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Spain
First published in 1964, this universally praised odyssey through Spain has been revised and superbly illustrated. History, legend, landscape, architecture, religion, character, and anecdote are brilliantly woven together to create a fascinating and complex portrait. 120 color illustrations.
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Jan Morris
167 books435 followersJan Morris was a British historian, author and travel writer. Morris was educated at Lancing College, West Sussex, and Christ Church, Oxford, but is Welsh by heritage and adoption. Before 1970 Morris published under her assigned birth name, "James ", and is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City, and also wrote about Wales, Spanish history, and culture.
In 1949 Jan Morris married Elizabeth Tuckniss, the daughter of a tea planter. Morris and Tuckniss had five children together, including the poet and musician Twm Morys. One of their children died in infancy. As Morris documented in her memoir Conundrum, she began taking oestrogens to feminise her body in 1964. In 1972, she had sex reassignment surgery in Morocco. Sex reassignment surgeon Georges Burou did the surgery, since doctors in Britain refused to allow the procedure unless Morris and Tuckniss divorced, something Morris was not prepared to do at the time. They divorced later, but remained together and later got a civil union. On May, 14th, 2008, Morris and Tuckniss remarried each other. Morris lived mostly in Wales, where her parents were from.
In 1949 Jan Morris married Elizabeth Tuckniss, the daughter of a tea planter. Morris and Tuckniss had five children together, including the poet and musician Twm Morys. One of their children died in infancy. As Morris documented in her memoir Conundrum, she began taking oestrogens to feminise her body in 1964. In 1972, she had sex reassignment surgery in Morocco. Sex reassignment surgeon Georges Burou did the surgery, since doctors in Britain refused to allow the procedure unless Morris and Tuckniss divorced, something Morris was not prepared to do at the time. They divorced later, but remained together and later got a civil union. On May, 14th, 2008, Morris and Tuckniss remarried each other. Morris lived mostly in Wales, where her parents were from.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
March 27, 2022
This non fiction book is in typical Jan Morris style - descriptive and imaginative prose. First written in the 1960s, she updated it in the 1970s. It gives a feeling of Franco’s Spain and she doesn't seem particularly critical of his regime, although to be fair it was only after his death that much more became known about the atrocities his side committed since history isn’t written by the losing side. She is sceptical democracy will thrive in Spain. Fortunately, she has been proved wrong. The book is good but I prefer James Michener’s Iberia which I am currently reading.
July 26, 2019
Ļoti lēnām lasāma un skaisti uzrakstīta Spānijas kultūras vēstures grāmata, kurā personiskie iespaidi sajaucas ar leģendām par svētajiem, kas atstāstītas kā īstākie fakti.
August 28, 2013
This is a one-stop read on Spain. Probably no book this short can offer as much insight and you have Morris' writing style as well. Naturally, the country has an enormous history from its Iberian settlement through it phases of Phoenician and Greek development spurred on by Mediterranean trade. Then it became Rome's most important outpost after the Carthiginian's were finally defeated just outside Seville. Then Rome delcined and fell opening the way for the occupations by Germanic tribes. Following that, there were the famous seven centuries of Moorish Al-Andalus domination. With the Reconquest of Spanish lands from the Muslims, came the discovery of the New World, new found wealth and fresh rounds of European conflict both with England and the Low Countries. After Spain's Super Power status faded the country sank into centuries of unstable political strife and eventually Napoleonic invasion, which led to the First Republic in 1812, signed in Cádiz. Since then to the modern day, it has been a roller coaster ride between Republican sentiment and Conservative reaction. Then came the Civil War and the rest as we know is just history. So, of course it is impossible to cram all of that into one small publication, despite the fact that I achieved it but ten lines. Somewhow, Jan Morris manages to capture the essence of this ebb and flow of Spanish history between the Mediterranean and Atlanic tides that have influenced Spain's destiny so markedly.
