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Journey Into Barbary: Morocco Writings and Drawings of Wyndham Lewis
Text and art by Wyndham Lewis.
234 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1982
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168 people want to read
About the author
Wyndham Lewis
117 books161 followers(Percy) Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957) was a novelist, painter, essayist, polemicist and one of the truly dynamic forces of the early 20th century and a central figure in the history of modernism. He was the founder of Vorticism, the only original movement in 20th century English painting. His Vorticist paintings from 1913 are the first abstract works produced in England, and influenced the development of Suprematism in Russia. Tarr (published in 1918), initiated his career as a satirical novelist, earning the praise of his contemporaries: "the most distinguished living novelist" (T.S. Eliot), "the only English writer who can be compared to Dostoevsky" (Ezra Pound).
After serving as an artillery officer and official war artist during the First World War, Lewis was unable to revive the avant-garde spirit of Vorticism, though he attempted to do so in a pamphlet advocating the modernisation of London architecture in 1919: The Caliph's Design Architects! Where is your Vortex? Exhibitions of his incisive figurative drawings, cutting-edge abstractions and satirical paintings were not an economic success, and in the early 1920s he devoted himself to study of political theory, anthropology, philosophy and aesthetics, becoming a regular reader in the British Museum Reading Room. The resulting books, such as The Art of Being Ruled (1926), Time and Western Man (1927), The Lion and the Fox: The Role of the Hero in the Plays of Shakespeare (1927) and Paleface: The Philosophy of the Melting-Pot (1929) created a reputation for him as one of the most important - if wayward - of contemporary thinkers.
The satirical The Apes of God (1930) damaged his standing by its attacks on Bloomsbury and other prominent figures in the arts, and the 1931 Hitler, which argued that in contemporary 'emergency conditions' Hitler might provide the best way forward in Germany damaged it yet further. Isolated and largely ignored, and persisting in advocacy of "appeasement," Lewis continued to produce some of his greatest masterpieces of painting and fiction during the remainder of the 1930s, culminating in the great portraits of his wife (1937), T. S. Eliot (1938) and Ezra Pound (1939), and the 1937 novel The Revenge for Love. After visiting Berlin in 1937 he produced books attacking Hitler and anti-semitism but decided to leave England for North America on the outbreak of war, hoping to support himself with portrait-painting. The difficult years he spent there before his return in 1945 are reflected in the 1954 novel, Self Condemned. Lewis went blind in 1951, from the effects of a pituitary tumor. He continued writing fiction and criticism, to renewed acclaim, until his death. He lived to see his visual work honored by a retrospective exhibition at London's Tate Gallery in 1956, and to hear the BBC broadcast dramatisations of his earlier novels and his fantastic trilogy of novels up-dating Dante's Inferno, The Human Age.
After serving as an artillery officer and official war artist during the First World War, Lewis was unable to revive the avant-garde spirit of Vorticism, though he attempted to do so in a pamphlet advocating the modernisation of London architecture in 1919: The Caliph's Design Architects! Where is your Vortex? Exhibitions of his incisive figurative drawings, cutting-edge abstractions and satirical paintings were not an economic success, and in the early 1920s he devoted himself to study of political theory, anthropology, philosophy and aesthetics, becoming a regular reader in the British Museum Reading Room. The resulting books, such as The Art of Being Ruled (1926), Time and Western Man (1927), The Lion and the Fox: The Role of the Hero in the Plays of Shakespeare (1927) and Paleface: The Philosophy of the Melting-Pot (1929) created a reputation for him as one of the most important - if wayward - of contemporary thinkers.
The satirical The Apes of God (1930) damaged his standing by its attacks on Bloomsbury and other prominent figures in the arts, and the 1931 Hitler, which argued that in contemporary 'emergency conditions' Hitler might provide the best way forward in Germany damaged it yet further. Isolated and largely ignored, and persisting in advocacy of "appeasement," Lewis continued to produce some of his greatest masterpieces of painting and fiction during the remainder of the 1930s, culminating in the great portraits of his wife (1937), T. S. Eliot (1938) and Ezra Pound (1939), and the 1937 novel The Revenge for Love. After visiting Berlin in 1937 he produced books attacking Hitler and anti-semitism but decided to leave England for North America on the outbreak of war, hoping to support himself with portrait-painting. The difficult years he spent there before his return in 1945 are reflected in the 1954 novel, Self Condemned. Lewis went blind in 1951, from the effects of a pituitary tumor. He continued writing fiction and criticism, to renewed acclaim, until his death. He lived to see his visual work honored by a retrospective exhibition at London's Tate Gallery in 1956, and to hear the BBC broadcast dramatisations of his earlier novels and his fantastic trilogy of novels up-dating Dante's Inferno, The Human Age.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 28, 2013
Disclosure:
I get this edition of Wyndham Lewis book from Casablanca, during a touristic tour in Morocco. I was thinking that I may come across some amazing facts about this country but the Reality was against my expectations.
