Reviews for An Inland Voyage

The average rating for An Inland Voyage based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-12-27 00:00:00 Jennifer Lowe A Journey through Time The first book of Stevenson is a kind of guide to an adventure (or to a bet?): with a friend, two canoes (the Cigarette and the Arethusa, which also become the nicknames of the two travelers), and a note-book, through rivers and canals, in Belgium and France, in 1876. There are no introduction or motivations to the trip, nor preliminary descriptions: we are immediately at the start, in Antwerp, and soon inside the Scheldt [precisely where the river of Antwerp has its mouth in the sea, as Ariosto said: «dove il fiume d'Anversa ha foce in mare» (Orlando furioso, canto IX)]. Stevenson doesn't linger in many descriptions of landscapes, he rarely - fortunately - writes on navigation itself, he gives no technical detail. His interest is human and moral: what matters most are the encounters and existential considerations, in search for a kind of wisdom, not without irony, looking for a friendly, open understanding of the world. «After a good woman, and a good book, and tobacco, there is nothing so agreeable on earth as a river.» And so we meet groups of children, other travelers, itinerant traders, warm or repulsive hosts, local judges who invite you to dinner, families living on barges, enthusiastic members of a yacht club... And it is the return (to the "civilization") that gives full sense to the journey, to the exception, the romance, the curiosity. Because it's when you come home that «you find Love or Death awaiting you beside the stove; and the most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek».

Review # 2 was written on 2015-01-22 00:00:00 Adesh Ramdharry I was hopeful I would love this book about canoeing through France and Belgium in 1876, though I was familiar with only one line'"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune and misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."'which I have been writing on bathroom walls since 1978. Stevenson's novels were read by children when I was young, and I have particular affection still for Treasure Island, but I had never read his travel books'a bit of an innovation in its day. I was delighted with what I found. Stevenson speaks fondly of women and Gypsies, and thus earns my affection. He writes beautifully, and thus earns my admiration. And there is this, yet another great truth among many in this slim volume: "You may paddle all day long; but it is when you come back at nightfall, and look in at the familiar room, that you find Love or Death awaiting you beside the stove; and the most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek." Perhaps the particular edition I am reading deceives only 4 stars for the unattractive format. I wish I'd tracked down an old copy, smelling of aging paper and bearing the stains and creases of much use.