The book's brevity stands in contrast to its intensity. I have offered an outline here but Morris will give you the emotion. I, therefore, highly recommend this to anyone whether at the beginner's level of Spanish appreciation or the lofty 'aficionado' level. It was the first book I read in preparation for life in Spain and I occasionally, even now twenty years on, find myself turning to it for clarification and the odd elucidation.
The book's brevity stands in contrast to its intensity. I have offered an outline here but Morris will give you the emotion. I, therefore, highly recommend this to anyone whether at the beginner's level of Spanish appreciation or the lofty 'aficionado' level. It was the first book I read in preparation for life in Spain and I occasionally, even now twenty years on, find myself turning to it for clarification and the odd elucidation.
October 29, 2019
* 2.5 estrelas
Um relato interessante, especialmente considerando o tempo em que foi escrito. Por isso mesmo, no entanto, é também um relato anacrónico. Ao longo da leitura, achei estranho a autora não comentar a situação socio-política do país como razão de muitas coisas que relata aqui, mas no fim descobre-se que Morris é da opinião que os espanhóis são um povo dado a regimes despóticos, até moldados para estes, o que talvez explica o facto de não ser dada atenção à causalidade entre a pobreza de Espanha e o seu regime político.
Um relato interessante, especialmente considerando o tempo em que foi escrito. Por isso mesmo, no entanto, é também um relato anacrónico. Ao longo da leitura, achei estranho a autora não comentar a situação socio-política do país como razão de muitas coisas que relata aqui, mas no fim descobre-se que Morris é da opinião que os espanhóis são um povo dado a regimes despóticos, até moldados para estes, o que talvez explica o facto de não ser dada atenção à causalidade entre a pobreza de Espanha e o seu regime político.
June 28, 2016
Apesar de a própria autora assumir, logo a abrir, que este é um livro datado, não deixa de ser uma aventura intensa percorrer com a prosa erudita e elegante de Jan Morris os caminhos, as cidades, os rios, a história e a geografia de Espanha. A nota de abertura tem a ver com o facto de a Espanha apresentada no livro ser essencialmente a que reflectia o longo e autocrático consulado do Generalíssimo Franco, e é inegável que por vezes temos a impressão de que o olhar de Morris se deixou influenciar demasiado por essa circunstância. Mas nada disto diminui o prazer da leitura, a descoberta de que o olhar da autora nunca é o mais óbvio, e que esse olhar é sempre perspicaz e preciso, com rara atenção ao detalhe e marcado por um invulgar insight. Tudo características, às quais se acrescentaria o sentido de humor, a ironia, o gosto pelo que é genuíno e surpreendente, que são familiares em Jan Morris que é, primeiro, uma das mais extraordinárias escritoras de viagens contemporâneas, e, depois, uma das maiores escritoras actuais em língua inglesa.
July 26, 2020
Jan Morris s-a nascut sub numele James Humphry Morris.
A decis sa devina femeie, dupa o casatorie de 25 de ani si nasterea a cinci copii.
O femeie sensibila, inteligenta, intr-un trup de barbat.
O personalitate "exotica" ce transpare in fiecare pagina a "tabloului" de fata.
Jan Morris picteaza in cuvinte asezate cu penelul imaginatiei exact acolo unde isi au locul, intr-o montura policroma care ne aminteste de peisajele lui William Turner.
"Spania" nu este un ghid turistic si am fi dezamagiti daca am citi textul in aceasta nota.
Este un poem metafizic despre un taram imaginat de autor cu suflet de femeie si rigoare barbateasca.
A decis sa devina femeie, dupa o casatorie de 25 de ani si nasterea a cinci copii.
O femeie sensibila, inteligenta, intr-un trup de barbat.
O personalitate "exotica" ce transpare in fiecare pagina a "tabloului" de fata.
Jan Morris picteaza in cuvinte asezate cu penelul imaginatiei exact acolo unde isi au locul, intr-o montura policroma care ne aminteste de peisajele lui William Turner.
