An Intimate wilderness Book

Travel journals belong to an ancient literary tradition where words become colors, brushes in a canvas led by a dissecting eye in an aim to reproduce distant lands, emblematic towns, vast landscapes, flamboyant characters, that the errant traveler seizes by way of embellished descriptions that magically transform the motionless reader into a perceptive wanderer.

For years, Nicolas Bouvier was such a traveler, engaged in duplicating through stylistic prose everything his insatiable curiosity set eyes on. The refined portrayals and colorful imagery are all part of his appealing views of the world. A talented writer, he devoted his work to such endeavor producing a good number of works all belonging to the traveling tradition. L'Usage du Monde is his best-known book. It was written during his first trip by car, in 1953, with his friend the painter Thierry Vernet that began in Belgrad and finished in Afghanistan. It was first published in 1963, (paid by Bouvier himself), by the Librairie Droz in Geneva. The text is enriched by the designs of Vernet.


Nicolas Bouvier and Thierry Vernet during their journey in 1953-54

Without any sense of haste in their plans, the two friends embarked in the extraordinary adventure of traveling from Yugoslavia to India. That is basically the only fixed plan they had, leaving everything else to decision-making while on route. Throughout the journey, Bouvier engaged as a journalist in the local newspapers, as a French teacher in schools or lecturer in cultural institutions and Vernet as a painter, to be able to provide their expenses.

Language limitations were never an obstacle for the charismatic travelers, who tried to engage in friendly conversations with the locals in every town they visited. Without a fixed agenda, they stayed for weeks in a village just because of a certain attraction or simply passed by an uninteresting town and continue their journey, overcoming the most bizarre complications with patience and good will, like the many problems with their car.


Thierry Vernet in the old Fiat Topolino, near Ankara in 1953.

An interesting book that has been appropriately praised for its elegant and polished writing style. There are parts that are more compelling than others, sections where the writing is much more poetic and convincing, descriptions that stand out for their impeccable construction. My overall impression however, is of slight unevenness. Next in my series of books by Bouvier will be Chronique japonaise, but echoing his lack of a fixed plan, I do not know when I'll get to it. As all good readers know, we are incurable dreamers...

Nicolas Bouvier was born in Geneva in 1929. He worked as a journalist and was sent on assignment to Finland and later to Algeria, and thus his love of traveling was born. He died of cancer in February of 1998.

I read L'Usage du Monde in the superb volume of his works in the QUARTO Collection of Gallimard, that includes a large number of photographs by Bouvier (who became a professional photographer during the trip), some sections of his hand-written diaries, his poetry and most of his travel books.


Nicolas Bouvier, circa 1970