In Xanadu-William Dalrymple

Travel

 

In Xanadu-A Quest

William Dalrymple

 

                William Dalrymple, at the age of twenty-two, travelled from Jerusalem to Xanadu in China. He followed the route Marco Polo had taken about seven hundreds years before. This book is a marvelous record of this journey. Book moves at a breakneck speed. Writing is so lucid and effortless that the reader finds himself travelling with the author in his quest for the fabled capital of Kublai Khan, sharing author’s privations, his frustrations and his pleasures too. With compelling skill and erudition William Dalrymple weaves the story of his travel, sketches of characters he meets in this long journey, the landscape he witnesses, the architecture he admires in various cities, towns, and villages along the route and intersperses these with history of the place without ever sounding didactic or tedious. Tone of the book is jaunty and humor abounds. Every now and then you shake violently with laughter and nearly fall out of the chair. Writing reminds you of Eric Newby’s A Short Walk in the Hindukush and certain passages of Byron’s The Road to Oxiana. This is Dalrymple’s first book but a chef-d’oeuvre in travel literature. Talent of the author leaves you spellbound. This is a must read for anyone fond of travel literature and especially for a Silk Route enthusiast.


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