Contact!: A Book of Glimpses

by Jan Morris

Contact!: A Book of Glimpses

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Essays, Short Stories

202 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2010

About the author

Jan 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.

Reviews

[Jrobertus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of very short observations of people Morris has encountered all over the world over many years of travel and reportage. Some are funny, some snarky but most are interesting. The book has an air of condescension that starts to wear just a bit. Even so, it is like eating cashews; each one is little but you can't stop yourself.

[Ricardo Ribeiro · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not sure what is this I just read. But it's not good. What the hell, hyper-short-stories, most of them with no interest at all.

[Felicity · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reads like the jottings from a writer’s notebook and these snapshots by Jan Morris are taken from a lifetime of world travel. She’s seen things I’ll never see so I enjoyed reading these quick memories from her life on the road. Some are only short paragraphs, others very well written, then there are those that show the sharp eye of a good people watcher. None of her ‘Contacts’ are earth shattering or important in the big scheme of things, yet for all that they make up an interesting collection

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a disappointing book. I love Jan Morris books usually. This seemed a lazy effort. An interesting premise but good editing is always wise and if any of these short (short) vignettes are worthy of a book, write the book or the short story about them. It is also annoying how Morris repeatedly includes segments of conversation with obviously racist people in obviously racist places like the American South or apartheid-era South Africa. Morris is capable of so much more than this.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has a bit of a schizophrenic voyeuristic quality to it - it's composed of short bits (a paragraph to a page, no longer) from the adventurous life of Jan Morris. Each of these stories is unrelated to the next, and many are without explanation. There's no navel gazing in this book; at the same time part of me wondered - why was this detail selected? Why this story now?

[Marjanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most books about traveling, this made me wish I had the time, courage, and financing to travel to the extent that Jan Morris has. There was a mixture of insights here, both of the people she has encountered as well as on herself. I would consider reading another book by this author.

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a random collection of random people and situations that the author has encountered over the years. The lack of a timeline or organization to these encounters made it difficult to stay connected or even interested.

[Monical · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually wanted to read Morris' book on transitioning (Conundrum) but this book is the only Morris book they had in my library. Sorry to say. However, I had no idea that Morris was actually well known as a travel writer, and this book is a series of vignettes from her many travels throughout decades, starting around World War II and going through at least the 80's. Extremely well written, with a few snippets of poetry, these little (international, by the way) visions are revealing not only of the times but also of the people.

I'll probably have to purchase Conundrum when I'm ready to read it!

[GJ Monahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short (1-2 paragraph) encounters with strangers, gathered from previously published works and from old notes. Maybe this project was initiated in order to fulfil a publishing contract, maybe it was a way to monetise some old notebooks & recycled scraps, or maybe her fans were sincerely demanding a grab-bag of excerpts like this - whatever the case was, the result is not as satisfying as her other works. I liked the breadth and variety of encounters described, and her prose is always worth reading, but this is possibly the least essential Jan Morris title.

[Dipra Lahiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughts on the many ephemeral experiences of coming into contact with a variety of people during her lifelong travels, what it feels like, and sometimes what it means. A brilliant writer.

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snippets, glimpses of people she's met on her travels. And she has been everywhere! Worth dipping into a few at a time, but a few condescending comments do not show her at her best.

[Nat Newman]

Did not finish at page 96. It's the sort of book you need to dip in and out of occasionally, not sit down and read in several sittings, and I really had to get it back to the library.

[Gail Kennon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5a very good companion to share a few minutes with each day to rejoice with in the wonder of human life on earth..the diversity and the similarity travelling around the world.

[Carlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slight but enjoyable volume of vignettes from Jan Morris’ travels.
I was reading Conundrum at the same time and so noticed that she had taken small extracts from that work to include in this volume.

A sighting in Texas
On my fourth day in the city
I looked through the window
and saw a dreamlike figure sauntering by.
He had a sack over his arm, and a stick over his shoulder,
and he wore a high-crowned hat and a cloak, I think,
and he strolled past easy, insolent and amused.
My heart leapt to see him.
‘Who was that?’ I cried, rushing to the window,
‘that man with the stick, and the high-crowned hat, and the sack on his arm?’
My hostess returned me reprovingly to our conversation.
‘I saw nobody,’ she sweetly and carefully said.
‘But tell me, have you had time to see our new Picasso in the Fine Arts Museum?
And will you have an opportunity to meet with Mrs Oveta Culp Hobby?

[Anders Hanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jan Morris is one of the best travel writers around and I've enjoyed all of her writing so far, especially her book on Trieste. However, this collection of anecdotes and writing about people she has met on her extensive travels across the world just didn't hold the same appeal for me. I think it's because for me Jan Morris is best when she writes at length. Her books weave a story and develop a sense of place and fully immerse you in the life, soul and history of a place. In these short snippets from her travels she just can't do that in the same way. The writing is still good, but sadly for me it just doesn't compare to what I've grown to love about Jan Morris.

[Jeroen Kraan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing in this collection is great, as ever with Jan Morris's work, but the format is a bit clumsy. Contact! comprises several hundred snippets of Morris's extensive back catalogue, most only two or three paragraphs long. That makes it a pretty good bathroom companion, but it is almost impossible to read through it quickly, and leaves you wishing you were reading the complete books from which these extracts are taken. Her collection A Writer's World, which includes longer pieces of her writing, is much more worth the trouble.

[Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

for jan morris lovers in particular, and for civilians who like there travel in teeny tiny tidbits in general.

[Elaine Porteous · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything by Jan Morris is great - this is no exception.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted more from each except. But I will absolutely grab some more Morris in the future.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this and the unusual, economic structure. She really packed a punch within the brevity of the stories and others read like haikus.

[Patrick Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morris' perceptive skills and ability to verbalise human interactions and locations as only she can is a delight!