Book Review: The Dark Heart of Italy, by Tobias Jones. *

Synopsis

In 1999 Tobias Jones travelled to Italy, expecting to discover the pastoral bliss described by centuries of foreign visitors and famous writers. Instead, he discovered a very different country, besieged by unfathomable terrorism and deep-seated paranoia, where crime is scarcely ever met with punishment. Now, in this travelogue, Jones explores not just Italy's familiar delights (art, climate, cuisine), but the livelier and stranger sides of the bel paese: language, football, Catholicism, cinema, television and terrorism. Why, he wonders, do bombs still explode every time politics start getting serious? Why does everyone urge him to go home as soon as possible, saying that Italy is a 'brothel'?


Review

This must be the worst book on Italy I have ever read. Uninformed, superficial, exuding prejudice and smugness, politically biased. The author displays phenomenal ignorance and his judgement is superficial almost to the point of being funny! Were it not for some specific anecdotes he tells rather amusingly, I would have wondered whether he ever set foot in the country at all. He is obsessed with Berlusconi, he just hates the guts of the man. Well that's fine, many Italians do too, but it does not make for informative reading. His writing style is full of smugness, he says he loves the country but he is very condescending toward Italians and does not display the least interest in truly integrating in Italian society. Inaccuracies are too many to list here. A book that is better avoided by those who want to understand contemporary Italy.

Book Review: Endurance, by Alfred Lansing, *****

Endurance in its death throes

Synopsis

In 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 men set sail for the South Atlantic on board the Endurance. The object of the expedition was to cross the Antarctic overland. In October 1915, still half a continent away from their intended base, the ship was trapped, then crushed in ice. For seventeen months Shackleton and his men, drifting on ice packs and then on the stormiest seas on the globe, were castaways in this most savage region of the world.

Lansing's gripping narrative, based on firsthand accounts of crew members and interviews with survivors, vividly describes how the men lived together in camps on the ice until they reached land, how they were attacked by sea leopards, ate sea lion and polar bear, developed frostbite (an operation to amputate the foot of one member of the crew was carried out on the ice), and finally embarked on a 850-mile voyage in a 22-foot open lifeboat to find help.

Book Review: Cambodia, by Anita Sach, *****

Synopsis

A guide to the cultural attractions of this emerging destination. Explore the grand ruins of Ankor Wat's temples, as well as areas of Cambodia just opening up to travellers, with this practical and thorough guide.

Bibliography: Books on Polynesia

My selection of most significant books on French Polynesia. Both English titles e libri in italiano. Please let me know if I forgot an important title!

I also include some suggestion of local music.

Baker, Silvia: Journey to yesterday (1950), tour of French Polynesia by an English lady during WW II. Not so exciting but provides some curious anecdotes about life in those times.

Borsani, Ambrogio: Addio Eden (Vicenza: Neri Pozza Editore, 2002). E’ una piacevole carrellata culturale basata su un viaggio dell’autore (un antropologo) alle Marchesi ripercorrendo la vita dei tanti protagonisti della fuga mundi dalla cultura occidentale nel XIX secolo (Melville, Stevenson, London, Gaugin, Brel ed altri). Molto ben scritto.

Cook, James: “Journals” (trad it: I Giornali di Bordo, Milano: TEA, 2000). Un po’ lunghetti ma interessanti per immedesimarsi in un europeo che è arrivato qui alla fine del ‘700 quando non c’era ancora stato quasi nessuno.

Gaugin, Paul: “Noa Noa” e vari altri scritti di questo artista squinternato morto alle Marchesi.

Stevenson, Robert Louis: “Tales of the South Seas” (trad it: Mari del Sud); oltre ovviamente all’eterno “Treasure Island”!!

Melville, Herman: “Moby Dick” (si capisce perché Melville disertò da una baleniera per restare in Polinesia!!) e soprattutto “Typee” (Taipi in trad. italiana), romanzo autobiografico della sua diserzione.

Horwitz, Tony: “Into the Blue: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before”

Sivadjian, Eve: “Les Isles Marquises: Archipel de Mémoire”. Ottimo sulle Marchesi contemporanee, aspetti sociali, politici, economici, culturali.

Bersezio, L.: “Miti e Fiabe della Polinesia”.

Pagliasco, Guido Carlo: “Paradisi Inquieti: Viaggio in Polinesia” (Torino: EDT, 2000); libretto-diario di un viaggio per molti aspetti simile al nostro anche se incentrato più sulle Samoa, che comunque fanno culturalmente parte della Polinesia.

Music and films about Polynesia

Brel, Jacques, “Les Marquises” is a selectio of some of his best songs, including the eponymous one about the islands where he now rests in peace.




Mazière, Francis: The Gaugin Years (collezione di canzoni e danze polinesiane)



Fanshawe, David: Pacific Chants (collezione di musiche tradizionali polinesiane)



Tahiti – Air Mail (canzoni assortite)


Himene: Polyphonies Polynésiennes (choral music)