MOUNTAIN GHOSTS
TRAVELLERS IN SWITZERLAND, by G. ’R. de Beer; Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press. HIS good reference book will ple anyone interested in the Swiss Alps. Its scope is as wide as the title implies, and many persons of consequence who have journeyed in Switzerland have a place in the miscellany. The author divides his work into three parts: one where time is the basis (continued on next page)
BOOES
(continued from previous page) of order, and entries range from 941 to 1945; another where place is the key, and people are listed under classified centres and valleys; the third where writers’ names are given alphabetically,
and their works stated as in a select bibliography. Primarily, then, this book is needed by the specialist and the scholar. Though its most continuous use is that of reference, there is -a
variety of entertainment for those willing to search. Consider the year 1693 when "Sherard was mistaken by a peasant for a wolf as he was creeping in search of plants, and narrowly missed being shot,’ the year 1767 when a. traveller wrote, "Engelberg: what does one find there? Nothing but repulsive mountains," in contrast with the enthusiasm of the year 1787, "Who does not wish fervently to climb these Alps, to get a couple of thousand feet nearer to God?" Indeed, this chronological section has the most enticing quotations. Some of the best concern the travellers themselves, such as the entry of 1843 when the artist Turner was described as "a rough, clumsy man, and you may know him by his always having a pencil in his hand," or the description of the costume of an alpine dandy as being in 1825 "admirably adapted for exciting fermale terror at the breakfast table." This valuable source book includes the trayels of men great in other spheres: in art there are Turner and Cezanne; in literature (to name but a few) Goethe, Shelley, Balzac, Gautier, Nietzsche, Gide and Katherine Mansfield; in music Tchaikovski and Stravinsky; and in politics Disraeli and Winston Churchill. There are surprises for everyone on dipping among these pag The production is excellent and t illustrations are dramatic and varied. The ‘only fault is that long chunks of French quotations have no translations, and some of the best passages are thus denied to many readers. |
John
Pascoe
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19490916.2.21.4
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 534, 16 September 1949, Page 13
Word count
Tapeke kupu
388MOUNTAIN GHOSTS New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 534, 16 September 1949, Page 13
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in