"Spania" nu este un ghid turistic si am fi dezamagiti daca am citi textul in aceasta nota.
Este un poem metafizic despre un taram imaginat de autor cu suflet de femeie si rigoare barbateasca.
February 25, 2023
2,5 ★★
Como é que um livro com menos de 300 páginas, bem escrito, sobre uma cultura que nos apraz tanto, descrevendo locais que conhecemos e adoramos tanto se pode tornar numa difícil missão?
Não sei... mas foi o que senti. Uma missão difícil de concluir, talvez pelas inúmeras referências histórias, talvez porque foi publicado inicialmente nos anos 60, relatando uma Espanha Franquista.
Gosto muito de livros de não ficção de viagens, mas até agora este foi o que menos gostei de ler (curiosamente sobre um dos países que melhor conheço) e tenho muita pena que assim tenha sido.
Livro físico, em português
Como é que um livro com menos de 300 páginas, bem escrito, sobre uma cultura que nos apraz tanto, descrevendo locais que conhecemos e adoramos tanto se pode tornar numa difícil missão?
Não sei... mas foi o que senti. Uma missão difícil de concluir, talvez pelas inúmeras referências histórias, talvez porque foi publicado inicialmente nos anos 60, relatando uma Espanha Franquista.
Gosto muito de livros de não ficção de viagens, mas até agora este foi o que menos gostei de ler (curiosamente sobre um dos países que melhor conheço) e tenho muita pena que assim tenha sido.
Livro físico, em português
July 16, 2019
Dense, thoughtful and full of color, just as I am sure Spain herself is. This book is neither a travel guide per se, nor is it entirely a history book, but more a series of impressionistic paintings bringing the Spain of the past, present and future together.
I loved reading this book and am even more eager to embark on my trip there a couple of months from now. Ms. Morris has clearly traveled extensively and is an excellent reporter.
I loved reading this book and am even more eager to embark on my trip there a couple of months from now. Ms. Morris has clearly traveled extensively and is an excellent reporter.
March 29, 2018
The value of this book reduces inexorably as you proceed through it. This is unfortunate as the first two/three chapters are truly excellent.
February 11, 2021
Really interesting details not easily available in tourist guide books. A kind of intellectual / historical Bryson guide to Spain
January 19, 2022
This book was a disappointment to me, entirely my fault, though, as I had not realised that it was first published in 1964, so obviously it’s dated. While this author’s 1960 book on Venice is still relevant and a hugely enjoyable read, today’s Spain bears no resemblance to the one described by Jan Morris and it feels like he’s writing about another place entirely.
It was a time when “Spanish courtships were discreet, Spanish mothers dominant, Spanish men very manly and Spanish women usually chaste, when carriages were swaying down Andalusian lanes with ladies chatting in their cushioned recesses, young people came up from Barcelona to dance the Sardana in Montserrat, gypsies were thought picturesque, the men of La Mancha wore headscarves and rode about in covered wagons like Western pioneers, the leathery muleteer rode through the streets of Andalusia, his string of animals heavy with sacks, panniers or baskets of vegetables, the Murillo boy trotted by on his donkey, the women chatted perpetually around the fountain, their big waterpots propped upon its parapet, splendid brass-bound locomotives snorted in steam and metal polish down Spanish railways, the miller stood outside his windmill on the ridge, with a smell of flour, and creaking of old mechanisms, old Spanish village ladies hid their faces from strangers behind their black headscarves ….. you get the message, this book is totally dated.
And though the author can’t be blamed for describing the country the way he saw it decades ago, he might be criticised for his overwrought, gushing style, for his exaggerations and generalisations (nobody can be kinder than a Spaniard, with his lack of envy, his guileless courtesies) his over the top flights of fancy (he knows no other building with more fizz than the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela which exudes a delightful air of cheerful satisfaction) and last but not least his unacceptable (in my books) glorification of the bullfight (...“the savage magic and grandeur of the corrida”...) Shame on him !
