It is described on the back cover as "poetic," which often is another way of saying flowery and overblown, it was written architecture of the areas he passed through at the forefront, and the author had questionable morals (but then don't most of us?).
Nevertheless it is hard to turn down the chance to read a travel book that has been so highly praised, and I am glad I bought it.
Oxiana is Byron's name for the region, better known, at least to me, as ancient Bactria, around what is now called the Amu Darya river but was earlier known as the Oxus.
He spent 10 months in 1933-4 traversing the area and further afield, with the names of the places he visited having great historic and romantic appeal, including Jerusalem, Damascus, Baghdad and Persepolis.
I can do no better than to quote from the reviews of other travel writers: "beyond criticism," "humour spans every genre," "most learned and most entertaining," "written with such charm and gaiety."
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| A classic, but I have to confess the striking photo on the Penguin paperback helped convince me to make the purchase - for once, at least, it was possible to judge a book by its cover |
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