A Tramp's Sketches

by Stephen Graham

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Genres: British Literature

155 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

Stephen Graham (1884 - 1975) was a British journalist, travel-writer, essayist and novelist. His best-known books recount his travels around pre-revolutionary Russia and his journey to Jerusalem with a group of Russian Christian pilgrims. Most of his works express his sympathy for the poor, for agricultural labourers and for tramps, and his distaste for industrialisation.

Librarian's note: There is more than one author on Goodreads with this name.

List of books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen...

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.