What I enjoyed about this book were Cecilia Eales’ lovely lopsided watercolours.
It was a time when “Spanish courtships were discreet, Spanish mothers dominant, Spanish men very manly and Spanish women usually chaste, when carriages were swaying down Andalusian lanes with ladies chatting in their cushioned recesses, young people came up from Barcelona to dance the Sardana in Montserrat, gypsies were thought picturesque, the men of La Mancha wore headscarves and rode about in covered wagons like Western pioneers, the leathery muleteer rode through the streets of Andalusia, his string of animals heavy with sacks, panniers or baskets of vegetables, the Murillo boy trotted by on his donkey, the women chatted perpetually around the fountain, their big waterpots propped upon its parapet, splendid brass-bound locomotives snorted in steam and metal polish down Spanish railways, the miller stood outside his windmill on the ridge, with a smell of flour, and creaking of old mechanisms, old Spanish village ladies hid their faces from strangers behind their black headscarves ….. you get the message, this book is totally dated.
And though the author can’t be blamed for describing the country the way he saw it decades ago, he might be criticised for his overwrought, gushing style, for his exaggerations and generalisations (nobody can be kinder than a Spaniard, with his lack of envy, his guileless courtesies) his over the top flights of fancy (he knows no other building with more fizz than the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela which exudes a delightful air of cheerful satisfaction) and last but not least his unacceptable (in my books) glorification of the bullfight (...“the savage magic and grandeur of the corrida”...) Shame on him !
What I enjoyed about this book were Cecilia Eales’ lovely lopsided watercolours.
December 15, 2023
Got this book second hand, because so far there had been nothing written by Morris that had let me down. And about my very own country, no less!
Well, I was disappointed. Not quite, because it’s a short book. But there are many problems with it, and probably one of them is its length. When you devote a good amount of pages to Trieste, you can’t simply go and write a leaflet about a whole big country like Spain. Which means it’s not really a travel book; its chapters are thematic, but it does not give you a sense of place beyond the first chapter, that approaches Spain from the border in Roncesvalles. It jumps from one place to another, from one name-drop to another, eventually looking more like the short intro that Lonely Planet have (without its practical side) than what we’re used to in a travel book.
There’s another, bigger problem. This book is the result of the partial rewriting of something that apparently started as an article in the sixties and finished like a short book in the, as far as i can tell, late seventies. And the problem is that there are donkeys in the street in a chapter, and the first tourists peeping into the exotic Spain, and next there are just the cars and beaches crowded with tourist we know today; Spain is in one sentence the unexploited and unspoiled pre-industrial country that’s oppressed by a dictatorship, and next it’s something completely different, a democratic, hopeful, developed country. So there’s quite a cognitive disonance happening, because eventually you don’t know what she’s talking about. Even more so when she describes Úbeda, my hometown, as the place where she participated in a “zambra” with gipsies singing “jondo”, something I’ve never heard about. She also describes Madrid as a city devoid of any modern or modernist building, which is simply not true; even in the 60s there were many interesting architects acting there (and elsewhere in Spain).
Long story short, even great writers can fail, more so when they write under some deadline or are simply on retainer to do so. Might or might not be the case, but at any rate, not a travel book I’d recommend anyone about my own country.
Well, I was disappointed. Not quite, because it’s a short book. But there are many problems with it, and probably one of them is its length. When you devote a good amount of pages to Trieste, you can’t simply go and write a leaflet about a whole big country like Spain. Which means it’s not really a travel book; its chapters are thematic, but it does not give you a sense of place beyond the first chapter, that approaches Spain from the border in Roncesvalles. It jumps from one place to another, from one name-drop to another, eventually looking more like the short intro that Lonely Planet have (without its practical side) than what we’re used to in a travel book.