My Plot:
In the beginning of the book the writer starts by admiring his native country "England" with a poetic style. He was going to leave London since he published his controversial book on Hitler, He decides to move from London to another location where his ideological background would not matter. So the first Journey begins from "London" to "Paris". In Paris he makes a stop, buying some books and maps. Actually he was making a preparation to explore an unnatural world. From Paris he took the French ship heading toward Algeria. His journey in Algeria was so amazing, he was satisfied by the French buildings and the big change that France brought to this country. The next stop is Morocco, where the writer was so astonished by the old buildings and Kasbas. He engaged to several stereotypes that depicts Moroccan Berbers so badly, his writings were submitting the Idea that these Local population have no culture, aggressive and they need somebody who could cultivate and represent them, and from here came his admiring to the French colonization of North Africa. His journey reached to the southern parts of Morocco called "Barbaria", searching for the truth of the Travelers' Enigma toward this Country.
Positive and Negative aspects:
I would love to call this book, an Imperial description to North African culture. Actually it was full of controversial images that depict Morocco so badly. First "the writer" or "the painter" take hold of all knowledge, inside his book; he consider himself as the center of knowledge. "As an Interpretation" Paris and London for him are the capitals that provide the world with Culture and Science, and Other cities are just a dwelling places, Another aspects that makes me disturbed was this reference of "I was told" in the whole book. he was trying to make all the stereotypes go true. The drawings went for the sake of degradation. And the feeling of "Superlativeness" was the dominant touch in all the book.
My Personal reaction:
This is the first time I read a book which deceives my expectations. I was trying to bring out the nice aspects of this country and enjoy the cultural life inside it. But Mr. Wyndham Lewis makes me see his book with a negative response. Well his point of view toward North Africa was so disapproving. He had some stereotypes about this region, and by coming to it, his book was a fake mirror that represent the region in primitive way. He was thinking that he may found people in "Barbaria" as animals who needs to be educated and brought back to life but reality was far from his anticipations. I really wasn't fond of the writer's view toward this country, because I can't distrust million of tourist - who admire Morocco and its culture, So summing up all this book, The depiction that Wyndham makes to this region was so subjective, and that's the reason why I didn't enjoy it.
Recommendations:
First of all, this book is a sort of depiction to the north African in a colonial context, so there is no need to take these ideas in reality. If you are traveling to these countries you better stick around a touristic guide better than this controversial book full stereotype. If you have any objection concerning this review please contact me and we will discuss what's the matter.
I get this edition of Wyndham Lewis book from Casablanca, during a touristic tour in Morocco. I was thinking that I may come across some amazing facts about this country but the Reality was against my expectations.
My Plot:
In the beginning of the book the writer starts by admiring his native country "England" with a poetic style. He was going to leave London since he published his controversial book on Hitler, He decides to move from London to another location where his ideological background would not matter. So the first Journey begins from "London" to "Paris". In Paris he makes a stop, buying some books and maps. Actually he was making a preparation to explore an unnatural world. From Paris he took the French ship heading toward Algeria. His journey in Algeria was so amazing, he was satisfied by the French buildings and the big change that France brought to this country. The next stop is Morocco, where the writer was so astonished by the old buildings and Kasbas. He engaged to several stereotypes that depicts Moroccan Berbers so badly, his writings were submitting the Idea that these Local population have no culture, aggressive and they need somebody who could cultivate and represent them, and from here came his admiring to the French colonization of North Africa. His journey reached to the southern parts of Morocco called "Barbaria", searching for the truth of the Travelers' Enigma toward this Country.
Positive and Negative aspects:
I would love to call this book, an Imperial description to North African culture. Actually it was full of controversial images that depict Morocco so badly. First "the writer" or "the painter" take hold of all knowledge, inside his book; he consider himself as the center of knowledge. "As an Interpretation" Paris and London for him are the capitals that provide the world with Culture and Science, and Other cities are just a dwelling places, Another aspects that makes me disturbed was this reference of "I was told" in the whole book. he was trying to make all the stereotypes go true. The drawings went for the sake of degradation. And the feeling of "Superlativeness" was the dominant touch in all the book.
