"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
At times it also brings to mind Evelyn Waugh, who contributed the preface. Newby is a less acidulous writer, to be sure, and he has little interest in launching the sort of heat-seeking satiric missiles that were Waugh's specialty. Still, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is a hilarious read. The author excels at the dispiriting snapshot, capturing, say, the Afghan backwater of Fariman in two crisp sentences: "A whole gale of wind was blowing, tearing up the surface of the main street. Except for two policemen holding hands and a dog whose hind legs were paralysed it was deserted." His capsule history of Nuristan also gets in some sly digs at Britain's special relationship with the violence-prone Abdur Rahman:
Officially his subsidy had just been increased from 12,000 to 16,000 lakhs of rupees. To the British he had fully justified their selection of him as Amir of Afghanistan and, apart from the few foibles remarked by Lord Curzon, like flaying people alive who displeased him, blowing them from the mouths of cannon, or standing them up to the neck in pools of water on the summits of high mountains and letting them freeze solid, he had done nothing to which exception could be taken.Newby also surpasses Waugh--and indeed, most other travel writers--in another important respect: he's miraculously free of solipsism. Even the keenest literary voyagers tend to be, in the purest sense of the term, self-centered. But A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush includes wonderfully oblique portraits of the author's travel companion, Hugh Carless, and his wife, Wanda (who plays a starring role in such subsequent chronicles as Slowly down the Ganges). There are also dozens of brilliant cameo parts, and an indelible record of a stunning landscape. The roof of the world is, in Newby's rendering, both an absolute heaven and a low-oxygen hell. Yet the author never pretends to pit himself against a malicious Nature--his mountains are, in Frost's memorable phrase, too lofty and original to rage. Which is yet another reason to call this little masterpiece a peak performance. --James Marcus
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 6.01
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR004629111
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR002733858
Book Description Condition: Good. Reprint. Good condition book with dust jacket. Complete DJ is clean, has fresh colours and has a mild sun fading to spine. Book has clean and bright contents but a previous owner name to ffep. Seller Inventory # 9999-9992225444
Book Description Condition: Good. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # GRP87547537
Book Description With Dustcover. Seller Inventory # BM-768T-9B6K
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Jacket by Colin Andrews (illustrator). Book Club. First published by Secker in 1958, this is first Book Club impression of 1973. Some edge wear to top and bottom of largely orange jacket and spine, small 'scraped' patch to top front jacket (removal of old sticky label?), corners slightly bruised, some yellowing to page block, not price clipped (no price), internally clean tight and square, overall a reasonable copy for its age. 247pp, illustrated. It was 1956 and Eric Newby (1919-2006), was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute couture. Pining for adventure, Newby sent his friend Hugh Carless the now famous cable 'CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE?' setting in motion a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, north east of Kabul. Inexperienced and ill prepared (their preparations involved nothing more than some tips from a Welsh waitress), the amateurish rogues embark on a month of adventure and hardship in one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth, a journey that adventurers with more experience and sense may never have undertaken and which included a meeting with the English explorer Wilfred Thesiger. One of the greatest travel classics from one of Britain's best loved travel writers. Scarce, even in this later edition. Seller Inventory # 011161
Book Description Hard Cover. Condition: G+. Dust Jacket Condition: VG-. Reprint. G+/VG-. 8vo. original grey boards gilt (ex-library with rsms, labels etc. to outer leaves, rubbed & marked) in dustwrapper (price-clipped, rubbed & creased, sunned with 'ghost' of label to spine); pp. 248 (last blank), with frontispiece & 2 maps. A reading copy. [Neate N16: Two non-mountaineers attempt 19,880 ft Mir Samir in north-east Afghanistan and explore the remote region of Nuristan. Classic work by well-known writer and traveller]. This is Newby's most celebrated book, highly sought after. Seller Inventory # 023966
Book Description hardcover. 1972 reprint. 247pp, original grey cloth, map endpapers, tiny owner's address label to front endpaper, near Fine in near Fine dw. A classic work by a well-known writer and traveller. Glacier Books are experienced and professional booksellers. We take pride in offering carefully described books and excellent customer service. Seller Inventory # 73439