There’s another, bigger problem. This book is the result of the partial rewriting of something that apparently started as an article in the sixties and finished like a short book in the, as far as i can tell, late seventies. And the problem is that there are donkeys in the street in a chapter, and the first tourists peeping into the exotic Spain, and next there are just the cars and beaches crowded with tourist we know today; Spain is in one sentence the unexploited and unspoiled pre-industrial country that’s oppressed by a dictatorship, and next it’s something completely different, a democratic, hopeful, developed country. So there’s quite a cognitive disonance happening, because eventually you don’t know what she’s talking about. Even more so when she describes Úbeda, my hometown, as the place where she participated in a “zambra” with gipsies singing “jondo”, something I’ve never heard about. She also describes Madrid as a city devoid of any modern or modernist building, which is simply not true; even in the 60s there were many interesting architects acting there (and elsewhere in Spain).
Long story short, even great writers can fail, more so when they write under some deadline or are simply on retainer to do so. Might or might not be the case, but at any rate, not a travel book I’d recommend anyone about my own country.
August 20, 2021
Jan Morris was one of the most entertaining & informative travel writers...though she may have changed gender in her long literary life, Morris remained a fine-tuned observer of different cultures & places.
In this 1964 survey of post-Franco Spain...now nearly fifty years ago...Morris goes forensically under the skin of 'proud' Spain with a scalpel to expose the underlying paradoxes & myths of Spanish identity; this book would/will cause some discomfort & distress to contemporary Spaniards...who still seem to live in a delusion that their place in the world is assured...by virtue of bull-fighting (I abhor!), Real Madrid (I despise!) & imperial conquest of a continent or two under the one true cross!! (And no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!). It lacks any real humour...and only mentions 'futbol' once! But it is an excellent example of a book, capturing the essence of a country & its culture in fewer than 150 pages...though it seems a little dated in its view of Spanish 'hidalgo' individuality.
(One of my female Spanish students learning English, & teaching me some pasos dobles!, identified me, affectionately?, as "Frank''..after the comic character Frank Spencer from the BRITISH television comedy series "Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em''...a veiled compliment to their recognition that the world smiles...& Spain should too! Alas, in the early 1960s...the sound of laughter in Spain must have been rare. I was filled with a sense of heavy-hearted dread of change on every page...like a poisonous insect trapped in glorious amber.
In this 1964 survey of post-Franco Spain...now nearly fifty years ago...Morris goes forensically under the skin of 'proud' Spain with a scalpel to expose the underlying paradoxes & myths of Spanish identity; this book would/will cause some discomfort & distress to contemporary Spaniards...who still seem to live in a delusion that their place in the world is assured...by virtue of bull-fighting (I abhor!), Real Madrid (I despise!) & imperial conquest of a continent or two under the one true cross!! (And no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!). It lacks any real humour...and only mentions 'futbol' once! But it is an excellent example of a book, capturing the essence of a country & its culture in fewer than 150 pages...though it seems a little dated in its view of Spanish 'hidalgo' individuality.
(One of my female Spanish students learning English, & teaching me some pasos dobles!, identified me, affectionately?, as "Frank''..after the comic character Frank Spencer from the BRITISH television comedy series "Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em''...a veiled compliment to their recognition that the world smiles...& Spain should too! Alas, in the early 1960s...the sound of laughter in Spain must have been rare. I was filled with a sense of heavy-hearted dread of change on every page...like a poisonous insect trapped in glorious amber.
March 1, 2019
Şi loialităţile spaniole sunt subîmpărţite, căci această ţară e caracterizată nu doar de regionalism, ci şi de un localism pătimaş. Pentru mulţi spanioli, patriotismul nu merge mai departe de satul lor, iar Spania, la modul abstract, e doar un agent fiscal sau un sergent major. Limba spaniolă variază nu doar de la o provincie la alta, ci chiar de la un sat la altul şi entitatea sătească are o autonomie atât de mare, încât în timpul războaielor napoleoniene primarul din Móstoles, un cătun de lângă Madrid, a declarat personal război Franţei.
