, and so difficult for others. thank you so much for sharing! z
There is wisdom in these words: “Most travelers hurry too much”
The biggest change I’ve made over the years, in terms of the way I travel, has been to slow down and see more.
I do when I can, although the majority of my travel the past several years has been work-related, lots of very short trips. That’s going to change a bit after the new year.
The great thing is to try and travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open, and not too much factual information. To tune in, without reverence, idly — but with real inward attention.
I always felt bad because I never put much attention to facts or loads of historical information. But rather just sink in the city, the seaside or the lakes and forests. Some people see that as strange – but I feel magnificent doing just that when travelling. I put feelings into my memory, not facts.
I guess that really depends on where your interests or passions lie. I like to get a sense of context from a place, ie why things are the way they are now at this point in time. So history and politics are important to me. But so are museums, street food, small stages and local pubs.