A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveller [Lingua Inglese] - Brossura

Roberts, Jason

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0743239679 ISBN 13: 9780743239677

Casa editrice: Simon & Schuster UK, 2006

Riassunto

When Lieutenant James Holman sailed to Russia in 1822, intent on crossing Siberia on his way to circumnavigate a globe still largely uncharted, the authorities of the Tsar arrested him on suspicion of espionage. Their scepticism was understandable: James Holman was completely blind.
Holman returned to London and wrote a bestselling book about his abortive trip. But the wanderlust remained: as he put it, "In my case, the deprivation of sight has been succeeded by an increased desire for locomotion." In 1827 he set off again, this time for Africa. He would not return until 1832, having visited India, the Far East and Australia en route, and indulged in seemingly suicidal adventures such as stalking rogue elephants in Ceylon and helping blaze a road through uncharted New South Wales. For Holman it was the raw intensity of such experiences that kept depression at bay: he travelled in order to regain the sensation of feeling fully alive.
Jason Roberts has used Holman's own writings as well as myriad other contemporary sources to weave a spellbinding narrative about this fascinating character. Full of suspense and humour, and vivid in its re-creation of a world experienced through the non-visual senses, THE GENTLEMAN IN THE DISTANCE is a marvellous blend of travel, biography and history, and a great tribute to a man of rare spirit.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

Jason Roberts has brought something great into the world. To know ourselves at all, we have to know about people like James Holman, and this is a brilliantly executed biography of this extraordinary, almost unbelievable man. Where the story of the blind traveller could have been maudlin or corny or draped in historical cobwebs, A Sense of the World is alive, magisterial, suspenseful, frequently funny. Full of wonder and with a commanding sense of narrative, this is one of the best and most life-affirming biographies I've ever read"
DAVE EGGERS
‘Roberts’ book is an excellent read...One understands that Roberts feels compelled to assert that the ‘story may at times seem improbable but it is true’. A Sense of the World would be a good read, even if the facts were in dispute, but they aren’t. Holman had an enviable capacity to travel with the conviction that he ‘was not wasting his time’ and we should count him, therefore, as one of the better men who had ‘done before’. He died in 1857 at the age of 70. A century and a half later his story has found an author with an enviable ability to tell the tale’
The Spectator 29/7

‘Jason Roberts’ looks at the life of James Holman, a blind lieutenant who trailblazed across Asia in the 19th century’
Wanderlust Magazine August issue
‘In telling Holman’s story, Roberts has to make an imaginative journey, and a leap of faith, of his own: he inhabits the mind and body of a blind man in the middle of the 19th century with enviable tact and skill. Most impressively, he reconstructs Holman’s idiosyncratic adaptation to his sudden disability, striking his cane against the ground to effect an extraordinarily sensitive sort of echolocation’
Daily Telegraph
‘I must admit at this point to owing Holman’s biographer, Jason Roberts, an apology. The bald facts of Holman’s life are so incredible that my initial reaction was to wonder if this was a spoof, an elaborate hoax designed to expose confusions in our attitudes to disability... Roberts has done Holman justice and brought to light the full story of one of the most remarkable lives ever lived. It is an inspirational tale and this is a book that will challenge preconceptions in sighted people, perhaps in the non-sighted too’
Guardian Book of the Week 12/8
''Roberts crafts Holman's uplifting tale into an energetic narrative, brimming with fascinating detail, leaving you feeling that anything is possible' - METRO, 16/8
‘It took him years, and a serious setback was when he was deported from Siberia by a suspicious tsar, but he made it. He found he could still steer a boat in a storm, and rid a horse, and hunt wild elephants, and attract beautiful women. In Africa he had a river named after him. In Australia he joined a group of explorers in the mountains of New South Wales. Towards the end of his life the machinations of rivals, the scepticism of critics and above all the passage of time made his kind of exploration seem old-fashioned; but he seems to have remained a lovable and contented man. Jason Robert’s admiration for Holman is unbounded, but he makes his case well.’
Sunday Telegraph
‘Holman finds many wonders along his subjects tapping way’
The Times 5/5
‘Holman’s curiosity, his courage, his spirit, are inspiring. Bafflingly, he seems to have been forgotten by history. All credit to Jason Roberts for rescuing him from undeserved obscurity’
Mail on Sunday 27/5

L'autore:

JASON ROBERTS has written for the Village Voice, McSweeney's and the San Francisco Chronicle. He is a member of the San Francisco Writers' Grotto and currently teaches non-fiction at 826 Valencia, a non-profit writing centre. He lives in San Francisco.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Simon & Schuster UK
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0743239679
• ISBN 13: 9780743239677
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 400