În mod inevitabil, conducătorii spanioli au fost preocupaţi de pericolele separatismului. Când nobilii supuşi lui s-au răsculat, regele Ramiro al II-lea al Aragónului i-a invitat pe toţi la Huesca pentru a le arăta, pasămite, un minunat clopot nou, al cărui sunet se auzea în toată ţara; când au sosit, i-a decapitat pe toţi şi, aşezând cincisprezece capete într-un cerc ce reprezenta gura clopotului, l-a atârnat pe al şaisprezecelea de o funie, ca să joace rolul limbii.
În mod inevitabil, conducătorii spanioli au fost preocupaţi de pericolele separatismului. Când nobilii supuşi lui s-au răsculat, regele Ramiro al II-lea al Aragónului i-a invitat pe toţi la Huesca pentru a le arăta, pasămite, un minunat clopot nou, al cărui sunet se auzea în toată ţara; când au sosit, i-a decapitat pe toţi şi, aşezând cincisprezece capete într-un cerc ce reprezenta gura clopotului, l-a atârnat pe al şaisprezecelea de o funie, ca să joace rolul limbii.
October 5, 2023
This book captures the vision of the author of a recently democratic Spain in 1970s. It is a travel guide, a history lesson and an anthropological effort all at the same time.
Was the 1970s Spain really as the author described it? I couldn’t tell, but this book has the particular power to evoke vivid images of an archaic Spain that kept me turning pages for the beauty and maturity of the writing.
“There it all is, like a mirage in the morning: the space and the dust and the pride of it all, the chuffing steam trains on the high plateau, the tall golden towers beside the rivers of Spain, the storks, and the priests, and the policemen. It is the kind of high prospect that hermits look for, when they want to sit down with a skull on the table, and think about the future.”
Was the 1970s Spain really as the author described it? I couldn’t tell, but this book has the particular power to evoke vivid images of an archaic Spain that kept me turning pages for the beauty and maturity of the writing.
“There it all is, like a mirage in the morning: the space and the dust and the pride of it all, the chuffing steam trains on the high plateau, the tall golden towers beside the rivers of Spain, the storks, and the priests, and the policemen. It is the kind of high prospect that hermits look for, when they want to sit down with a skull on the table, and think about the future.”
September 1, 2017
Jan Morris examines the character of Spain and her people through the lenses of the geography and the history of the Iberian Peninsula. I found this a good introduction in preparation for travelling there next week.
It is a bit dated and I will be interested to see what has changed since this book was originally published in the 1960s. It is also recommended to have a map of Spain close by so that you can keep track of the provinces and cities/ towns that are mentioned.
It is a bit dated and I will be interested to see what has changed since this book was originally published in the 1960s. It is also recommended to have a map of Spain close by so that you can keep track of the provinces and cities/ towns that are mentioned.
November 1, 2018
I very much enjoyed this as I read it during our first few days in Spain. Her style is lyrical, and Morris always has a sharp eye for detail and anecdote. The section on Toledo was a particular treat to read after our visit. But I must confess that, two weeks later, I don't remember another thing about it. Time to re-read?
January 1, 2023
Beautifully written, if a little outdated now (understandably so).
A little 'fluffy' for my taste and a touch repetitive at times, but some very interesting details. I read this while on a trip to Barcelona and the surrounding mountains, so it really helped me consider the countries history as I was taking in the sights and hills.
A little 'fluffy' for my taste and a touch repetitive at times, but some very interesting details. I read this while on a trip to Barcelona and the surrounding mountains, so it really helped me consider the countries history as I was taking in the sights and hills.
May 16, 2019
While there were some generally interesting insights and accurate observations, the 40+ years since the book was written have altered Spain in important ways. Alas, not something I could use with my students.
June 8, 2020
A beautiful little book about Spain, it's history, geography and culture in a narrative form, gloriously presented as only Jan Morris can do. It's a bit dated - it was written when Russia was still Communist - but as I wanted to understand the meaning of Spain, I could have found nothing better.
November 6, 2017
sights, history in a brief, not so travel book.