My Personal reaction:
This is the first time I read a book which deceives my expectations. I was trying to bring out the nice aspects of this country and enjoy the cultural life inside it. But Mr. Wyndham Lewis makes me see his book with a negative response. Well his point of view toward North Africa was so disapproving. He had some stereotypes about this region, and by coming to it, his book was a fake mirror that represent the region in primitive way. He was thinking that he may found people in "Barbaria" as animals who needs to be educated and brought back to life but reality was far from his anticipations. I really wasn't fond of the writer's view toward this country, because I can't distrust million of tourist - who admire Morocco and its culture, So summing up all this book, The depiction that Wyndham makes to this region was so subjective, and that's the reason why I didn't enjoy it.
Recommendations:
First of all, this book is a sort of depiction to the north African in a colonial context, so there is no need to take these ideas in reality. If you are traveling to these countries you better stick around a touristic guide better than this controversial book full stereotype. If you have any objection concerning this review please contact me and we will discuss what's the matter.
September 27, 2010
review shortly.
+note to self. (copy from Al & N).
1987 Penguin Travel Library Edition. Edited by C. J. Fox. Uses Lewis's original (1918) unpublished letters, maps, drawings and diaries.
March 6, 2007
wyndham lewis loves kasbahs & has unrivaled narrative flair
September 11, 2024
Read to get a flavour of Morocco before a visit.
The book is now 90 years old and has not aged well. All the attitudes of a European of his time, including racism. Some amusing tales but generally not recommended.
The book is now 90 years old and has not aged well. All the attitudes of a European of his time, including racism. Some amusing tales but generally not recommended.
August 16, 2019
OK, just signed up to GoodReads so this is my first review and it's based on only having read the first half of the book. I found the book on my shelves where it's been languishing unread for more than two decades.
This is an interesting book about a part of the world that I'm a little bit familiar with. It's a fairly exotic destination today and I was curious as to whether it was more or less well known back in the 1930's when Lewis was travelling there. It seems that it was quite well visited by better off British travellers and was a routine destination for the French, whose colony it was.
Lewis is a confident writer - arrogant, in fact - and his descriptive passages are the best thing in this book.
Sadly, the book is spoiled by his arrogance. His speciality is to pick on a subject - a fat lady he encounters on a 2-day ship voyage or an actor staying at the same hotel, for example - and go into great detail fantasising about their character and lifestyle. Always without ever actually talking to the person and always in a snobbish, derogatory manner.
He is fond of sweeping generalisations about the Berber, the Arab, the Jew and the Negro which don't sit at all well with the modern reader. His style reminded me of a precocious sixth-former writing to shock his elders.
I had come across his work as an artist and the founder of the Vorticist movement and found it very appealing. So I was surprised to find that this was not some ill-judged brief foray into the literary field. I will read on and hope that the descriptive stuff outweighs the immature opinioneering.
This is an interesting book about a part of the world that I'm a little bit familiar with. It's a fairly exotic destination today and I was curious as to whether it was more or less well known back in the 1930's when Lewis was travelling there. It seems that it was quite well visited by better off British travellers and was a routine destination for the French, whose colony it was.
Lewis is a confident writer - arrogant, in fact - and his descriptive passages are the best thing in this book.
Sadly, the book is spoiled by his arrogance. His speciality is to pick on a subject - a fat lady he encounters on a 2-day ship voyage or an actor staying at the same hotel, for example - and go into great detail fantasising about their character and lifestyle. Always without ever actually talking to the person and always in a snobbish, derogatory manner.
He is fond of sweeping generalisations about the Berber, the Arab, the Jew and the Negro which don't sit at all well with the modern reader. His style reminded me of a precocious sixth-former writing to shock his elders.
I had come across his work as an artist and the founder of the Vorticist movement and found it very appealing. So I was surprised to find that this was not some ill-judged brief foray into the literary field. I will read on and hope that the descriptive stuff outweighs the immature opinioneering.
January 10, 2020
Morocco is my heart and love and knowing it's history is important to me. This book is sometimes difficult to read, but in the end there are humorous anecdotes and fantastic observations that keep you holding on until the end.
May 15, 2025
Would be 2.5 if that was an option. It’s okay i liked the idea at the start and it seemed like it was intresting but the colonial assumptions replace the in-depth fact finding that could be in its place.
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November 30, 2024
Wyndham Lewis, you ignorant bastard.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews