A Tramp's Sketches by Stephen Graham

by Stephen Graham

Excerpt from A Tramp's Sketches

This book was written chicfly whilst tramping along the Caucasian and Crimean shores of the Black Sea, and on a pilgrimage with Russian peasants to Jerusalem. Most of it was written in the open air, sitting on logs in the pine forests or on bridges over mountain streams, by the side of my morning fire or on the sea sand after the morning dip. It is not so much a book about Russia as about the tramp. It is the life of the wanderer and seeker, the walking hermit, the rebel against modern conditions and commercialism who has gone out into the wilderness.

Genres: British Literature

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

Stephen Graham is an academic and author who researches cities and urban life. He is Professor of Cities and Society at the Global Urban Research Unit and is based in Newcastle University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.

Professor Graham has a background in Geography, Planning and the Sociology of Technology. His research centres, in particular, on:

•relations between cities, technology and infrastructure
•urban aspects of surveillance
•the mediation of urban life by digital technologies; and
• connections between security, militarisation and urban life.
Writing, publishing and lecturing across many countries and a variety of disciplines, Professor Graham has been Visiting Professor at MIT and NYU, amongst other institutions. The author, editor or co-author of seven major books, his work has been translated into eleven languages

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

Like many of us, Stephen Graham would sometimes gets a bit antsy and decide he needed to go out for a walk. Unlike most of us, he would then sometimes end up on a different continent. The only of his I've read previously, The Gentle Art of Tramping, is a general account of this lifestyle and the insights gleaned thereby; in so far as he is known, it seems to be considered his masterpiece. This is a considerably earlier book, and it shows; there's a need to preach, a firebrand quality, which has yet to settle into the far gentler yet more powerful and truly revolutionary attitude of Gentle Art. Part of that is doubtless down to the journey - this is an account, albeit digressive, of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Still, that's a very long walk, and certainly not without interest; Graham's route took him through the Russia which a few years later would be changed forever, by war and revolution and worse, and his account of the fairytale woods, wise peasants and beautiful shores he found there is profoundly soothing, if also much more melancholy than it can have been even for his city-bound readers on first publication.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read and the parts along the Black Sea were the most interesting to me. I enjoyed the discussions about pilgrims and pilgrimages, the visits to monasteries, and his interaction with some fellow pilgrims.

My two main complaints about the book were: (1) the derogatory, racial slurs against certain ethnic groups of people such as the Turks and the Jews; and (2) the author's use of excessive flowery religious allegory, which left we lost as to what he was really talking about. Given that Graham espouses a Christian worldview and one of love for neighbor, I found his racism to be a disconnect and not at all in keeping with his otherwise lofty values.

It is true this book was a series of sketches, so that could explain its feeling of disjointedness. Instead of a methodical journey, it jumped here and there and back again. Nonetheless, there were some interesting passages reminiscent of "The Way of the Pilgrim".

[Glenn Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought provoking. Life on the road. With no money but also no mental illness or drug or alcohol issues. Another time, thinking there is no way this life style could be done today. Depending on strangers for a place to sleep, something to eat.