July 21, 2018
Rather dates now and a bit hard going to be honest.
February 16, 2019
Interesante discípula - en parte - de Richard Ford, pero en los 60-80 del siglo XX. Muy buena traducción, pues rezuma crítica y erudición tradicional.
March 15, 2020
Dated but fascinating account of a country not long out of Franco’s control.
June 30, 2021
One of the best depictions of my country ever written, if not the perfect one!
July 12, 2021
A vivid and informative book about Spain, which was written 40+ years ago. A decent map would have been useful.
October 8, 2021
I enjoyed this because it was so beautifully written and provided a great nostalgic picture of the Spain of fifty years ago.
April 11, 2024
Best example of travel writing. But can someone please give it a cover on Goodreads...
October 8, 2008
"Spain is one of the absolutes. Most States nowadays are willy-nilly passive, subject always to successive alien forces. Spain still declines in the active mood. She is not a great Power, but in her minor way she is one of the prime movers still - still a nation that sets its own standards." - page 22
Jan Morris, travel writer extraordinaire shows us an in-depth look at Spain in which we traverse time and space, examining the rich and varied history of the country. We are exposed to Spain's triumph as a world power and her slow but inevitable slip into relative obscurity on the world stage. We see her domination of world events and her global isolation, her tolerance and persecution of peoples, her Jekyll and Hyde personality. This duality plays out over the history, the landscape and the peoples of Spain.
The Good:
One thing I believe is most important in travel books is providing a flavour of the country to readers. Jan has this talent in spades. Here's a taste of Spain in Jan's description her description of the running of the bulls in Pamplona.
"Blood runs, men are often wounded, poor padded blindfold horse are gored, the bull inevitably dies and is dragged out for beef. They crowd all around, that Greek chorus of the bull-ring, with its little cigars clenched between its teeth, its cardboard sun-visors on its foreheads, its one-peseta cushions plumped beneath its bottoms on the hard seats - the crowd all around seems animated, to the foreign eye, chiefly by a brutish lust for blood." - page 31
Morris ties in the history of Spain to explain her slow evolution from world power to industrialized nation. She portrays the Spanish as a fearless and sometimes brutish people, quoting Philip II as saying he "ruled the world with two inches of paper." She also notes though that "between 1814 and 1923 there were forty three coups d'etat" and that Spain was "strategically so inessential that the First World War contemptuously passed her by." The truth of this is such that when I was learning about WWI, I never questioned why Spain wasn't involved.
The other attractive aspect to this book is the writing. As always with Jan Morris, the writing draws you in with its rich, descriptive detail. She's able to dig into the truth of a place, to get to core of what it is to live there. The sentences just drip with gorgeous imagery.
"You are seldom halfway in Spain. It is either fearfully hot or frightfully cold. You are either a good man or a bad one, either very rich or very poor, either a fanciful church-goer or an out-and-out disbeliever. The light is brilliant, the atmosphere is preservative, the colours are vivid - so vivid, for all the vast monotony of the meseta, that sometimes this seems like a painted country, as the mauve and purple shadows shift across the hills, as the sun picks out a village here, a crag there, as the clouds idly scud across the candlewick landscape of olives or cork okas, and the red soil at your feet seems to smoulder in the heat." - page 46
The best thing about Jan's books is that they're not just about travel. She includes literary references, historical detail, personal memories and more. My copy was less than 200 pages but felt so full. It was the home of Roman emperors, a bastion for artists like Goya, Dali and Picasso, an inspiration for Hemingway and a country that at the time believed "Cervantes mocked its pretensions of chivalry in the book that is said to have killed a nation."
The Bad:
This book was published in the mid 70s and I wondered how this wonderful picture of Spain could still be current. Here Morris references the Spanish Civil War, an event only 30 years prior to the book. From this I could only imagine that her description of Spain would be somewhat archaic in today's age.
