I bought this because I read a favourable review and because I sometimes write essays which
describe a walk. The book was a pleasure to read, not least because it is
produced to Notting Hill edition standards. It slipped into my pocket and I
took it with me on a couple of walks which would be punctuated by stops at park
benches.
Duncan Minshull illustrates things which are not
specific to his theme. First, that there are very many forgotten, out of print,
and (helpfully) out of copyright books which contain very readable material.
Second, that short extracts - there are over fifty in this hundred and
fifty page book - if well stitched together (which they are) can add up to more
than the sum of their parts.
Some of his authors are
very well known, others entirely forgotten. Some walk a lot as a commitment or a
pastime; others happen to walk for one reason or another - not always
willingly: Nellie Bly stumbles in muddy First World War trenches because it’s
her job as a journalist; Robert Antelme is on a Second World War death march. Some
tell us more about themselves than the terrain they pass through; some make us
laugh - the vigorous Elizabeth von Arnim has a couple of the best lines; some
evoke a past - Edith Wharton does it brilliantly. Thomas Jefferson comes out
well from a very short extract in which he obtains a poor person’s story.
Elizabeth von Arnim is
anxious about walking alone and George Sand solves the problem by
cross-dressing. Minshull’s walkers have little to say about thieves,
cut-throats, child hawkers (my own memory of Istanbul), or beggars. None stroll
the red light districts of Europe’s cities and none (if I recall correctly) are
walking in search of work.
It was a very pleasant
stroll to read this book.
