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| The Road to Oxiana | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Byron
Creator: Paul Fussell
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (18 reviews)
Sales Rank: 618586
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0195030672
Dewey Decimal Number: 915.6043
EAN: 9780195030679
ASIN: 0195030672
Publication Date: June 17, 1982
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In 1933 the delightfully eccentric Robert Byron set out on a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad and Teheran to Oxiana -the country of the Oxus, the ancient name for the river Amu Darya which forms part of the border between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. His arrival at his destination, the legendary tower of Qabus, although a wonder in itself, it not nearly so amazing as the thoroughly captivating, at times zany, record of his adventures.
In addition to its entertainment value, The Road to Oxiana also serves as a rare account of the architectural treasures of a region now inaccessible to most Western travellers. When Paul Fussell "rediscovered" The Road to Oxiana in his recent book Abroad, he whetted the appetite of a whole new generation of readers. In his new introduction, written especially for this volume, Fussell writes: "Reading the book is like stumbling into a modern museum of literary kinds presided over by a benign if eccentric curator. Here armchair travellers will find newspaper clippings, public signs and notices, official forms, letters, diary entries, essays on current politics, lyric passages, historical and archaeological dissertations, brief travel narratives (usually of comic-awful delays and disasters), and--the triumph of the book--at least twenty superb comic dialogues, some of them virtually playlets, complete with stage directions and musical scoring."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 James Joyce in Central Asia January 15, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
M. Byron wanted to write literature. His book therefore uses travel material with this goal. And indeed, it is interesting 1930's literature. He also worked hard to learn his stuff about Iran and Central Asia. However, an absence of linguistic ability and his numerous western prejudices prevent him to be sympathetic with the characters he meets. An unpleasant impression of his confirming western superiority pervades the book. On the other hand, it contains interesting informations, particularly on ancient architecture of Iran and Central Asia.
 A Fascinating Journey Through 1930's Iraq, Afgahnistan, Iran November 27, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This ranks first-rate among travel books, right up there with Mark Twain for informing and entertaining the reader. Where Twain amused the reader with pretended naivete, Byron is very funny at times but also reveals his depth of knowledge of the antiquities and history of the area. The ages-old failure of these regions to form constructive societies -- causing so much trouble now -- is clearly evident in Byron's perceptive writing.
A classic of travel litterature that still raises enthusiasm April 20, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
How did I come to read this book? It is a period that I am interested in Central Asia history and else, because I became aware that European culture has long ignored this part of the world. I was talking with my father who has an encyclopedic knowledge on almost every topic (sic!) and he asked me if I had read this book. After a long search we found it in his library in an italian translation and a Bruce Chatwin presentation. He had read it because interested in Islamic architecture and art. This breif introduction is to underline how this book is not only a great travel book in the line of those written by foreign travelers in the 1930's, but also an original, well-documented and researched book on islamic architecture of the medieval and modern period. Actually, the author who was an amatuer historian of the arts (read his other books on Mount Athos and Byzantine art) intended this book to be a first-hand report on islamic architecture that had not been seen and described as a whole in those times at least in european countries. The english had a "great game" vision of Central Asia that consisted essentially of folklore, customs, a little history and much adventure with the fiend represented by the russians. What Byron went looking for instead was the the expression of the concept of space that had taken place in the east. He identifies the subtle transitions from roman-greek architecture to the islamic revolution, that will be successivelly reimported to Europe years later in the Romanic period. He is particularly fascinated by the arch and the dome and their evolution, and he is probably the first to identify the "iwan" as an architectural feature. As to tiles, that are the other main feature of islamic decoration, he captures the hues of the blues and turquoises, yellows and browns and the way they respond to light and mesmerizes the reader with their description.
The book can also be read on another level, that of the cultural background of its characters: Robert Bryron and Christopher Sykes, two of "the Bright Young Things" that populate Evelyn Waughs novels, the cultural elite of the London of the 1930's. What gives us still today a great "gusto" is the humor and, let's say it, the sarcasm of the outlook on life, manifested by this generation of authors. We get plunged into the life of the english abroad, the embassies, the consulates, the interplay with the other europeans (Herzfeld comes out pretty bad, with his jelousy on the discovery of Persepolis) and Asians (the afghan ambassador is unforgettable).
A book that is all this naturally becomes a classic, so no mystery as to the Bruce Chatwin's great preference. I highly reccomend it to esthetically minded virtual travelers. There is a beatiful closing remark on the Author's mother that conveys the concept of education that was true then and now!
Great writing, great landscape, great characters - read it! January 20, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This wonderful account by Robert Byron of his travels through Persia and Afghanistan is spare when it should be spare: "Lifar came to dinner. Bertie mentioned that all whales have syphilis" (a complete paragraph from page 19) and effusive when it should be effusive: "Here the green resolved, not into ordinary grass, but into wild corn, barley, and oats, which accounted for that vivid fire, as of a life within the green. And among these myriad bearded alleys lived a population of flowers, buttercup and poppies, pale purple irises and dark purple campanulas, and countless others..." (from a paragraph on page 200). Never mind the country he was traveling through, I just love his prose. They are never trite, never cliche. It's almost as if when a hackneyed phrase would have done, he sought hard for something bright, fresh, new.
But don't never mind the country he explored (stony deserts, mountains, steppes, caves, rivers) or the people he encountered (generous peasants, officious police, frightened guides, accommodative local governors, obstreperous archaeologists, clueless tourists, declamatory larger than life ambassadors whose words are accompanied by appropriate dynamic markings...) - he makes them all fascinating. His dry British wit pervades much of the manuscript. And, oh, how he waxes eloquent on architecture, a subject which in the abstract seems excruciatingly boring to me, but is never so within this book, as he documents the features of mosques and mausoleums and ruined cities.
In the 30's when Byron made this trip Iran was Persia and under the autocratic rule of the Shah (AKA Marjoribanks) instead of being strangled by fundamentalist clerics. Afghanistan was a poor underdeveloped country under (what in Afghanistan passes for) the benign rule of its royal family. Now that country has been destroyed by 30 years of internal strife, war with the Soviet Union, Taliban depravity, war with the US, and more internal strife. Whatever the consequences for the peoples of these countries, the time is long gone when an English speaking traveler could make their way from Persepolis to the feet of the Hindu Kush or the Pamirs. How sad. But at least one can read Byron's book. I'd also recommend Dervla Murphy's Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. It's not as cerebral , but just imagine the idea of anyone, let alone (gasp) a woman, bicycling all the way from Eastern Europe, through Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan into India. That was in 1963. Wow!
 Interesting View of an Area Now in the Spotlight September 2, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In the 1930's this part of the world was far, far away from Britain and the United States. Recent events have placed these countries and people in the forefront. In some ways, Byron's experiences are not much different than those of today. Some of his observations seem quite prescient, but really just help give us a clear picture of an area that has seen a lot of history, and is the stage for more of the same today.
This is an interesting read, not only for a portrait of the lifestyle in this part of the world, but of the world-view of the pre-war British. Good travel writing often exposes more about the writer than the countries and people visited, and this book is no exception. While they are writers of different backgrounds and attitudes, this book reads a bit like those of Fermor, whose books I highly recommend.
Overall, well worth the read.
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