"The time-lag still makes Spain an anachronism among the nations. Her industrial revolution is really only happening now, and in many ways she retains the simplicity, even the innocence of a pastoral nation." - page 26
Morris does update her books with every publishing but barring a complete rewrite and a return to Spain, I don't think she can accurately capture what Spain is today. The most you can hope for in this book is a description of the Spain that was. Nonetheless though, the book is a fantastic introduction to a country full of conflicting opinions and traditions.
The Ugly:
Somebody find Eli Wallach.
Rating: 4/5
Jan Morris, travel writer extraordinaire shows us an in-depth look at Spain in which we traverse time and space, examining the rich and varied history of the country. We are exposed to Spain's triumph as a world power and her slow but inevitable slip into relative obscurity on the world stage. We see her domination of world events and her global isolation, her tolerance and persecution of peoples, her Jekyll and Hyde personality. This duality plays out over the history, the landscape and the peoples of Spain.
The Good:
One thing I believe is most important in travel books is providing a flavour of the country to readers. Jan has this talent in spades. Here's a taste of Spain in Jan's description her description of the running of the bulls in Pamplona.
"Blood runs, men are often wounded, poor padded blindfold horse are gored, the bull inevitably dies and is dragged out for beef. They crowd all around, that Greek chorus of the bull-ring, with its little cigars clenched between its teeth, its cardboard sun-visors on its foreheads, its one-peseta cushions plumped beneath its bottoms on the hard seats - the crowd all around seems animated, to the foreign eye, chiefly by a brutish lust for blood." - page 31
Morris ties in the history of Spain to explain her slow evolution from world power to industrialized nation. She portrays the Spanish as a fearless and sometimes brutish people, quoting Philip II as saying he "ruled the world with two inches of paper." She also notes though that "between 1814 and 1923 there were forty three coups d'etat" and that Spain was "strategically so inessential that the First World War contemptuously passed her by." The truth of this is such that when I was learning about WWI, I never questioned why Spain wasn't involved.
The other attractive aspect to this book is the writing. As always with Jan Morris, the writing draws you in with its rich, descriptive detail. She's able to dig into the truth of a place, to get to core of what it is to live there. The sentences just drip with gorgeous imagery.
"You are seldom halfway in Spain. It is either fearfully hot or frightfully cold. You are either a good man or a bad one, either very rich or very poor, either a fanciful church-goer or an out-and-out disbeliever. The light is brilliant, the atmosphere is preservative, the colours are vivid - so vivid, for all the vast monotony of the meseta, that sometimes this seems like a painted country, as the mauve and purple shadows shift across the hills, as the sun picks out a village here, a crag there, as the clouds idly scud across the candlewick landscape of olives or cork okas, and the red soil at your feet seems to smoulder in the heat." - page 46
The best thing about Jan's books is that they're not just about travel. She includes literary references, historical detail, personal memories and more. My copy was less than 200 pages but felt so full. It was the home of Roman emperors, a bastion for artists like Goya, Dali and Picasso, an inspiration for Hemingway and a country that at the time believed "Cervantes mocked its pretensions of chivalry in the book that is said to have killed a nation."
The Bad:
This book was published in the mid 70s and I wondered how this wonderful picture of Spain could still be current. Here Morris references the Spanish Civil War, an event only 30 years prior to the book. From this I could only imagine that her description of Spain would be somewhat archaic in today's age.
"The time-lag still makes Spain an anachronism among the nations. Her industrial revolution is really only happening now, and in many ways she retains the simplicity, even the innocence of a pastoral nation." - page 26
Morris does update her books with every publishing but barring a complete rewrite and a return to Spain, I don't think she can accurately capture what Spain is today. The most you can hope for in this book is a description of the Spain that was. Nonetheless though, the book is a fantastic introduction to a country full of conflicting opinions and traditions.
The Ugly:
Somebody find Eli Wallach.
Rating: 4/5
February 26, 2017
Filled with obscure but fascinating facts and captivating details all delivered in Jan Morris' luminous prose, this is a classic. A bit dated, but still highly recommended.
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